hackberry

[ hak-ber-ee, -buh-ree ]

noun

, plural hack·ber·ries.

1. any of several trees or shrubs belonging to the genus Celtis, of the elm family, bearing cherrylike fruit.
2. the sometimes edible fruit of such a tree.
3. the wood of such a tree.

hackberry

/ ˈhækˌbɛrɪ /

noun

1. any American tree or shrub of the ulmaceous genus Celtis, having edible cherry-like fruits
2. the fruit or soft yellowish wood of such a tree

Word History and Origins

Origin of hackberry¹

1775–85, Americanism; variant of hagberry (of Scandinavian origin)

Word History and Origins

Origin of hackberry¹

C18: variant of C16 hagberry, of Scandinavian origin; compare Old Norse heggr hackberry

Example Sentences

On a cool, canvas-covered cot in the shade of the hackberry trees Sam Galloway passed the greater part of his time.

From Project Gutenberg

That evening Sam and old man Ellison dragged their chairs out under the hackberry trees.

From Project Gutenberg

His ranch was a little two-room box house in a grove of hackberry trees in the lonesomest part of the sheep country.

From Project Gutenberg

His guitar hung by its buckskin string to a hackberry limb, moaning as the gulf breeze blew across its masterless strings.

From Project Gutenberg

The Hackberry is infested by large numbers of species of Psyllids, and these produce a great variety of interesting galls.

From Project Gutenberg