Definitions

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

  • noun Any of various shrubby, usually prickly plants of the genus Rubus of the rose family that bear edible fruit, especially R. idaeus of eastern North America and Eurasia.
  • noun The aggregate fruit of any of these plants, consisting of many small, fleshy, usually red drupelets.
  • noun A moderate to dark or deep purplish red.
  • noun Slang A derisive or contemptuous sound made by vibrating the extended tongue and the lips while exhaling.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In Tasmania, a native species, Rubus Gunnianus, peculiar to the country.
  • noun The fruit of several plants of the genus Rubus, consisting of many small juicy grains or drupes, which, unlike those of the blackberry, separate from the convex receptacle together when ripe, thus giving the fruit the shape of a thimble.
  • noun The plant that produces this berry.

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

  • noun The thimble-shaped fruit of the Rubus Idæus and other similar brambles.
  • noun The shrub bearing this fruit.

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

  • noun pejorative, colloquial A noise intended to imitate the passing of flatulence, made by blowing air out of the mouth while the tongue is protruding from and pressed against the lips, or by blowing air through the lips while they are pressed firmly together or against skin, used humorously or to express derision.
  • verb colloquial To make the noise intended to imitate the passing of flatulence.
  • noun The plant Rubus idaeus.
  • noun The juicy, dark red (when ripe) composite fruit of this plant.
  • noun A dark pinkish red, the colour of a ripe raspberry.
  • adjective Containing or having the flavor/flavour of raspberries.
  • adjective Of a dark pinkish red.
  • verb To gather or forage for raspberries.

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

  • noun red or black edible aggregate berries usually smaller than the related blackberries
  • noun a cry or noise made to express displeasure or contempt
  • noun woody brambles bearing usually red but sometimes black or yellow fruits that separate from the receptacle when ripe and are rounder and smaller than blackberries

Etymologies

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

[Obsolete raspis, raspberries (perhaps from Middle English raspise, rospeys, a kind of rose-colored wine; akin to Old French (vin) raspé, wine made by fermenting marc and grape stalks mixed with water from raspe, grape stalks, from rasper, to grate; see rasp) + berry. Sense 4, possibly short for raspberry tart, rhyming slang for fart.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Cockney rhyming slang raspberry tart, for fart. However raspberry is rarely used for a fart, merely a noise which imitates it.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From earlier raspis berry, possibly from raspise (a sweet rose-colored wine), from Anglo-Latin vinum raspeys, of uncertain origin.

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Examples

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  • heaven!

    July 12, 2007

  • One of the few words in English that, phonologically, displays retrograde assimilation with regard to voicing, i.e. the voicedness of the b turns the s into a z. The only other word I can think of offhand is a proper noun: Pabst, where the voicelessness of the st affects the b.

    December 7, 2007

  • See ethyl formate.

    April 26, 2009

  • the colour i just dyed my old shoes.

    December 8, 2009