berry

[ ber-ee ]
See synonyms for berry on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural ber·ries.
  1. any small, usually stoneless, juicy fruit, irrespective of botanical structure, as the huckleberry, strawberry, or hackberry.

  2. Botany. a simple fruit having a pulpy pericarp in which the seeds are embedded, as the grape, gooseberry, currant, or tomato.

  1. a dry seed or kernel, as of wheat.

  2. the hip of the rose.

  3. one of the eggs of a lobster, crayfish, etc.

  4. the berries, Older Slang. someone or something very attractive or unusual.

verb (used without object),ber·ried, ber·ry·ing.
  1. to gather or pick berries: We went berrying this morning.

  2. to bear or produce berries.

Origin of berry

1
before 1000; Middle English berie,Old English beri(g)e; cognate with Old Saxon, Old High German beri (German Beere), Old Norse ber<Germanic basjá-; akin to Dutch besie,Gothic -basi<Germanic básja-

Other words from berry

  • ber·ry·less, adjective
  • ber·ry·like, adjective

Words that may be confused with berry

Other definitions for Berry (2 of 2)

Berry
[ ber-ee; for 2 also French be-ree ]

noun
  1. Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck", 1926–2017, U.S. rock-'n'-roll singer, musician, and composer.

  2. Also Berri. a former province in central France.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use berry in a sentence

  • The berries are either gathered by hand, or large straw mats are spread underneath, and the trees well shaken.

  • The berries were so thick she did not have to change her position before the towel held over a quart.

    The Box-Car Children | Gertrude Chandler Warner
  • As she sat by, crushing the juice from the berries with a stick, Jess planned the ink pad.

    The Box-Car Children | Gertrude Chandler Warner
  • My life is upon the mountains; my food the wild grapes and the berries that grow upon them.

    The Dragon Painter | Mary McNeil Fenollosa
  • With his usual predilection for fruit, Phil went off and picked a quart of marsh-berries.

British Dictionary definitions for berry (1 of 2)

berry

/ (ˈbɛrɪ) /


nounplural -ries
  1. any of various small edible fruits such as the blackberry and strawberry

  2. botany an indehiscent fruit with two or more seeds and a fleshy pericarp, such as the grape or gooseberry

  1. any of various seeds or dried kernels, such as a coffee bean

  2. the egg of a lobster, crayfish, or similar animal

verb-ries, -rying or -ried (intr)
  1. to bear or produce berries

  2. to gather or look for berries

Origin of berry

1
Old English berie; related to Old High German beri, Dutch bezie

Derived forms of berry

  • berried, adjective

British Dictionary definitions for Berry (2 of 2)

Berry

noun
  1. (ˈbɛrɪ) Chuck, full name Charles Edward Berry . born 1926, US rock-and-roll guitarist, singer, and songwriter. His frequently covered songs include "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll Over Beethoven" (1956), "Johnny B. Goode" (1958), "Memphis, Tennessee" (1959), and "Promised Land" (1964)

  2. (French bɛri) Jean de France (ʒɑ̃ də frɑ̃s), Duc de. 1340–1416, French prince, son of King John II; coregent (1380–88) for Charles VI and a famous patron of the arts

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for berry

berry

[ bĕrē ]


  1. A simple fruit that has many seeds in a fleshy pulp. Grapes, bananas, tomatoes, and blueberries are berries. Compare drupe pome. See more at simple fruit.

  2. A seed or dried kernel of certain kinds of grain or other plants such as wheat, barley, or coffee.

usage For berry

Cucumbers and tomatoes aren't usually thought of as berries, but to a botanist they are in fact berries, while strawberries and raspberries are not. In botany, a berry is a fleshy kind of simple fruit consisting of a single ovary that has multiple seeds. Other true berries besides cucumbers and tomatoes are bananas, oranges, grapes, and blueberries. Many fruits that are popularly called berries have a different structure and thus are not true berries. For example, strawberries and raspberries are aggregate fruits, developed from multiple ovaries of a single flower. The mulberry is not a true berry either. It is a multiple fruit, like the pineapple, and is made up of the ovaries of several individual flowers.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.