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• dogberry
  dogberry

  noun

  the berry or fruit of any of various plants, as the European dogwood, Cornus sanguinea, the chokeberry, Aronia arbutifolia, or the mountain ash, Sorbus americana.
• Dogberry
  Dogberry

  noun

  a foolish constable in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.

dogberry

¹ American  

[dawg-ber-ee, -buh-ree, dog-] / ˈdɔgˌbɛr i, -bə ri, ˈdɒg- /

noun

dogberries plural

1. the berry or fruit of any of various plants, as the European dogwood, Cornus sanguinea, the chokeberry, Aronia arbutifolia, or the mountain ash, Sorbus americana.

2. the plant itself.

3. any of several plants, especially the dog rose, bearberry, and guelder rose.

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Dogberry ² American  

[dawg-ber-ee, -buh-ree, dog-] / ˈdɔgˌbɛr i, -bə ri, ˈdɒg- /

noun

Dogberrys plural

1. a foolish constable in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.

2. any foolish, blundering, or stupid official.

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dogberry ¹ British  

/ -brɪ, ˈdɒɡˌbɛrɪ, -bərɪ /

noun

1. any of certain plants that have berry-like fruits, such as the European dogwood or the bearberry

2. the fruit of any of these plants

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dogberry ² British  

/ -brɪ, -bərɪ, ˈdɒɡˌbɛrɪ /

noun

1. (sometimes capital) a foolish, meddling, and usually old official

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• dogberryism
  noun

Inflected Forms

noun

• Dogberrys
  plural
• dogberries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of dogberry

First recorded in 1545–55; dog + berry

Example Sentences

After Batman, Keaton took a series of notably unstarry roles – a tenant from hell opposite Melanie Griffith and Matthew Modine in Pacific Heights, a hammy Dogberry in Kenneth Branagh’s Much Ado About Nothing.

From The Guardian • Sep. 9, 2017

Mr. Jones fares less well with the ripe comic subplot in the original, concerning the bumbling constable Dogberry and his associate Verges.

From New York Times • Dec. 15, 2015

Nicely inflected comedy is provided by Jeffrey M. Bender as the language-mangling Dogberry who grandly leads a little crew of inept civil defense watchmen.

From New York Times • Dec. 19, 2014

Start with this quote from Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing: “Remember that I am an ass.”

From Slate • Dec. 20, 2013

For this proposition there is much to be said, though, in truth, we must accept the dictum of Dogberry that “comparisons are odorous” The usual approach to Mt.

From The Columbia River Its History, Its Myths, Its Scenery, Its Commerce by Lyman, William Denison