hurtleberry
(ˈhɜːt(ə)lbɛrɪ)
Also 5 hurtil-, 6 hurtel-, hirtle-, 7 heurtle-; see also whortleberry.
[app. a derivative of hurt n.3, q.v.]
The fruit of Vaccinium Myrtillus, or the shrub itself; the whortleberry or bilberry; also applied to other species of Vaccinium, and to the allied American genus Gaylussacia (huckleberry).
| c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 82 Of Strawberies & hurtil⁓beryes with the cold Ioncate. 1513 Bk. Keruynge A ij a in Babees Bk. 266 After mete, peres, nottes, strawberyes, hurtel⁓beryes, & hard chese. 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 61 a, Ble⁓berries or hurtel berries. 1634 W. Wood New Eng. Prosp. (1865) 15 In other seasons there bee Gooseberries, Bilberies,..Hurtleberries, Currants. 1716 B. Church Hist. Philip's War (1865) I. 114 He perceived they were gathering of Hurtle-Berries. 1772–84 Cook Voy. (1790) V. 1879 The berries found here were hurtle-berries, heath-berries, partridge-berries. 1884 Health Exhib. Catal. 157/2 Preserved Lingon, a genus of Hurtleberry found in Sweden. |
b. Comb., as hurtleberry-tree.
| 1589 Fleming Virg., Ecl. ii. 32 You O baytrees will I crop, and hirtleberrie trees. |