cranberry
[kran-ber-ee, -buh-ree]
- the red, acid fruit or berry of certain plants of the genus Vaccinium, of the heath family, as V. macrocarpon (large cranberry or American cranberry) or V. oxycoccus (small cranberry or European cranberry), used in making sauce, relish, jelly, or juice.
- the plant itself, growing wild in bogs or cultivated in acid soils, especially in the northeastern U.S.
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Origin of cranberry
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for cranberry
Contemporary Examples
And thank you, USDA Cranberry Market Loss Assistance Program, for the cranberry sauce.
Imagine President Obama passing the cranberry sauce, and a word of thanks, to Speaker of the House John Boehner.
Cranberry sauce should be sweet but not cloying, and tart without causing pucker and anguish.
The longer you cook a cranberry sauce, the more pectin is released and liquid is evaporated, and the stiffer the result will be.
Plus Sifton shares two of his favorite recipes: cranberry sauce and roasted cauliflower with anchovy bread crumps.
Historical Examples
He married a girl from Cranberry Medder, and they went down East.
Don't she boss him round like the overseer on a cranberry swamp?
Cy Whittaker's PlaceJoseph C. Lincoln
It was a cranberry, withered and softened by the winter frosts.
Keziah CoffinJoseph C. Lincoln
He leaned against the cranberry house and held on to his nose.
The PortygeeJoseph Crosby Lincoln
Splendid—I do believe we're to have cranberry preserve at dinner.
The Great HungerJohan Bojer
cranberry
- any of several trailing ericaceous shrubs of the genus Vaccinium, such as the European V. oxycoccus, that bear sour edible red berries
- the berry of this plant, used to make sauce or jelly
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Word Origin
C17: from Low German kraanbere, from kraan crane + bere berry
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for cranberry
n.
1640s, American English adaptation of Low German kraanbere, from kraan "crane" (see crane (n.)) + Middle Low German bere "berry" (see berry). Perhaps so called from a resemblance between the plants' stamens and the beaks of cranes.
German and Dutch settlers in the New World apparently recognized the similarity between the European berries (Vaccinium oxycoccos) and the larger North American variety (V. macrocarpum) and transferred the name. In England, they were marshwhort or fenberries, but the North American berries, and the name, were brought over late 17c. The native Algonquian name for the plant is represented by West Abenaki popokwa.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper