Berry Definition

bĕrē

berried, berries, berrying

noun

An indehiscent fruit derived from a single ovary and having the whole wall fleshy, such as a grape or tomato.

American Heritage

Any small, juicy, fleshy fruit, as a strawberry or raspberry.

Webster's New World

A small, juicy, fleshy fruit, such as a blackberry or raspberry, regardless of its botanical structure.

American Heritage

The dry seed or kernel of various plants, as a coffee bean or wheat grain.

Webster's New World

Any of various seeds or dried kernels, as of wheat.

American Heritage

Synonyms:

verb

To hunt for or gather berries.

Went berrying in July.

American Heritage

To produce berries.

Webster's New World

To look for and pick berries.

Webster's New World

To pick berries.

On summer days Grandma used to take us berrying, whether we wanted to go or not.

Wiktionary

To bear or produce berries.

Wiktionary

pronoun

A surname.

Wiktionary

A male given name.

Wiktionary

(rare) A female given name.

Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Berry

Noun

Singular:

berry

Plural:

berries

Origin of Berry

From Middle English berye, from Old English beriġe, from Proto-Germanic *bazją (compare German Beere, Danish bær), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰes- (“to blow, chew, rub”) (compare Tocharian B pās- (“to whisper”), Albanian therr (“thorn,”), Ancient Greek ψάω (psaō, “I rub”), Sanskrit बभस्ति (bábhasti, “he chews, devours”)). For the semantic development, compare Old Church Slavonic гроуша (gruša, “pear”), from гроушити (grušiti, “to break, destroy”); Latin pirum (“pear”), from *peis- (“to stick, pound”).

From Wiktionary
From Middle English beryen, berien, from Old English *berian (found only in past participle ġebered (“crushed, kneaded, harassed, oppressed, vexed”)), from Proto-Germanic *barjaną (“to beat, hit”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer- (“to rip, cut, split, grate”). Cognate with Scots berry, barry (“to thresh, thrash”), German beren (“to beat, knead”), Icelandic berja (“to beat”), Latin feriō (“strike, hit”, verb).

From Wiktionary
From Middle English berȝe, berghe, from Old English beorġe, dative form of beorg (“mountain, hill, mound, barrow”), from Proto-Germanic *bergaz (“mountain, hill”). More at barrow.

From Wiktionary
Middle English berye from Old English berie bhā-¹ in Indo-European roots

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
Variant of Bury and Barry. The given name is also a pet form of names beginning with Ber-.

From Wiktionary
From berry, also a pet form of Beryl and Berenice.

From Wiktionary
From Middle English bery (“a burrow”). More at burrow.

From Wiktionary