berry
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈbɛɹi/
- enPR: bĕ'ri
- Rhymes: -ɛri
- Homophones: bury, Barry (in accents with the Mary–marry–merry merger)
Audio (US): (file) Audio (US): (file)
Etymology 1
From Middle English berye, from Old English beriġe, from Proto-Germanic *bazją.[1] Cognate with Saterland Frisian Bäie, West Flemish beier, German Beere, Icelandic ber, Danish bær.
The slang sense “police car” may come from the lights on the vehicles’ roofs.[2]
Noun
berry (plural berries)
- A small succulent fruit, of any one of many varieties.
- (botany) A soft fruit which develops from a single ovary and contains seeds not encased in pits.
- A coffee bean.
- One of the ova or eggs of a fish.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Travis to this entry?)
- (slang, US, African-American) A police car.
Usage notes
Many fruits commonly regarded as berries, such as strawberries and raspberries, are not berries in the botanical sense, while many fruits which are berries in the botanical sense are not regarded as berries in common parlance, for example bananas and pumpkins.
Derived terms
- apple-berry
- Avignon berry
- baneberry
- barberry
- bayberry
- bearberry
- beautyberry
- the berries
- berry alder
- berry-bearing alder
- berry-button
- berrying
- berryless
- berry sugar
- berry wax
- bilberry, billberry
- blackberry
- blaeberry
- blueberry
- boxberry
- boysenberry
- bramberry
- brambleberry
- bread-berry
- buckthorn berry
- buffalo berry, buffalo-berry, buffaloberry
- bulberry, bullberry, bull berry
- bunchberry
- candleberry
- cassioberry
- checker-berry, checkerberry
- China-berry, chinaberry
- choke-berry, chokeberry
- Christmas berry
- cloudberry
- coffee-berry
- coral-berry, coralberry
- cow-berry, cowberry
- crackerberry
- cranberry
- crowberry
- cubeb berry
- curlew-berry
- dabbery, dayberry, deberry
- deerberry
- dew-berry, dewberry
- dangleberry, tangleberry
- dingleberry
- dogberry
- dway-berry
- egg-berry
- elderberry
- farkleberry
- feaberry
- fen-berry
- foxberry
- French berry
- fryberry
- gallberry
- gooseberry
- guavaberry
- hackberry, hagberry, heckberry, hegberry
- heathberry, heath-berry
- hedge-berry, hedgeberry
- heurtleberry, hurtleberry
- hillberry
- hindberry
- honeyberry
- hound-berry, hound's-berry
- huckleberry
- hurtleberry
- ink-berry, inkberry
- ivenberry, ivy-berry
- Juneberry
- knotberry, knoutberry
- lemonade berry
- lingberry, lingenberry, lingonberry
- logan berry, loganberry
- marionberry
- marlberry
- moss-berry, mossberry
- mulberry
- myrtle-berry
- nannyberry
- naseberry
- nessberry
- nub-berry
- one-berry
- oso-berry
- partridge berry, partridge-berry, partridgeberry
- peaberry
- Persian berry
- pigeon-berry
- poison berry
- pokeberry
- quinsy-berry
- raccoon-berry, racoon-berry
- ramble-berry
- raspberry
- Rhein-berry
- riberry
- roan-berry, rowan-berry
- roebuck-berry
- rumberry
- salal berry
- salmon berry, salmonberry
- scald-berry
- sea-berry
- service-berry, serviceberry
- shadberry
- sheepberry
- silverberry
- snowberry
- soapberry
- sparkleberry
- spiceberry
- strawberry
- sugar berry, sugar-berry, sugarberry
- sunberry
- tayberry
- tea-berry, teaberry
- tetter-berry
- thimbleberry
- timberry
- tummelberry
- twig and berries
- twinberry
- veitchberry
- wax-berry, waxberry
- wheat berry
- whinberry
- whortleberry
- wickeyberry tree
- wineberry
- winterberry
- wolfberry
- wonderberry
- Worcesterberry
- yellow berry
- youngberry
Descendants
- → Thai: เบอร์รี (bəə-rîi)
Translations
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References
Verb
berry (third-person singular simple present berries, present participle berrying, simple past and past participle berried)
- To pick berries.
- On summer days Grandma used to take us berrying, whether we wanted to go or not.
- 1988, Early American Life, page 35:
- Partly because I always itched and prickled in a berry patch I may have been disinclined to nibble as I worked; but largely I think it was because I berried under a master strategist and I wanted to see how well we could coordinate our efforts...
- To bear or produce berries.
Usage notes
- Unlikely to be used to refer to commercial harvesting of berries.
Derived terms
Etymology 2
2=bʰerǵʰPlease see Module:checkparams for help with this warning.
From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English berȝe, berghe, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old English beorġe, dative form of beorg (“mountain, hill, mound, barrow”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Germanic *bergaz (“mountain, hill”). More at barrow.
Alternative forms
Noun
berry (plural berries)
Etymology 3
From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English bery (“a burrow”). More at burrow.
Noun
berry (plural berries)
- (dialectal) A burrow, especially a rabbit's burrow.
- An excavation; a military mine.
Etymology 4
From Middle English beryen, berien, from Old English *berian (found only in past participle ġebered (“crushed, kneaded, harassed, oppressed, vexed”)), from Proto-Germanic *barjaną (“to beat, hit”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to rip, cut, split, grate”). Cognate with Scots berry, barry (“to thresh, thrash”), German beren (“to beat, knead”), Icelandic berja (“to beat”), Latin feriō (“strike, hit”, verb).
Verb
berry (third-person singular simple present berries, present participle berrying, simple past and past participle berried)
- (transitive) To beat; give a beating to; thrash.
- (transitive) To thresh (grain).
Anagrams
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɛri
- English terms with homophones
- English terms with audio links
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Botany
- Requests for quotations/Travis
- English slang
- American English
- African-American English
- English verbs
- English terms with quotations
- English dialectal terms
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English transitive verbs
- en:Berries