(~es)
1.
A ~ is a large plant which is smaller than a tree and has a lot of branches.
Trees and ~es grew down to the water’s edge.
= shrub
N-COUNT
2.
The wild, uncultivated parts of some hot countries are referred to as the ~.
They walked through the dense Mozambican ~ for thirty six hours...
N-SING: usu the N, oft N n
3.
If you tell someone not to beat about the ~, you mean that you want them to tell you something immediately and quickly, rather than in a complicated, indirect way.
Stop beating about the ~. What’s he done?
PHRASE: V inflects, usu with brd-neg