Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A name of the plant Vaccinium Vitis-Idæa or red huckleberry. See Vaccinium.

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

  • noun (Bot.) A species of Vaccinium (Vaccinium Vitis-idæa), which bears acid red berries which are sometimes used in cookery; -- locally called mountain cranberry.

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

  • noun A shrub native to the cool temperate areas of the Northern Hemisphere (Vaccinium vitis-idaea).
  • noun The berry of this shrub.

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

  • noun tart red berries similar to American cranberries but smaller
  • noun low evergreen shrub of high north temperate regions of Europe and Asia and America bearing red edible berries

Etymologies

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

[Approximate translation of New Latin Vaccīnium, genus name, from Latin vaccīnium, bilberry (sense uncertain), from vaccīnus, of cows.]

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Examples

  • It is often called a "cowberry" and is a member of the cranberry family.

    Archive 2008-04-01 Wendy 2008

  • It is often called a "cowberry" and is a member of the cranberry family.

    Week 17: Earth Day; Ginger Pear Cupcake with Lingonberry Filling Ginger Whipped Cream with a Fresh Poached Pear and Mint Wendy 2008

  • On the steeper slopes of hummocky ground there were banks of blaeberry and cowberry with a very deep layer of mosses.

    Country diary: Glen Strathfarrar Ray Collier 2010

  • Ground cover consists of cowberry Vaccinium vitis-idaea (R), bilberry V. myrtillus and reindeer mosses Cladonia spp ..

    Virgin Komi Forests, Russian Federation 2008

  • None of us were particularly knowledgeable about the culinary habits of Russians, so we were pleased to find ourselves in a reasonably stylish restaurant looking over the Neva river with a menu which featured a wide range of choices such as beet carpaccio salad; cottage cheese and herbs; venison medallions with cowberry sauce and pelmeni stuffed with veal and pumpkin.

    Pablo Ganguli: Visitors in Russia 2008

  • I was fairly stumped about what a cowberry would be, until Wikipedia informed me they're the same thing as lingonberries.

    Archive 2007-08-01 Annemarie 2007

  • The house we're renting has its own boat and fishing rods, fruit trees in the garden, and the owner has given me maps for nearby cowberry picking.

    Archive 2007-08-01 Annemarie 2007

  • I was fairly stumped about what a cowberry would be, until Wikipedia informed me they're the same thing as lingonberries.

    Cloudberries Annemarie 2007

  • The house we're renting has its own boat and fishing rods, fruit trees in the garden, and the owner has given me maps for nearby cowberry picking.

    Cloudberries Annemarie 2007

  • According to a few websites the cowberry is also known as the lingonberry, foxberry, mountain cranberry Vaccinium vitis-idaea.

    Russian Booze Barbara 2005

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