See Also: cherry(dictionary)
cherry(2)(dictionary)
cherry(1)(dictionary)
The Best Cherry Pie(recipes)
cherry(encyclopedia)
Cherry Red(tourism)
Cherry Cobbler(recipes)
cherry bomb(dictionary)
Cherry clafoutis(recipes)
Cherry Granita(recipes)

cherry(2) (iou)



cherry noun & adjective. ME.
[Old Northern French cherise (treated as pl.), mod. CERISE, from medieval Latin ceresia, perh. from orig. neut. pl. of adjective ceraseus, from Latin cerasus from Greek kerasos.]
A. noun.
The small edible stone-fruit, dark red or yellow and red-flushed when ripe, borne by several trees of the genus Prunus, esp. the cultivated forms of P. avium (sweet cherry), P. cerasus (sour cherry, morello cherry), or their hybrids. Also fig., as a type of something red. ME.
black cherry (a) a very dark ripe cherry; (b) N. Amer. (the dark fruit of) the rum-cherry, Prunus serotina. sour cherry: see SOUR adjective. two bites at the cherry, a second bite at the cherry more than one attempt or opportunity to do something.
fig.: P. Sidney Opening the cherrie of her lips.
Any of the trees bearing this fruit, related to the plum but with flowers in umbels or racemes. Also (chiefly with specifying word), any of various related trees, some of which are grown for ornament; any of several other unrelated trees resembling the cherry in some respect. LME.
bird cherry, choke-cherry, flowering cherry, Hottentot cherry, Japanese cherry, Saint Lucie cherry, Suriname cherry, etc.
b. More fully cherry wood. The timber of any of these trees. L18.
Virginity; a virgin. slang. E20.
Comb.: cherry-bob two cherries with joined stems; cherry-bounce arch. cherry-brandy; cherry-brandy a dark-red liqueur of brandy in which cherries have been steeped; cherry-laurel: see LAUREL noun 3; cherry-pick verb selectively choose (the most beneficial or profitable items, opportunities, etc.) from what is available; cherry-picker (a) a person who picks cherries; (b) in pl. (Hist. slang), the 11th Hussars (so-called from their crimson trousers); (c) a crane for raising and lowering persons; cherry-pie (a) a pie made with cherries; (b) a garden heliotrope; cherry plum (the fruit of) the small tree Prunus cerasifera; cherry-red (of) a bright deep red; cherry tomato (a plant bearing) a small deep-red variety of tomato; cherry tree: see sense 2 above; cherry wood: see sense 2b above.
b. attrib. or as adjective.
Bright deep red, of the typical colour of ripe cherries. LME.
Virgin. slang. M20.
cherry-like adjective resembling (that of) a cherry; bright deep red: M19.