Cherry sb. World English Historical Dictionary

Cherry sb. World English Historical Dictionary Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Slice Contents Key Bibliographic Record Murray’s New English Dictionary. 1893, rev. 2025. Cherry sb. Forms: α. 1 cyrs, ciris; β. 4 chiri(e, 4–7 chery(e, 5 cheri, chere, cherree, chiry, 6 chirrie, (cheryse), 6–7 cherie, cherrie, 6– cherry. [The OE. name ciris, cyrs (known only in comb.) was cogn. with OHG. chirsa, chersa (MHG. kirse, kerse, mod.G. kirsche), OLG. *kirsa (MDu. kerse, Du. kers, Fl. keerze), all repr. earlier (? WGer.) *kirissa:—*keresjâ, adoption of a pop. L. *ceresia, *ceresea, which was also the progenitor of the Romanic forms It. ciriegia, Sp. cereza, Pg. cereja, Pr. cereisa, cereira, F. cerise (cf. med.L. ciresum). The ME. chery, chiri is not known till 14th c.; it was probably derived from ONF. cherise (still used in Northern France), inferred to have given an early ME. cherise, cheris, which was subseq. mistaken for a plural in -s, and a singular cheri educed from it: cf. pea, chay, riches. It is hardly possible that the OE. ciris itself gave the ME. word.

1   Classical L. had cerasus cherry-tree, cerasum cherry, corresp. to Gr. κερασός (also κερασέα, κερασία) cherry-tree, κεράσιον cherry; according to the Roman writers, so called because brought by Lucullus from Cerasus in Pontus (though some refer the Gr. to κεράς, horn). L. *Ceresea, to which the Romanic and Teutonic names alike go back, was prob. an adj. form: its phonology is not evidenced; perh. there was a popular *cerĕsus for cerăsus, whence *cereseus for ceraseus. The sequence of forms in WGer. was app. keresja, kerisja, kirisja, kirissa, whence OE. cirisse, ciris, cirs. All the Celtic names are either from Romanic, as Breton qeres (Rostrennen) kerez (Le Gonidee), Welsh ceirioes, ceiroes (Davies) ceirios (Pughe); or from O. or ME., as Irish siris (= shirish) (O’Reilly), Gaelic siris, sirist, Manx shillish. The fact that there is no native name in Celtic or Teutonic confirms the opinion of botanists that the tree is not indigenous to Britain or Western Europe.]

2   I.  1. A well-known stone-fruit; the pulpy drupe of certain species (or a sub-genus) of Prunus (N. O. Rosaceæ). When used without qualification it usually means the fruit of the cultivated tree (Prunus Cerasus or Cerasus vulgaris); of this, two forms are now also found wild in Britain; the more distinct of these, the common Wild Cherry or Gean, is sometimes considered a separate species (P. Avium).

3 [c. 1000.  Ags. Vocab., in Wr.-Wülcker, 269/18. Cerasius, cirisbeam.

4 1236.  Pipe Roll 20 Hen. III., Suffolk, Honour of Clare, Et de lxvi. s. et de v. d. de pomis et cicera et cerasis venditis per eadem maneria.]

5 c. 1350.  Cheriston: see CHERRY-STONE.

6 1362.  Langl., P. Pl., A. VII. 281. Chibolles & cheruelys and ripe chiries monye.

7 a. 1400.  Pistel of Susan, 93. Þe chirie and þe chestein, þat chosen is of hewe.

8 c. 1425.  Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 647. Hoc ciresum, chery.

9 c. 1425.  Disput. Mary & Cross, in Leg. Rood (1871), 217. Dropes rede as ripe cherrees … fro his flesshe gan laue.

10 c. 1425.  Cookery Bk. (Harl. MS. 279), cxxiv. Take Chyryis & pike out þe stonys.

11 c. 1440.  Bone Flor., 1763. Wyne redd as Cherye.

12 c. 1460.  Towneley Myst., 118. A bob of cherys.

13 1527.  Andrew, Brunswyke’s Distyll. Waters, R j. The cheryses that I wryte of be the comen great cheryses.

14 1579.  Langham, Gard. Health (1633), 136. The blacke sowre Cheries do strengthen the stomacke more then the rest.

15 1581.  Sidney, Apol. Poetrie (Arb.), 41. They tooke a medicine of Cherries.

16 1590.  Shaks., Mids. N., III. ii. 209. We grew together, Like to a double cherry.

17 1657.  Austen, Fruit Trees, I. 56. The black hart Cherry is a very speciall fruit.

18 1741.  Compl. Fam. Piece, I. v. 273. The only Cherries for Wine are Great Bearers, Murrey Cherries, Morello’s, Black Flanders, or the John Treduskin Cherries.

19 1858.  Longf., M. Standish, IX. 48. No man can gather cherries in Kent at the season of Christmas!

20   b.  In proverbial expressions.

21 c. 1430.  Chev. Assigne, 329. I charde not þy croyse … þe valwe of a cherye.

22 1587.  Gascoigne, Wks., 85. That old love now was scarcely worth a cherry.

23 1708.  Motteux, Rabelais, V. xxviii. By Jingo, I believe he wou’d make three bits [1737 bites] of a cherry.

24 1869.  in Hazlitt, Eng. Prov. 39. A woman and a cherry are painted for their own harm.

25 Prov.  It is no use making two bites of a cherry.

26   2.  Short for CHERRY-TREE.

27 1626.  Bacon, Sylva, § 593. Those that bear Flowers and no Fruit, are few, as the Double Cherry.

28 1861.  Delamer, Kitchen Garden, 147. The Cherry … A tree of handsome stature … which furnishes a useful wood.

29 1872.  H. Macmillan, True Vine, i. 16. To the Roman invaders we are indebted for the cherry, which Lucullus brought to Rome from Pontus.

30   b.  for cherry-wood (see 10).

31 1793.  Southey, Nondescripts, i. This Windsor-chair! (Of polish’d cherry, elbow’d, saddle-seated).

32 1888.  Amer. Humorist, 5 May, 8/2. The reading room is … finished in polished cherry.

33   3.  With qualifying words, applied a. to many species (and varieties) of the genus Prunus (and subgenus Cerasus), of which about 40 are named by Miller, 1884: among these are BIRD C., CHOKE C., GROUND C., etc., q.v.; Black C., a formerly prevalent name of the Wild Cherry (P. Avium); Canadian, Dwarf, or Sand C. (P. pumila); American Bird C. or Wild Red C. (P. pennsylvanica); American Wild Black C. (P. serotina); Evergreen C. (P. caroliniana).

34 1530.  Palsgr., 198/2. Blacke chery, merise.

35 1641.  French, Distill., ii. (1651), 52. Take of Black-cherries … a gallon.

36 1682.  Milton, Hist. Mosc., i. (1851), 481. Black-cherry or divers other Berries.

37   b.  Extended to many trees resembling the cherry-tree in fruit, quality of wood, etc. See BARBADOES C., BIRCH C., BRUSH C., CLAMMY C., CORNELIAN C., COWHAGE C., WINTER C., WOODEN C., etc. Australian C. (Exocarpus cupressiformis); Beech C. = BRUSH Cherry; Black C., a local name of Deadly Nightshade; Broad-leaved C., of W. Indies (Cordia macrophylla); Cayenne C. (Eugenia Michelii); Hottentot C. (Cassine Maurocenia); Jamaica C. (Ficus pedunculata); Jerusalem C. (Solanum pseudo-capsicum); N. S. Wales C. (Nelitris ingens).

38   4.  ‘A cordial composed of cherry-juice and spirit, sweetened and diluted’ (Webster). Cf. CHERRY-BRANDY.

39   5.  fig. a. Applied to the lips, etc.

40 1580.  Sidney, Arcadia, 2. Shee spake to vs all, opening the cherrie of her lips.

41 a. 1649.  Drumm. of Hawth., Poems, Wks. (1711), 3. Pale look the roses, The rubies pale, when mouth’s sweet cherry closes.

42   b.  Applied to a person.

43 1500–20.  (?) Dunbar, In secreit Place, 52. Wylcum! my golk of maireland, My chirrie and my maikles munȝoun.

44   6.  The cherry-like berry of the coffee shrub.

45   (So called on plantations.)

46   7.  Mech. A spherical bur or reaming-tool.

47 1874.  Knight, Dict. Mech., Cherry, a spherical bur used especially in reaming out the cavities of bullet-molds.

48   II.  Attrib. and Comb.

49   8.  simple attrib. or as adj. Cherry-colored, red.

50 1447.  Bokenham, Seyntys, 14. Hyr chyry chekys … Hyr lyppys rosy.

51 1570.  Turberv., To his Ladie, i. Thy chirrie lippe doth bleede.

52 1661.  Hickeringill, Jamaica, 88. Is there no Paradise in Cherry-cheek.

53 1727.  Swift, Tom Clinch. A new cherry ribbon.

54 1722.  Lond. Gaz., No. 6068/8. Lined with Cherry Silk.

55 1862.  B. Taylor, Poet’s Jrnl. (1866), 54. I thought the sun was dead, But yonder burn his beacons cherry.

56   9.  General comb.: a. attrib., as cherry-bloom, -blossom, -dye, -feast, -fruit, -garden, -gum, -kernel, -orchard, -pie, -tart, -time, -stick, -stock, yard; b. similative, as cherry-cheek, -colo(u)r; -crimson, -rose adjs.; c. parasynthetic, as cherry-cheeked, -colo(u)red, -lipped adjs. Also cherry-like adj.

57 1858.  Longf., Birds of Passage, Day of Sunsh., vi. The snow-flakes of the *cherry-blooms.

58 1761.  Frances Sheridan, Sidney Bidulph, II. 262. Dolly, who is a pretty little *cherry-cheek, and her father’s great favourite.

59 1586.  W. Webbe, Eng. Poetrie (Arb.), 78. Thou fine *chery cheekt child.

60 1824.  Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. III. (1863), 127. A cherry-cheeked, blue-eyed country lass.

61 1720.  Lond. Gaz., No. 5842/2. *Cherry-Colour Sattin. Ibid. (1695), No. 3112/4. *Cherry coloured Sattin.

62 1872.  Ellacombe, Bells of Ch., vii. 172. Rich cherry-coloured amber.

63 a. 1790.  Warton, Maid. Garl. (R.). Lips of *Cherry-dye.

64 1393.  Gower, Conf., III. 31. And that [i.e., hope] endureth but a throwe, Right as it were a *chery feste.

65 1722.  Lond. Gaz., No. 6030/3. A *Cherry-Garden near Newington Green.

66 1633.  Gerarde’s Herbal, II. lxxxii. 391. [It] maketh young wenches to look faire and *cherrie like.

67 1595.  Barnfield, Sonn., xvii. *Cherry-lipt Adonis.

68 1836–9.  Dickens, Sk. Boz (1850), 149/2. Long *cherry-stick pipes.

69 1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. V. 161. For she had childe in *chirityme.

70 1598.  Epulario, F iij b. To make garlike sauce in … Cherry time.

71 1636.  Althorp MS., in Simpkinson, Washingtons, Introd. 76. Weedeing & settinge strawberryes in the *cherry yarde.

72   10.  Special comb.: cherry-apple, the Siberian Crab-apple (Pyrus baccata); † cherry-bag, a kind of purse for holding gold; cherry-bay = cherry-laurel; cherry-bird, the American Wax-Wing or Cedar-bird (Ampelis Carolinensis); cherry-blossom, the blossom of the cherry; also its color; cherry-bob, two cherries with stalks united used by children for earrings and in games; cherry-breeches, a nickname of the 11th Hussars, from their crimson trousers; cherry-chopper, cherry snipe, cherry-sucker, popular names of the Spotted Fly-catcher; cherry-clack, cherry-clapper, a rattle driven by the wind for scaring birds from cherry-trees; cherry-coal, a soft coal with a shiny resinous luster, which ignites readily and burns without caking; † cherry-cob = CHERRY-STONE; cherry-crab = cherry-apple; † cherry-cracker, the Hawfinch or Grosbeak; cherry-finch = cherry-cracker; cherry-laurel, the common Laurel (Cerasus Laurocerasus); cherry-pepper, a species of Capsicum (C. cerasiforme); cherry-pie, popular name of the Great Hairy Willow-herb (Epilobium hirsutum) and of the garden Heliotropium peruvianum; cherry-ripe, a., ripe like a cherry; also a mode of crying ‘ripe cherries’; cherry-rum, rum in which cherries have been steeped; cherry-stoner, an instrument for forcing cherry-stones from the pulp; cherry-water, a kind of drink made from cherries; cherry-wine, wine made from cherries, esp. MARASCHINO, made from the Marascho Cherry; cherry-wood, the wood of the cherry-tree; also a popular name for the Wild Guelder-rose (Viburnum Opulus). See also CHERRY-BOUNCE, CHERRY-TREE, etc.

73 1858.  R. Hogg, Veg. Kingd., 308. The small *Cherry Apple or Scarlet Siberian Crab … used for making quasar punch.

74 1539.  Will of Mary Hancoke (Somerset Ho.). A *cherry bagg of golde.

75 16[?].  Tom Thumbe, 67, in Hazl., E. P. P., II. 179. Nimbly he Would diue into the Cherry-baggs.

76 1633.  Gerarde’s Herbal, App. 1602. *Cherry bay (so called from having leaves like the laurel and fruit like the cherry).

77 1664.  Evelyn, Kal. Hort. (1729), 205. Oleasters, Cherry-bay.

78 1869.  J. Burroughs, in The Galaxy, VIII. Aug., 168. The *cherry-bird.

79 1884.  E. P. Roe, in Harper’s Mag., March, 616. The Carolina wax-wing, alias cedar or cherry bird.

80 1868.  Daily News, 18 July. A fine white and *cherry blossom in the cow class.

81 1871.  Forbes, Exper. War France & Ger., II. 180–1 (Hoppe). When he [Lord Cardigan] commanded the *‘cherry breeches.’

82 1888.  Cornh. Mag., April, 380. Bee-bird and *cherry-chopper are expressive enough, though the inference implied by the latter is absolutely false.

83 1824.  T. Forster, Perenn. Cal., in Hone, Every-day Bk., II. 877.        And then he startles at the sound   Of the noisy *cherryclack, That drives its flippant windsails round.

84 1763.  G. Colman, Terræ-filius, I. My words, however big and sonorous, are as innocent as the noise of a *cherry-clapper.

85 1835.  T. Hook, G. Gurney (1850), I. v. 92. So long as his breath lasted, his tongue would wag as a cherry clapper does while the wind blows.

86 1853.  Pharmaceut. Jrnl., XIII. 122. Bituminous coal is divided into *cherry coals, splint coals, caking coals.

87 1877.  A. Green, Phys. Geol., ii. § 6. 80. A very beautiful variety [of coal] known as Cherry Coal in Scotland and Branch Coal in Yorkshire.

88 1682.  H. More, Lett. on Several Subj. (1694). Stickling to get the most Counters and *Cherry-cobs.

89 1577.  Holinshed, Chron. (1586), I. 223. Bulfinshes, goldfinshes, wash-tailes, *chericrackers, yellow hamers, felfares.

90 1865.  Intell. Observ., No. 42. 424. A species of *cherry-finch.

91 1664.  Evelyn, Kal. Hort., 227. [Plants] not perishing but in excessive colds … Laurels, *Cherry Laurel.

92 1866.  Treas. Bot., 251/2. The Cherry-laurel or Common laurel … was introduced from the Levant in the 16th century…. Cherry-laurel water is a watery solution of the volatile oil of this plant; it contains prussic acid.

93 1886.  Pall Mall Gaz., 28 Sept., 7/1. He [Baron Kremer] mentioned that the wild chestnut, the cherry laurel, and the tulip had been introduced into Vienna by Imperial Ambassadors from Constantinople, and from Vienna had made their way to all the rest of Europe.

94 1832.  Veg Subst. Food, 314. *Cherry Pepper … native of … West Indies … shape of the pods … somewhat the form of a cherry.

95 1854.  S. Thomson, Wild Fl., III. (1861), 225. Some village child will show you it [the great hairy willow-herb] under the name of *‘cherry-pie.’

96 1882.  Garden, 16 Dec., 541/3. Some splendid trusses of Heliotrope White Lady, the finest variety of all the Cherry Pies.

97 c. 1450.  Women, 22, in Wright’s Chaste Wife, 24. Some be browne, and some be whit … And some of theym be *chiry ripe.

98 1606.  R. Alison, Howres Recreation in Musicke, xix. (Hoppe). There cheries grow that none may buy till cherie ripe … themselus do cry.

99 1648.  Herrick, Hesper., Cherrie-ripe (1869), 17. Cherrie-ripe, ripe, ripe, I cry, Full and faire ones; come and buy.

100 1662.  R. Mathew, Unl. Alch., § 116. 192. Commonly sold for black *cherry-water.

101 1832.  Marryat, N. Forster, III. vii. 107. Negus and cherry-water were added to tea.

102 a. 1648.  Digby, Closet Open (1669), 127. The Countess of Newport’s *Cherry Wine.

103 1879.  Prior, Plant-n., *Cherry-wood, in Jacob’s Pl. Faversh. the water-elder, from its bright red fruit.

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