broomstick

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɹum.stɪk/

broom +‎ stick

broomstick (plural broomsticks)

1. the handle of a broom (sweeping tool).
2. a broom imbued with magic, enabling one to fly astride the handle.
   • 1997, Diana Wynne Jones, Witch Week‎:

     She really was a witch now. No one but a witch could fly a broomstick.

   • 1999, J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, →ISBN:

     Harry ripped the parcel open and gasped as a magnificent, gleaming broomstick rolled out onto his bedspread. [...] It was a Firebolt, identical to the dream broom Harry had gone to see every day in Diagon Alley.

   • 2002, Terry Pratchett, Witches Abroad, page 97:

     Greebo, hiccuping occasionally, oozed into his accustomed place among the bristles of Nanny’s broomstick. As they rose above the forest a thin plume of smoke also rose from the castle.

   • 2003, David Pickering, Cassell's Dictionary of Superstitions‎:

     Most people are familiar with the age-old superstition that witches fly on broomsticks to their covens (though they were formerly also reputed to use shovels, cleft sticks, eggshells, ANIMALS and other means of flight).