Adjacent Words

Cherry definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CHERRY, n. The fruit of a tree, a species of Prunus, of which there are many varieties, as the red or garden cherry, the red heart, the white heart, the black cherry, the black heart, and several others. The fruit is a pulp inclosing a kernel. It is related that this fruit was brought from Cerasus in Pontus to Italy, after the defeat of Mithridates by Lucullus, A R. 680., and introduced into England by the Romans, about 120 years afterwards, A.D. 55.
Barbadoes cherry, is the genus Malpighia, of several species. The berries are red, cherry-shaped, acid and eatable.
Bird cherry, is a species of Prunus, the common laurel or lauro-cerasus.
Also, the Prunus padus.
Cornelian cherry, is the fruit of the Cornus, cornel-tree or dogwood. It is a small, acid, cherry-like, eatable berry.
Dwarf cherry, is the fruit of a species of Lonicera, or honey-suckle.
Hottentot-cherry, is the fruit of a species of Cassine. The fruit is a trispermous berry of a dark purple color.
Winter-cherry, is a name of the fruit of the Physalis, a genus of many species. It is a berry of the size of a small cherry, inclosed in an inflated, bladder-like calyx. This name is also given to a species of Solanum.
CHERRY, a. Like a red cherry in color; red, ruddy, blooming; as a cherry lip; cherry cheeks.
CHERRY, n. A cordial composed of cherry juice and spirit, sweetened, and diluted. The wild cherry is most generally used for this purpose, being steeped for some days in spirit, which extracts the juice of the fruit; the tincture is then sweetened and diluted to the taste. This cordial is moderately bitter and astringent. It is sometimes made of the mazzard.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: of a color at the end of the color spectrum (next to orange); resembling the color of blood or cherries or tomatoes or rubies [syn: red, reddish, ruddy, blood-red, carmine, cerise, cherry, cherry-red, crimson, ruby, ruby-red, scarlet] n
1: wood of any of various cherry trees especially the black cherry
2: any of numerous trees and shrubs producing a small fleshy round fruit with a single hard stone; many also produce a valuable hardwood [syn: cherry, cherry tree]
3: a red fruit with a single hard stone
4: a red the color of ripe cherries [syn: cerise, cherry, cherry red]

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural cherries) Etymology: Middle English chery, from Anglo-French cherise, cirice (taken as a plural), from Late Latin ceresia, from Latin cerasus cherry tree, from Greek kerasos Date: 14th century 1. a. any of numerous trees and shrubs (genus Prunus) of the rose family that bear pale yellow to deep red or blackish smooth-skinned drupes enclosing a smooth seed and that include some cultivated for their fruits or ornamental flowers — compare sour cherry, sweet cherry b. the fruit of a cherry c. the reddish-brown wood of a cherry; especially black cherry 2 2. a variable color averaging a moderate red 3. a. hymen b. virginity • cherrylike adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & adj. --n. (pl. -ies) 1 a a small soft round stone-fruit. b any of several trees of the genus Prunus bearing this or grown for its ornamental flowers. 2 (in full cherry wood) the wood of a cherry. 3 US sl. a virginity. b a virgin. --adj. of a light red colour. Phrases and idioms: cherry brandy a dark-red liqueur of brandy in which cherries have been steeped. cherry-laurel Brit. a small evergreen tree, Prunus laurocerasus, with white flowers and cherry-like fruits. cherry-picker colloq. a crane for raising and lowering people. cherry-pie 1 a pie made with cherries. 2 a garden heliotrope. cherry plum 1 a tree, Prunus cerasifera, native to SW Asia, with solitary white flowers and red fruits. 2 the fruit of this tree. cherry tomato a miniature tomato with a strong flavour. Etymology: ME f. ONF cherise (taken as pl.: cf. PEA) f. med.L ceresia perh. f. L f. Gk kerasos

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bob Bob, v. i. 1. To have a short, jerking motion; to play to and fro, or up and down; to play loosely against anything. ``Bobbing and courtesying.'' --Thackeray. 2. To angle with a bob. See Bob, n., 2 & 3. He ne'er had learned the art to bob For anything but eels. --Saxe. To bob at an apple, cherry, etc. to attempt to bite or seize with the mouth an apple, cherry, or other round fruit, while it is swinging from a string or floating in a tug of water.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Cherry Cher"ry, n. [OE. chery, for cherys, fr. F. cerise (cf. AS. cyrs cherry), fr. LL. ceresia, fr. L. cerasus Cherry tree, Gr. ?, perh. fr. ? horn, from the hardness of the wood.] 1. (Bot.) A tree or shrub of the genus Prunus (Which also includes the plum) bearing a fleshy drupe with a bony stone; (a) The common garden cherry (Prunus Cerasus), of which several hundred varieties are cultivated for the fruit, some of which are, the begarreau, blackheart, black Tartarian, oxheart, morelle or morello, May-duke (corrupted from M['e]doc in France). (b) The wild cherry; as, Prunus serotina (wild black cherry), valued for its timber; P. Virginiana (choke cherry), an American shrub which bears astringent fruit; P. avium and P. Padus, European trees (bird cherry). 2. The fruit of the cherry tree, a drupe of various colors and flavors. 3. The timber of the cherry tree, esp. of the black cherry, used in cabinetmaking, etc. 4. A peculiar shade of red, like that of a cherry. Barbadoes cherry. See under Barbadoes. Cherry bird (Zo["o]l.), an American bird; the cedar bird; -- so called from its fondness for cherries. Cherry bounce, cherry brandy and sugar. Cherry brandy, brandy in which cherries have been steeped. Cherry laurel (Bot.), an evergreen shrub (Prunus Lauro-cerasus) common in shrubberies, the poisonous leaves of which have a flavor like that of bitter almonds. Cherry pepper (Bot.), a species of Capsicum (C. cerasiforme), with small, scarlet, intensely piquant cherry-shaped fruit. Cherry pit. (a) A child's play, in which cherries are thrown into a hole. --Shak. (b) A cherry stone. Cherry rum, rum in which cherries have been steeped. Cherry sucker (Zo["o]l.), the European spotted flycatcher (Musicapa grisola); -- called also cherry chopper cherry snipe. Cherry tree, a tree that bears cherries. Ground cherry, Winter cherry, See Alkekengi.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Cherry Cher"ry (ch[e^]r"r[y^]), a. Like a red cherry in color; ruddy; blooming; as, a cherry lip; cherry cheeks.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(cherries) 1. Cherries are small, round fruit with red skins. N-COUNT 2. A cherry or a cherry tree is a tree that cherries grow on. N-COUNT