Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A spiny European shrub (Ribes uva-crispa) having lobed leaves, greenish flowers, and edible greenish to yellow or red berries.
- n. The fruit of this plant.
- n. Any of several plants bearing similar fruit.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The berry or fruit of a plant of the genus Ribes, or the plant itself; in botany, a general term for the species of the genus Ribes which belong to the section Grossularia, as the name currant is applied to those of the section Ribesia. They are thorny or prickly shrubs, and the fruit is usually hairy. The common cultivated gooseberry, Ribes Grossularia, bearing the fruit of the same name, is a native of Europe and Asia. It is cultivated extensively in northern Europe, but succeeds only moderately in America; and many varieties have been produced, the fruit differing in size, color, and quality, as well as in hairiness. The wild gooseberries of North America include several species, the fruit of which is rarely eaten.
- n. A silly person; a goosecap.
- Relating to or made of gooseberries: as, gooseberry wine.
- n. The farkleberry, Batodendron arboreum: doubtless so called from its somewhat similar fruit. See farkleberry.
- n. The Coromandel goosebery (which see).
- n. One of several species of Polycodium. See squaw-huckleberry.
Wiktionary
- n. A fruit closely related to the currant.
- n. Any of several other unrelated fruits, such as the Chinese gooseberry (kiwifruit) and the Indian gooseberry (amla).
- n. chiefly UK An additional person who is neither necessary nor wanted in a given situation.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Bot.) Any thorny shrub of the genus Ribes; also, the edible berries of such shrub. There are several species, of which Ribes Grossularia is the one commonly cultivated.
- n. A silly person; a goose cap.
WordNet 3.0
- n. currant-like berry used primarily in jams and jellies
- n. spiny Eurasian shrub having greenish purple-tinged flowers and ovoid yellow-green or red-purple berries
Etymologies
- From goose + berry. It is possible that the first element was originally something related to the gros- of French groseille and/or the kruis- of Dutch kruisbes but has been altered by folk etymology. (Wiktionary)
- goose (probably shortening and alteration by folk-etymology of French groseille, gooseberry; see grossularite) + berry. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“It was reported that while acting as "gooseberry" -- a role usually assigned to her -- between Virginia Piper and an exceptionally timid young surveyor, during a ramble she conceived a rare sentiment of humanity towards the unhappy man.”
“I also scored some interesting looking IKEA jam, gooseberry, which is a favorite of mine, and cloudberry, which I have never yet tasted.”
“The line of intensive-treatment products, designed to repair dehydrated and damaged hair, has a secret ingredient: Indian gooseberry, which is rarely used in products sold in the United States.”
“Loudon thinks it signifies Feverberry, because of the cooling properties possessed by the gooseberry, which is scarcely probable.”
“In this humid climate the strawberry grows to an immense size; and the gooseberry, which is here in high favor, is a far finer fruit than with us.”
“As nigh as I can make out it's a sort of gooseberry pie, but _I_ should never have called a gooseberry pie a 'sweet'; a 'sour' would have been better, accordin 'to my reckonin'.”
“Excellent blackberries and a very large and full-flavored black raspberry grow at Newera Ellia; likewise the Cape gooseberry, which is of the genus "solanum.”
“The most interesting point in the history of the gooseberry is the steady increase in the size of the fruit.”
The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, Vol. I.
“They can be used to flavour cooked fruit and jam and make a sound match with gooseberry, which is also great at this time of the year.”
“I suggested that tasting a gooseberry might be a good first step before dismissing the analogy as crazy!”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘gooseberry’.
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CULI - wine-tasting adjectives
In this area of expertise nouns are frequently used as adjectives (almond, bacon, cider, diesel, fennel, fresh-cut hay, wool) or new adjectives are formed (appley, berrylike, citrusy, full-bodied, ...
acetic, acidic, aged, angular, appley, astringent, attractive, austere, berrylike, big, bitter, brawny and 511 more...
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Genes
Interesting gene names. Some of these may have changed recently (to something less offensive/funny).
http://www.genenames.org/
tinman, agnostic, dreadlocks, Van Gogh, fruitless, lava lamp, ariadne, cheap date, ken and barbie, I'm not dead yet, I'm not dead yet 2, manic fringe and 1192 more... -
Berry Me Deep In Love
Different kinds of berries. In particular it's a list of those with -berry in the name, regardless of whether they are true berries or not. According to Schlockipedia, the botanical class of berrie...
cloudberry, juneberry, whortleberry, goldenberry, apple serviceberry, allegheny shadberry, loganberry, lingonberry, huckleberry, juniper berry, blackberry, mulberry and 74 more...
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Amalgamations
Words that have been smashed together.
keystone, touchstone, footprint, thunderhead, seesaw, textbook, leftovers, watchword, afterbirth, fieldwork, outcast, statesman and 148 more...
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Flora
fenugreek, verbena, saxifrage, arbutus, calendula, nasturtium, lobelia, hellebore, rhododendron, philodendron, bellflower, heuchera and 449 more...
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The O.U.P. Junior Dictionary Death Row
Another news story about words being removed from a dictionary before their time. See also the list of words added to the dictionary.
carol, cracker, holly, ivy, mistletoe, dwarf, elf, goblin, abbey, aisle, altar, bishop and 137 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (G)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
gable, gaia, gala, galaxy, gallows, gambol, garden, garland, garnet, gauntlet, gazebo, gazelle and 105 more...
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Chromonyms
These chromonyms are defined as colors in at least one dictionary (mostly MW3). (Actually there's one fake, for reasons I'll explain someday.) They are all one-word nouns such as "kelly", which can...
absinthe, acacia, acorn, alabaster, alesan, almond, aloma, amaranth, amber, amethyst, anemone, anil and 821 more...
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The Garden on Ryons Street
I spent a few seasons doing gardening work for a former English professor. This is just a list of some of the friends I made in her garden. (Some of these plants spent the winter inside, of course.)
filipendula, Tradescantia, eglantine, Ispahan, Comtesse de Murinais, Crested Moss, rugosa rose, goutweed, creeping charlie, buttercup, lilac, cedar and 97 more...
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Blue remembered hills
Flora, fauna and other things common in the time and place where I grew up
millipede, dock leaf, snowdrop, nettle, ragwort, oxeye, moss, bindweed, lichen, hay, forget-me-not, bluebell and 62 more...
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Names and kinds of fruit
A list made in honor of my son, who likes to eat it. A lot. Today he's had blueberries, apples, bananas, and watermelon, and that was just in his first two hours awake. Limited to fruit I could thi...
apple, banana, watermelon, orange, grape, blueberry, papaya, mango, nectarine, peach, grapefruit, pomelo and 56 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for gooseberry.
hernesheir "The cultivated gooseberry, which dates in Britain only from the 16th century, was once peculiar to Lancashire and did not reach its zenith until a century ago. In 1857 a giant 250 year-old bush at Mount Pottinger, Belfast, yielded two stone of small amber-coloured berries before lightning killed it in late August. Its trunk was 9 in. thick and 4 ft. high, and its total height was 12 ft., with a 16-ft spread. It grew in a corner of the garden round which a road ran, and until quite modern days that part of the road was known as Gooseberry Corner." - C.J. Robb, Co. Down, Ireland, The Countryman, Autumn, 1957, p.571 Nov 2, 2009
Prolagus Good to learn this second meaning! In Italy, we say reggere la candela (to hold the candle) just the way French do (say, not hold the candle). Apr 9, 2008
sarra Naked Translations has a hint or two of why this term is used to mean a single person in the company of couples. Apr 9, 2008
gangerh Goodnight now Treeseed and anydelirium! Feb 17, 2008