First recorded in 1835–45; named after Bertha (died a.d. 783), wife of Frankish king Pepin the Short; she was famed for her modesty
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
To show that it was the PKF proteins that were doing the killing, University of British Columbia molecular biologist David Theilmann and colleagues infected bertha armyworms with two baculovirus species, MacoNPV-A and MacoNPV-B.
From Science Magazine ● Jul. 29, 2021
Edwardian sleeves and bertha collars, ribbons, roses and trailing black velvet are the tricks of the trade.
From Time Magazine Archive
The bertha, as we should call it now, was as a cobweb, and the lace from the puff sleeve falling over the arm of the same elegant material.
From A Little Girl in Old Boston by Douglas, Amanda Minnie
But the first thing in the morning brought a counter-wire— “Sorry must put you off dick and bertha got scarlatina holt.”
From A Veldt Vendetta by Mitford, Bertram
Miss La Sarthe sat at the head of the table, in a green silk dress cut low upon the shoulders and trimmed with a bertha of blonde lace.
From Halcyone by Glyn, Elinor
They play Bertha and Seth Holley, the married proprietors of the boarding house.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 26, 2026
As Ms. Weinman tells it, by the early 1990s state Rep. Bertha Holt had been trying to get a law passed for more than 10 years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 2, 2026
Her Bertha is the kindly, nurturing counterweight to Seth’s badgering boisterousness, a quality Morris infuses with just enough avuncular affection.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 1, 2025
Dolores Bertha Schmidt was born in San Francisco on Aug. 21, 1919, the oldest of three children.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2025
“Hurry, Lumawoo. Woofs will take us to Bertha right now.”
From "The Unseen Guest" by Maryrose Wood
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
