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cherry

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Cherry

English

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Cherries of varying degrees of ripeness

Etymology

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From Middle English chery, cherie, chirie, from Anglo-Norman cherise (mistaken as a plural) and Old English ċiris, ċirse (“cherry”), from Proto-West Germanic *kirsijā, from Vulgar Latin ceresia, derived from Late Latin ceresium, cerasium, from Ancient Greek κεράσιον (kerásion, “cherry fruit”), from κερασός (kerasós, “bird cherry”), and ultimately possibly of Anatolian origin (the intervocalic σ suggests a pre-Greek origin for the word).[1] Doublet of cerise, Giresun, and kirsch.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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cherry (plural cherries)

  2. A small fruit, usually red, black or yellow, with a smooth hard seed and a short hard stem.
  3. Prunus subg. Cerasus, trees or shrubs that bear cherries.
  4. The wood of a cherry tree.
  5. Cherry red.
  6. The fruit of the coffee plant, containing the seeds or beans.
  7. (slang) Virginity, especially female virginity as embodied by a hymen.
    • 1965 [1955], J. P. Donleavy, The Ginger Man, New York: Delacorte Press, page 39:
      "Well, Dangerfield, in less than an hour I'm off in search of my fortune. Jesus, I'm excited, like I was going to lose my cherry. Woke up this morning with an erection that almost touched the ceiling."
    • 1979, David Bowie, Brian Eno, “Boys Keep Swinging”, in Lodger, performed by David Bowie:
      Nothing stands in your way when you're a boy / Clothes always fit ya / Life is a pop of the cherry when you're a boy
    • 1979, Gustav Hasford, The Short-Timers, New York: Bantam Books, published 1980, →ISBN, page 20:
      Philips—Sergeant Gerheim's black, silver-tongued House Mouse—is telling everybody about the one thousand cherries he has busted.
    • 1986, “Short Side (Blow Job Betty)” (track 5, 6:36–6:43 from the start), in Too Short (lyrics), Raw, Uncut and X-Rated:
      So what bitch, I busted your cherry – / Hell fucking no, I don’t wanna git married
  8. (graph theory) A subtree consisting of a node with exactly two leaves.
    • 2004, Suleyman Cenk Sahinalp, S Muthukrishnan, Ugur Dogrusoz, Combinatorial Pattern Matching, Berlin […] : Springer-Verlag, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 210:
      Non-isomorphism is detected whenever the algorithm finds a cherry
    • 2005, Lior Pachter, Bernd Sturmfels, Algebraic Statistics for Computational Biology, Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 74:
      Step 3: Output the tree T. The edge lengths of T are determined recursively: If (x,y) is a cherry connected to node z as in Step 2
  9. (cricket, slang) A red cricket ball.
    • 2000, Woorkheri Raman, “Indians adopt safety first tactics”, in ESPNcricinfo‎[2], archived from the original on 7 July 2022, retrieved 25 November 2024:
      The Indians have to get early wickets on the morrow and they will have the option of taking the new cherry.
    • 2007, Ben Dirs, “England v West Indies 1st Test”, in BBC Sport‎[3], archived from the original on 9 April 2016, retrieved 25 November 2024:
      Players are back out and it's Harmison to have first go with the cherry.
  10. (cricket, slang) A reddish mark left on the bat by the impact of the ball.
  11. A round, red light of the kind that is typically mounted on top of a police car.
    Synonym: cherrytop
    • 2009, Sandra Brown, Smash Cut, New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 249:
      "What do you think?" he asked as he wove through traffic, matching Sanford's speed but without the benefit of a flashing cherry on the roof of his car.
    • 2011, Rick Mofina, In Desperation, Don Mills, Ontario: MIRA, →ISBN, page 44:
      “This is a cartel operation,” Hackett said as Larson activated the dash-mounted cherry
  12. The burning tip of a cigarette.

Usage notes

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Hypernyms

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Hyponyms

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other types of cherry tree and fruit

Derived terms

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Descendants

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Translations

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See also

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Adjective

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cherry (comparative cherrier or more cherry, superlative cherriest or most cherry)

  1. Containing or having the taste of cherries.
  2. Of a bright red color; cherry red.
    cherry:  
  3. (informal, often of cars) In excellent condition; mint condition.
    • 2003, John Morgan Wilson, Blind Eye, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, →ISBN, page 108:
      A few years earlier, I’d restored my ’65 Mustang convertible to cherry condition—fire engine red, with matching tuck-and-roll—and I wasn’t surprised that it drew attention.
    • 2006, “White & Nerdy”, in "Weird Al" Yankovic (lyrics), Straight Outta Lynwood, performed by "Weird Al" Yankovic:
      All of my action figures are cherry

Derived terms

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Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

See also

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redsedit

Verb

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cherry (third-person singular simple present cherries, present participle cherrying, simple past and past participle cherried)

  1. (transitive, dated, obsolete) To redden; to infuse a cherrylike color to something.
  2. (transitive, dated, obsolete) To cheer, to delight.

References

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  1. ^ Robert Stephen Paul Beekes (2010), “κέρασος”, in Etymological Dictionary of Greek‎[1], Brill, →ISBN

French

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Etymology

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From English cherry.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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cherry m (plural cherrys or cherries)

  1. cherry brandy

Further reading

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Spanish

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈt͡ʃeri/ [ˈt͡ʃe.ri]
  • Rhymes: -eri
  • Syllabification: che‧rry

Noun

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cherry m (plural cherrys or cherries)

  1. cherry tomato
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