Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A deciduous North American shrub or small tree (Prunus virginiana) in the rose family, having elongate clusters of small white flowers and astringent, dark red to nearly black fruit.
  • noun The fruit of this plant.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The popular name of an American species of wild cherry, Prunus Virginiana, remarkable for the astringency of its fruit.
  • noun In mining, choke-damp; after-damp.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Bot.) The astringent fruit of a species of wild cherry (Prunus Virginiana); also, the bush or tree which bears such fruit.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any of several American wild cherry trees, especially Prunus virginiana
  • noun The fruit of this plant

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the fruit of the chokecherry tree
  • noun a common wild cherry of eastern North America having small bitter black berries favored by birds

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From its bitter fruit.]

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Examples

  • I was thinking they meant the chokecherry, which is just another one of the cherry trees.

    Original Signal - Transmitting Buzz 2009

  • The Kempels, who live in Casselton, make wine from North Dakota grown fruits such as chokecherry and rhubarb.

    Minot Daily News 2008

  • As chokecherry and serviceberry blossoms fade into a plump, hot August, I too expect fall and then winter.

    Emma Lou Thayne: Prayers Of Longing And Thanks Emma Lou Thayne 2011

  • A clement breeze, overloaded with the scent of the chokecherry blossoms, eddied around me as I headed to the storage shed.

    Mercy Kill Lori Armstrong 2011

  • As chokecherry and serviceberry blossoms fade into a plump, hot August, I too expect fall and then winter.

    Emma Lou Thayne: Prayers Of Longing And Thanks Emma Lou Thayne 2011

  • I sank my teeth into a chokecherry stick against the pain.

    Fire The Sky W. Michael Gear 2011

  • Bushes of chokecherry and serviceberry crowded close under the shade of the aspens.

    Western Man Janet Dailey 2011

  • Bushes of chokecherry and serviceberry crowded close under the shade of the aspens.

    Western Man Janet Dailey 2011

  • A clement breeze, overloaded with the scent of the chokecherry blossoms, eddied around me as I headed to the storage shed.

    Mercy Kill Lori Armstrong 2011

  • A clement breeze, overloaded with the scent of the chokecherry blossoms, eddied around me as I headed to the storage shed.

    Mercy Kill Lori Armstrong 2011

Comments

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  • My Idaho family, since the mid-1800's, have yearly, in late summer and fall, collected the almost inedible bitter drupes of the chokecherry to boil down or juice to make delicious jellies and syrups. These locally produced preserves have in the last decade or so emerged from seasonally-produced pioneer staples into the local and wider tourist markets.

    March 15, 2011

  • Somehow this word defines today, i'm literally feeling a chokecherry in my throat and I love saying it one two many times. Chokecherry, chokecherry … chokecherry!

    June 27, 2012