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crowberry

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

noun

  • crowberries
    plural
  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.


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

"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 crowberry

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

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:

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 sweet-scented geranium abounded and so did the crowberry, which is a finer and sweeter kind than that which grows nearer the settlement.

From Three Years in Tristan da Cunha by Katherine Mary Barrow

Getting out of this we next trudged over grassy slopes on which were growing fine specimens of the crowberry.

From Three Years in Tristan da Cunha by Katherine Mary Barrow

This fall, Mr. Bang, a towering 35-year-old, is testing out crowberries, an Inuit favorite.

From The Wall Street Journal Sep. 7, 2017

You could see it in summer, when the land was a riot of lingonberries and crowberries and cloudberries, mixed in among the moss and tiny orchids and the reddish-purple sweet vetch.

From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz

Renn was kneeling at the mouth of the cave, trying to feed Wolf a handful of crowberries.

From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver

At last he found a handful of crowberries, and gulped them down.

From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver

The women were employed in gathering cranberries and crowberries, which were found in great abundance.

From Voyages from Montreal Through the Continent of North America to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans in 1789 and 1793 Vol. I by Alexander Mackenzie

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