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
1 American
[dawg-ber-ee, -buh-ree, dog-]
/ ˈdɔgˌbɛr i, -bə ri, ˈdɒg- /
Dogberry
2
American
[dawg-ber-ee, -buh-ree, dog-]
/ ˈdɔgˌbɛr i, -bə ri, ˈdɒg- /
noun
-
Dogberrys
plural
-
a foolish constable in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.
-
any foolish, blundering, or stupid official.
dogberry
1
British
/ ˈdɒɡˌbɛrɪ, -brɪ, -bərɪ /
noun
-
any of certain plants that have berry-like fruits, such as the European dogwood or the bearberry
-
the fruit of any of these plants
dogberry
2
British
/ ˈdɒɡˌbɛrɪ, -brɪ, -bərɪ /
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of dogberry
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:
The returning midwife, angry at Alyce for ignoring her earlier, set her to do all the least pleasant chores: roasting frogs’ livers, boiling snails into jelly, stripping the thorns from dogberry roses.
From "The Midwife's Apprentice" by Karen Cushman
The common dogwood, prick-wood, skewer-wood, cornel or dogberry, C. sanguinea, is a shrub reaching a height of 8 or 9 ft., common in hedges, thickets and plantations in Great Britain.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 8, Slice 6 "Dodwell" to "Drama" by Various
And to make matters worse, he took some dogberry cordial and it chased the catnip tea all over his interior from Alpha to Omaha.
From You Can Search Me by Hugh McHugh
Blood will tell, so the hoarhound joined forces with the dogberry and chased the catnip up my family tree.
From You Should Worry Says John Henry by Hugh McHugh
This abuse may be discovered by opening the berries: those of buckthorn have almost always four seeds; of the alder, two; and of the dogberry, only one.
From A Treatise on Adulterations of Food, and Culinary Poisons Exhibiting the Fraudulent Sophistications of Bread, Beer, Wine, Spiritous Liquors, Tea, Coffee, Cream, Confectionery, Vinegar, Mustard, Pepper, Cheese, Olive Oil, Pickles, and Other Articles Employed in Domestic Economy by Friedrich Christian Accum
In the middle of Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s suite of incidental music for “Much Ado About Nothing,” there’s a march meant to accompany Dogberry, Shakespeare’s comic constable, and his fellow watchmen.
From New York Times ● Apr. 14, 2024
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
JM: Comparisons are odorous, as Dogberry says, so I'm not going to measure the blessed Jane against each one of your competitors.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 29, 2013
To a certain extent the figure of Dogberry and more especially the face, justify Tieck's repugnance.
From Tieck's Essay on the Boydell Shakspere Gallery by George Henry Danton
The officers then chosen were Town-Clerks, Assessors, Collectors, and Pathmasters—all of them under the authority and jurisdiction of their Worships, the military and dilapidated Dogberrys in General Quarter Sessions assembled.
From The Last Laird of MacNab An Episode in the Settlement of MacNab Township, Upper Canada by Various
The local Dogberrys of the tribunals would fire off their little stock of gibes and platitudes upon him, propound with owlish solemnity the new Christianity, abuse him and condemn him, without listening to him.
From All Roads Lead to Calvary by Jerome K. (Jerome Klapka) Jerome
The Dogberrys too are as wise as their ‘illustrious predecessor,’ and are quite as profuse of advice to ‘the plaintiffs’ who fall into their hands.
From The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, February 1844 Volume 23, Number 2 by Various
In every old-fashioned town there are models for new Dogberrys and Edie Ochiltrees; our seaports have plenty of Bunsbys; every great city has its Becky Sharpe and Major Pendennis.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 04, No. 23, September, 1859 by Various
At present, the fights are between the apple-women and the dogberries, respecting the legal tenure of stalls: "Bess Hoy first found it troublesome to bawl, And therefore plac'd her cherries on a stall."
From The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 14, No. 397, November 7, 1829 by Various
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
