bayberry

American  

[bey-ber-ee, -buh-ree] / ˈbeɪˌbɛr i, -bə ri /

noun

bayberries plural

1. any of several often aromatic trees or shrubs of the genus Myrica, as M. pensylvanica, of northeastern North America, and M. californica, of the western U.S.

2. the berry of such a plant.

3. bay.

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bayberry British  

/ ˈbeɪbərɪ /

noun

1. any of several North American aromatic shrubs or small trees of the genus Myrica , that bear grey waxy berries: family Myricaceae See also wax myrtle

2. Also called: bay rum tree.  a tropical American myrtaceous tree, Pimenta racemosa , that yields an oil used in making bay rum

3. the fruit of any of these plants

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• bayberries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of bayberry

First recorded in 1570–80; bay ⁴ + berry

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bayberry bayberries

A fuzzy, freckled gull chick emerged from a bayberry bush, stared curiously at me as if it had spotted a Martian, and then waddled back to its hiding place.

From New York Times ● Sep. 20, 2023

Now, it is a larger and maturing display that includes towering shrubs of buttonbush and bayberry amid lower drifts of lobelia, aster, swamp mallow, goldenrod and winterberry.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 27, 2021

More than 100 seedlings, including pin oak, American birch, magnolias and redbuds, plus nearly 400 shrubs, including winterberry, northern bayberry, witch hazel, highbush blueberry and azaleas, will be planted, he said.

From Washington Post ● May 2, 2017

Once, it had been a joy to follow those roads through the evergreen forests—roads lined with bayberry and sweet fern, alder and huckleberry.

From The New Yorker ● Jan. 3, 2017

“A tincture of bayberry juice and oil of roses may relieve the pain, so that the sensation of Christ’s sweetness becomes even greater,” I say.

From "Ophelia" by Lisa Klein

For two days they had been boiling the small gray bayberries that Kit and Judith had gathered in the fields, and Rachel had skimmed off the thick greenish tallow.

From "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare

Fifthly, a small pot of diatesseron, composed of gentian, myrrh, bayberries, and round aristolochia.

From Old Saint Paul's A Tale of the Plague and the Fire by Ainsworth, William Harrison

She still had his cake to bake, and candles to make from the waxy bayberries that grew near the shore, and last but not least his presents to arrange.

From The Cheerful Cricket and Others by Marks, Jeannette Augustus

Bayberry wax was a standard farm production wherever bayberries grew, and was advertised in New England papers until this century.

From Customs and Fashions in Old New England by Earle, Alice Morse

Elmira picked bayberries, too, and sold 'em to the shoemaker for tallow; she sold a lot in Dale.

From Jerome, A Poor Man A Novel by Freeman, Mary Eleanor Wilkins