BESOM (lit. sweeper) occurs only fig. Isa_14:23, I will sweep it [Babylon] with the sweeper of destruction. One such besom of twigs the writer remembers having seen in the museum of Egyptian antiquities in Cairo.
A. R. S. Kennedy.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909
Be'som. A brush or broom of twigs for sweeping. Isa_14:23.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863
bē?zum: Occurs only once in Scripture: ?I will sweep it with the besom of destruction? (Isa_14:23). Refers to what was in store for Babylon. The Hebrew word maṭ'ăṭē', rendered ?besom,? is close of kin to the one (tı̄'ṭē'thı̄hā) rendered ?sweep.? In early English ?besom? was synonymous with ?broom,? and is still so used in some parts of England.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.
Besom
(מִטְאֲטֵ, matate, a sweeper), occurs only in the phrase besom of destruction, i.e. desolating broom, with which Babylonia is threatened (Isa_14:23); a metaphor frequent still in the East for utter ruin (Roberts, Orient. Illustr. in loc.).
CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.