winter cherry

noun

1. Also called Chinese lantern plant. a Eurasian ground cherry, Physalis alkekengi, of the nightshade family, bearing fruit enclosed in a showy, orange-red, inflated calyx.
2. the red, berrylike fruit of this plant.

winter cherry

noun

1. a Eurasian solanaceous plant, Physalis alkekengi, cultivated for its ornamental inflated papery orange-red calyx
2. the calyx of this plant

Word History and Origins

Origin of winter cherry¹

First recorded in 1540–50

Example Sentences

It had eight heads, and the eyes were red, "like winter-cherry."

From Project Gutenberg