filbert

[fil-bert]

noun

the thick-shelled, edible nut of certain cultivated varieties of hazel, especially of Corylus avellana, of Europe.
a tree or shrub bearing such nuts.

Origin of filbert

1250–1300; Middle English, short for filbert nut, so called because ripe by Aug. 22 (St. Philbert's day)

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for filbert

Historical Examples of filbert

So Filbert staid, and was as happy as a bird in the one-eyed house.
Harper's Young People, October 26, 1880
Various
Furthermore, he was so daffy and curdled in the Filbert that he sold three times as much as he had.
Ade's Fables
George Ade
The Secretary: There has been no discussion at all of the filbert, I think.
Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the Fifth Annual Meeting
Various
Well, I would not give a filbert for all the women born since mother Eve!
The Golden Dog
William Kirby
Whenever I have a mind for a filbert, I have only to shake my foretop.
Imaginary Conversations and Poems
Walter Savage Landor

British Dictionary definitions for filbert

filbert

noun

any of several N temperate shrubs of the genus Corylus, esp C. maxima, that have edible rounded brown nuts: family Corylaceae
Also called: hazelnut, cobnut the nut of any of these shrubs

Word Origin for filbert

C14: named after St Philbert, 7th-century Frankish abbot, because the nuts are ripe around his feast day, Aug 22

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

Word Origin and History for filbert

"hazelnut," late 14c., from Anglo-French philber (late 13c.), from Norman dialect noix de filbert, in reference to St. Philbert, 7c. Frankish abbot, so called because the hazel nuts ripen near his feast day, Aug. 22 (Old Style). Weekley compares German Lambertsnuss "filbert," associated with St. Lambert (Sept. 17); also German Johannisbeere "red currant," associated with St. John's Day (June 24). The name is Old High German Filu-berht, literally "very bright."