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bilberry

American  
[bil-ber-ee, -buh-ree] / ˈbɪlˌbɛr i, -bə ri /

noun

  • bilberries
    plural
  1. the fruit of several shrubby species of the genus Vaccinium.


bilberry British  
/ ˈbɪlbərɪ /

noun

  1. any of several ericaceous shrubs of the genus Vaccinium , having edible blue or blackish berries See also blueberry

    1. the fruit of any of these plants

    2. ( as modifier )

      bilberry pie

"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

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of bilberry

1570–80; obsolete bil (< Scandinavian; compare Danish bölle bilberry) + berry


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

Already green shoots of bracken are bursting through the blackened earth and that will crowd out the traditional heather, bilberry and cowberry.

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026

When paired with steaming, chewy Icelandic bread and tart bilberry jam, it is the ideal combination.

From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2021

Among the pines grew rowans hung with scarlet berries, and bilberry bushes whose leaves would be fair game for white moth caterpillars in spring.

From The Guardian ● Feb. 25, 2020

I would not care a bilberry for posterity.

From Time Magazine Archive

As quickly as they could they scrambled off the beaten way and up into the deep heather and bilberry brushwood on the slopes above, until they came to a small patch of thick-growing hazels.

From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien

He hunted moose and deer and picked lingonberries, mushrooms, and bilberries.

From Scientific American ● Aug. 13, 2021

Scots pine shin up the very steepest slopes, bilberries blooming in their shadow.

From The Guardian ● Nov. 24, 2020

Pick wild strawberries, raspberries or bilberries, according to season.

From Time Magazine Archive

I saw a lizard run over the crag; I saw a bee busy among the sweet bilberries.

From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë

I saw ripe bilberries gleaming here and there, like jet beads in the heath: I gathered a handful and ate them with the bread.

From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë

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