crowberry

American  

[kroh-ber-ee, -buh-ree] / ˈkroʊˌbɛr i, -bə ri /

noun

plural

crowberries

1. the black or reddish berry of a heathlike, evergreen shrub, Empetrum nigrum, of northern regions.

2. the plant itself.

3. any of certain other fruits or the plants bearing similar berries, as the bearberry.

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crowberry British  

/ ˈkrəʊbərɪ, -brɪ /

noun

1. a low-growing N temperate evergreen shrub, Empetrum nigrum, with small purplish flowers and black berry-like fruit: family Empetraceae

2. any of several similar or related plants

3. the fruit of any of these plants

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Etymology

Origin of crowberry

1590–1600; crow ¹ + berry, probably translation of German Krähenbeere

Example Sentences

We walked onto a bluff padded in low-growing crowberry and Arctic thyme.

From Washington Post • Jul. 29, 2021

Seeing a reindeer nonchalantly munching on berries and grass and a ptarmigan comfortably nestled in a patch of crowberry bushes led me to think the fire was no longer an issue.

From Washington Post • Aug. 9, 2018

A ways down the road we found equally varied botany: dwarf willows, crowberry plants and alpine bearberry shrubs that would turn crimson in two months.

From Washington Post • Apr. 7, 2016

The cranberry, the crowberry, the cloudberry, etc., produce fruit any one of which might outweigh the herb itself.

From The Arctic Prairies : a Canoe-Journey of 2,000 Miles in Search of the Caribou; Being the Account of a Voyage to the Region North of Aylemer Lake by Seton, Ernest Thompson

I am wading among crimson heath and purple heather, where the crowberry and cranberry grow in patches of green.

From In Touch with Nature Tales and Sketches from the Life by Stables, Gordon