▪ I. cherry, n.
(ˈtʃɛrɪ)
Forms: α. 1 cyrs, ciris; β. 4 chiri(e, 4–7 chery(e, 5 cheri, chere, cherree, chiry, 6 chirrie, (cheryse), 6–7 cherie, cherrie, 6– cherry.
[The OE. name ciris, cyrs (known only in comb.) was cogn. with OHG. chirsa, chersa (MHG. kirse, kerse, mod.G. kirsche), OLG. *kirsa (MDu. kerse, Du. kers, Fl. keerze), all repr. earlier (? WGer.) *kirissa:—*keresjâ, adoption of a pop. L. *ceresia, *ceresea, which was also the progenitor of the Romanic forms It. ciriegia, Sp. cereza, Pg. cereja, Pr. cereisa, cereira, F. cerise (cf. med.L. ciresum). The ME. chery, chiri is not known till 14th c.; it was probably derived from ONF. cherise (still used in Northern France), inferred to have given an early ME. cherise, cheris, which was subseq. mistaken for a plural in -s, and a singular cheri educed from it: cf. pea, chay, riches. It is hardly possible that the OE. ciris itself gave the ME. word.
Classical L. had cerasus cherry-tree, cerasum cherry, corresp. to Gr. κερασός (also κερασέα, κερασίο) cherry-tree, κεράσιον cherry; according to the Roman writers, so called because brought by Lucullus from Cerasus in Pontus (though some refer the Gr. to κέρας, horn). L. *Ceresea, to which the Romanic and Teutonic names alike go back, was prob. an adj. form: its phonology is not evidenced; perh. there was a popular *cerĕsus for cerăsus, whence *cereseus for ceraseus. The sequence of forms in WGer. was app. keresja, kerisja, kirisja, kirissa, whence OE. cirisse, ciris, cirs. All the Celtic names are either from Romanic, as Breton qeres (Rostrennen) kerez (Le Gonidee), Welsh ceirioes, ceiroes (Davies) ceirios (Pughe); or from O. or ME., as Irish siris (= shirish) (O'Reilly), Gaelic siris, sirist, Manx shillish. The fact that there is no native name in Celtic or Teutonic confirms the opinion of botanists that the tree is not indigenous to Britain or Western Europe.]
I. 1. a. A well-known stone-fruit; the pulpy drupe of certain species (or a sub-genus) of Prunus (family Rosaceæ). When used without qualification it usually means the fruit of the cultivated tree (Prunus Cerasus or Cerasus vulgaris); of this, two forms are now also found wild in Britain; the more distinct of these, the common Wild Cherry or Gean, is sometimes considered a separate species (P. Avium).
| [c 1000 Ags. Vocab. in Wr.-W. 269/18 Cerasius, cirisbeam. 1236 Pipe Roll 20 Hen. III, Suffolk, Honour of Clare, Et de lxvi. s. et de v. d. de pomis et cicera et cerasis venditis per eadem maneria.] c 1350 Cheriston: see cherry-stone. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. vii. 281 Chibolles & cheruelys and ripe chiries monye. a 1400 Pistel of Susan 93 Þe chirie and þe chestein, þat chosen is of hewe. c 1425 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 647 Hoc ciresum, chery. c 1425 Disput. Mary & Cross in Leg. Rood (1871) 217 Dropes rede as ripe cherrees..fro his flesshe gan laue. c 1425 Cookery Bk. (Harl. MS. 279) cxxiv, Take Chyryis & pike out þe stonys. c 1440 Bone Flor. 1763 Wyne redd as Cherye. c 1460 Towneley Myst. 118 A bob of cherys. 1527 Andrew Brunswyke's Distyll. Waters R j, The cheryses that I wryte of be the comen great cheryses. 1579 Langham Gard. Health (1633) 136 The blacke sowre Cheries do strengthen the stomacke. 1581 Sidney Apol. Poetrie (Arb.) 41 They tooke a medicine of Cherries. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. iii. ii. 209 We grew together, Like to a double cherry. 1657 Austen Fruit Trees i. 56 The black hart Cherry is a very speciall fruit. 1741 Compl. Fam. Piece i. v. 273 The only Cherries for Wine are Great Bearers, Murrey Cherries, Morello's, Black Flanders, or the John Treduskin Cherries. 1858 Longfellow M. Standish ix. 48 No man can gather cherries in Kent at the season of Christmas! |
b. In proverbial expressions.
| c 1430 Chev. Assigne 329, I charde not þy croyse..þe valwe of a cherye. 1587 Gascoigne Wks. 85 That old love now was scarcely worth a cherry. 1708 Motteux Rabelais v. xxviii, By Jingo, I believe he wou'd make three bits [1737 bites] of a cherry. 1869 in Hazlitt Eng. Prov. 39 A woman and a cherry are painted for their own harm. Prov. It is no use making two bites of a cherry. |
2. a. Short for
cherry-tree.
| 1626 Bacon Sylva §593 Those that bear Flowers and no Fruit, are few, as the Double Cherry. 1861 Delamer Kitchen Garden 147 The Cherry..A tree of handsome stature..which furnishes a useful wood. 1872 H. Macmillan True Vine i. 16 To the Roman invaders we are indebted for the cherry, which Lucullus brought to Rome from Pontus. |
b. for
cherry-wood (see 10). Also
attrib.| 1793 Southey Nondescripts i, This Windsor-chair! (Of polish'd cherry, elbow'd, saddle-seated). 1845 S. Judd Margaret i. ii. 10 A cherry plate [ed. 1851, cherry-wood plate] with a wolf's bone knife and fork. 1888 Amer. Humorist 5 May 8/2 The reading room is..finished in polished cherry. 1889 R. T. Cooke Steadfast i. 13 A small cherry table with two leaves. |
3. With qualifying words, applied
a. to many species (and varieties) of the genus
Prunus (and sub-genus
Cerasus), of which about 40 are named by Miller, 1884: among these are bird c., choke c., ground c., etc.,
q.v.;
black c., a formerly prevalent name of the Wild Cherry (
P. Avium);
Canadian,
dwarf, or
sand c. (
P. pumila);
American bird c. or
wild red c. (
P. pennsylvanica);
American wild black c. (
P. serotina);
evergreen c. (
P. caroliniana).
| 1530 Palsgr. 198/2 Blacke chery, merise. 1641 French Distill. ii. (1651) 52 Take of Black-cherries..a gallon. 1682 Milton Hist. Mosc. i. (1851) 481 Black-cherry or divers other Berries. |
b. Extended to many trees resembling the cherry-tree in fruit, quality of wood, etc. See Barbados c., birch c., brush c., clammy c., cornelian c., cowhage c., winter c., wooden c., etc.
Australian c. (
Exocarpus cupressiformis);
beech c. = brush cherry;
black c., a local name of Deadly Nightshade;
broad-leaved c., of W. Indies (
Cordia macrophylla);
Cayenne c. (
Eugenia Michelii);
Hottentot c. (
Cassine Maurocenia);
Jamaica c. (
Ficus pedunculata);
Jerusalem c. (
Solanum pseudo-capsicum);
N. S. Wales c. (
Nelitris ingens).
4. ‘A cordial composed of cherry-juice and spirit, sweetened and diluted’ (Webster).
Cf. cherry-brandy.
5. fig. a. Applied to the lips, etc.
| 1580 Sidney Arcadia 2 Shee spake to vs all, opening the cherrie of her lips. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Poems Wks. (1711) 3 Pale look the roses, The rubies pale, when mouth's sweet cherry closes. |
b. Applied to a person.
| 1500–20 ? Dunbar In secreit Place 52 Wylcum! my golk of maireland, My chirrie and my maikles munȝoun. |
c. Virginity,
esp. in
phr. to lose one's cherry; similarly,
to take (etc.) a cherry. Also, the hymen; a virgin (also as
adj.).
slang (
orig. U.S.).
| [1889 Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang I. 241/1 Cherry (thieves), a young girl. 1926 W. Faulkner Soldiers' Pay viii. 288 ‘If that's the only way you got to get a wife you'd better pick out another one’... ‘Atalanta’, she suggested... ‘Try an apple next time’... ‘Or a cherry’..said Jones viciously.] 1928 J. B. Wharton Squad iv. 132, I told him he wuz too young to lose his cherry. 1935 J. Hargan Gloss. Prison Lang. 2 Cherry, virgin. 1953 S. Bellow Adventures A. March v. 79 She now held off my hands and now led them inside her dress, alleging instruction, boisterous that I was still cherry. 1959 M. Richler Apprenticeship Duddy Kravitz i. xii. 79 Gin excites them. Horseback riding gives them hot pants too. Cherries are trouble, but married ones miss it something terrible. 1963 T. Pynchon V. vi. 145 Fina was lying in the bathtub, seductive... ‘Benny, I'm cherry. I want it to be you.’ 1964 Amer. Speech XXXIX. 117 Associated with the growing heterosexual awareness of high-school students are such words as cherry, which in appropriate contexts takes on the familiar slang meaning ‘hymen’, while a cherry-buster, logically, is ‘a professional deflowerer’. 1975 R. H. Rimmer Premar Experiments (1976) i. 27 The day I lost my cherry didn't amount to much, anyway. 1977 E. J. Trimmer et al. Visual Dict. Sex (1978) vi. 77 ‘To take or eat a cherry’ means to deflower a virgin. 1983 Maledicta 1982 VI. 256 Cherry girl, a virgin. It was a common joke among American soldiers in Vietnam that ‘the only cherry you're gonna get while you're here's the one you get in your drink.’ |
6. The cherry-like berry of the coffee shrub.
(So called on plantations.)
7. Mech. A spherical bur or reaming-tool.
| 1874 Knight Dict. Mech., Cherry, a spherical bur used especially in reaming out the cavities of bullet-molds. |
II. attrib. and
Comb. 8. simple attrib. or as adj. Cherry-coloured, red.
| 1447 O. Bokenham Seyntys 14 Hyr chyry chekys..Hyr lyppys rosy. 1570 Turberv. To his Ladie i, Thy chirrie lippe doth bleede. 1661 Hickeringill Jamaica 88 Is there no Paradise in Cherry-cheek. 1727 Swift Tom Clinch, A new cherry ribbon. 1722 Lond. Gaz. No. 6068/8 Lined with Cherry Silk. 1862 B. Taylor Poet's Jrnl. (1866) 54, I thought the sun was dead, But yonder burn his beacons cherry. |
9. General comb.:
a. attrib., as
cherry-bloom,
cherry-blossom,
cherry-dye,
cherry-feast,
cherry-fruit,
cherry-garden,
cherry-gum,
cherry-kernel,
cherry-orchard,
cherry-pie,
cherry-tart,
cherry-time,
cherry-stick,
cherry-stock,
cherry-yard;
b. similative, as
cherry-cheek,
cherry-colour;
cherry-crimson,
cherry-rose adjs.;
c. parasynthetic, as
cherry-cheeked,
cherry-coloured,
cherry-lipped adjs. Also
cherry-like adj.| 1858 Longfellow Birds of Passage, Day of Sunsh. vi. The snow-flakes of the *cherry-blooms. |
| 1761 F. Sheridan Sidney Bidulph II. 262 Dolly, who is a pretty little *cherry-cheek, and her father's great favourite. |
| 1586 W. Webb Eng. Poetrie (Arb.) 78 Thou fine *chery cheekt child. 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. iii. (1863) 127 A cherry-cheeked, blue-eyed country lass. |
| 1720 Lond. Gaz. No. 5842/2 *Cherry-Colour Sattin. |
| 1695 Ibid. No. 3112/4 *Cherry coloured Sattin. 1872 Ellacombe Bells of Ch. vii. 172 Rich cherry-coloured amber. |
| a 1790 Warton Maid. Garl. (R.) Lips of *Cherry-dye. |
| 1393 Gower Conf. III. 31 And that [i.e. hope] endureth but a throwe, Right as it were a *chery feste. |
| 1722 Lond. Gaz. No. 6030/3 A *Cherry-Garden near Newington Green. |
| 1633 Gerarde's Herbal ii. lxxxii. 391 [It] maketh young wenches to look faire and *cherrie like. |
| 1595 Barnfield Sonn. xvii, *Cherry-lipt Adonis. |
| 1836–9 Dickens Sk. Boz (1850) 149/2 Long *cherry stick pipes. |
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 161 For she had childe in *chirityme. 1598 Epulario F iij b, To make garlike sauce in..Cherry time. 1845 F. Douglass Narr. of Life (1846) i. 1, I do not remember to have ever met a slave who could tell his birthday. They seldom come nearer to it than..cherry-time, spring-time, or fall-time. |
| 1636 Althorp MS. in Simpkinson Washingtons Introd. 76 Weedeing & settinge strawberryes in the *cherry yarde. |
10. Special comb.:
cherry-apple, the Siberian Crab-apple (
Pyrus baccata);
† cherry-bag, a kind of purse for holding gold;
cherry-bay = cherry-laurel;
cherry-bird, the American Wax-Wing or Cedar-bird (
Ampelis Carolinensis);
cherry-blossom, the blossom of the cherry; also its colour;
cherry-bob, two cherries with stalks united used by children for earrings and in games;
cherry-breeches, a nickname of the 11th Hussars, from their crimson trousers;
cherry-chopper,
cherry snipe,
cherry-sucker, popular names of the Spotted Fly-catcher;
cherry-clack,
cherry-clapper, a rattle driven by the wind for scaring birds from cherry-trees;
cherry-coal, a soft coal with a shiny resinous lustre, which ignites readily and burns without caking;
† cherry-cob = cherry-stone;
cherry coffee, the fruit containing the coffee berry;
cherry cordial = cherry-bounce 1;
cherry country, the district, in Kent, where the cherry is largely grown, in extensive cherry-orchards, for commercial purposes;
cherry-crab = cherry-apple;
† cherry-cracker, the Hawfinch or Grosbeak;
cherry-finch = cherry-cracker;
cherry-laurel, the common Laurel (
Cerasus Laurocerasus);
cherry-pepper, a species of Capsicum (
C. cerasiforme);
cherry-picker, (
a)
pl. slang = cherry-breeches (
cf. cherub 3 e); (
b) a crane or similar device by means of which persons may be raised or lowered;
cherry-pie, popular name of the Great Hairy Willow-herb (
Epilobium hirsutum) and of the garden
Heliotropium peruvianum;
cherry-ripe,
a., ripe like a cherry; also a mode of crying ‘ripe cherries’;
cherry-rum, rum in which cherries have been steeped;
cherry-stoner, an instrument for forcing cherry-stones from the pulp;
cherry-water, a kind of drink made from cherries;
cherry-wine, wine made from cherries,
esp. maraschino, made from the Marascho Cherry;
cherry-wood, the wood of the cherry-tree; also a popular name for the Wild Guelder-rose (
Viburnum Opulus). See also
cherry-bounce,
cherry-tree, etc.
| 1858 R. Hogg Veg. Kingd. 308 The small *Cherry Apple or Scarlet Siberian Crab..used for making quasar punch. |
| 1539 Will of Mary Hancoke (Somerset Ho.) A *cherry bagg of golde. 16.. Tom Thumbe 67 in Hazl. E.P.P. II. 179 Nimbly he Would diue into the Cherry-baggs. |
| 1633 Gerarde's Herbal App. 1602 *Cherry bay (so called from having leaves like the laurel and fruit like the cherry). 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1729) 205 Oleasters, Cherry-bay. |
| 1869 J. Burroughs in Galaxy Mag. Aug., The *cherry-bird. 1884 E. P. Roe in Harper's Mag. Mar. 616 The Carolina wax-wing, alias cedar or cherry bird. |
| 1868 Daily News 18 July, A fine white and *cherry blossom in the cow class. |
| 1871 Forbes Exper. War Fr. & Ger. II. 149 (Hoppe) When he [Lord Cardigan] commanded the ‘*cherry breeches’. |
| 1888 Cornh. Mag. Apr. 380 Bee bird and *Cherry chopper are expressive enough, though the inference implied by the latter is absolutely false. |
| 1824 T. Forster Perenn. Cal. in Hone Every-day Bk. II. 877 The noisy *cherry clack..drives its..windsails round. |
| 1763 G. Colman Terræ filius I, My words, however big and sonorous, are as innocent as the noise of a *cherry-clapper. 1835 T. Hook G. Gurney (1850) I. v. 92 So long as his breath lasted, his tongue would wag as a cherry clapper does while the wind blows. |
| 1853 Pharmaceut. Jrnl. XIII. 122 Bituminous coal is divided into *cherry coals, splint coals, caking coals. 1877 A. Green Phys. Geol. ii. §6. 80 A very beautiful variety [of coal] known as Cherry Coal in Scotland and Branch Coal in Yorkshire. |
| 1682 H. More Lett. on Several Subj. (1694) Stickling to get the most Counters and *Cherry-cobs. |
| 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Cherry-coffee, the planters' name for the fruit of the coffee as picked from the tree, before it has undergone the operations of pulping, drying, &c., to prepare the berry for shipment. |
| 1710 W. Salmon Family Dict. (ed. 4) 71/2 *Cherry Cordial. Take Black Cherries, [etc.]. 1836 Mag. Domestic Econ. I. 7 Make also..cherry cordial. |
| 1902 Garden 10 May 302/3 To get into the heart of the *Cherry country one can make Maidstone, Sittingbourne, or Faversham the starting point, and work through miles of orchards. |
| 1577 Holinshed Chron. (1586) I. 223 Bulfinshes, goldfinshes, wash-tailes, *chericrackers, yellow hamers, felfares. |
| 1865 Intell. Observ. No. 42. 424 A species of *cherry-finch. |
| 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort. 227 [Plants] not perishing but in excessive colds..Laurels, *Cherry Laurel. 1866 Treas. Bot. 251/2 The Cherry-laurel or Common laurel..was introduced from the Levant in the 16th century..Cherry-laurel water is a watery solution of the volatile oil of this plant; it contains prussic acid. 1886 Pall Mall G. 28 Sept. 7/1 Baron Kremer..mentioned that the wild chestnut, the cherry laurel, and the tulip had been introduced into Vienna by Imperial Ambassadors from Constantinople, and from Vienna had made their way to all the rest of Europe. |
| 1832 Veg. Subst. Food 314 *Cherry Pepper..native of..West Indies..shape of the pods..somewhat the form of a cherry. |
| 1865 N. & Q. VII. 49/1, 11th Hussars—Cherubims and *Cherry Pickers. 1903 Westm. Gaz. 2 Dec. 1/3 The 11th [Hussars] got its name of ‘the Cherry-Pickers’ through some of its men having been taken prisoners in a fruit garden during the war in the Peninsula. 1928 Daily Express 27 Mar. 10/6 Those crimson overalls of the ‘Cherry-pickers’..were really a kind of wedding present from the Prince Consort. 1961 Flight LXXX. 608/2 The pad rescue team used an armoured personnel carrier and operated a mobile tower or ‘cherry-picker’... The cherry-picker stood by on the pad throughout the final 55 min of the countdown. 1962 J. Glenn et al. Into Orbit 244 Cherry-picker, a crane-like device stationed near the launching pad to help rescue the Astronaut from the capsule in the event of trouble before lift-off. 1968 Guardian 29 July 14/3 The call echoes from the platform of a yellow-painted ‘cherry-picker’—the sort street-lamps are repaired from...The cherry-picker platform swoops down for a close-up. |
| 1854 S. Thomson Wild Fl. iii. (1861) 225 Some village child will show you it [the great hairy willow-herb] under the name of ‘*cherry-pie’. 1882 Garden 16 Dec. 541/3 Some splendid trusses of Heliotrope White Lady, the finest variety of all the Cherry Pies. |
| c 1450 Women 22 in Wright's Chaste Wife 24 Some be browne, and some be whit..And some of theym be *chiry ripe. 1606 R. Alison Recreation (Hoppe) There cherries grow that none may buy Till cherry ripe themselves do cry. 1648 Herrick Hesper., Cherrie-ripe (1869) 17 Cherrie-ripe, ripe, ripe, I cry, Full and faire ones; come and buy. |
| 1662 R. Mathew Unl. Alch. §116. 192 Commonly sold for black *cherry-water. 1832 Marryat N. Forster, xliv, Negus and cherry-water were added to tea. |
| a 1648 Digby Closet Open (1669) 127 The Countess of Newport's *Cherry Wine. |
| 1821 Amer. Jrnl. Sci. III. 167 In staining *cherry wood, cabinet-makers generally employ some kind of red paint. 1879 Prior Plant-n., Cherry-wood, in Jacob's Pl. Faversh, the water-elder, from its bright red fruit. |
Add:
[I.] [1.] [b.] For
def. read: In proverbial expressions. Esp.
† to make two bites at the cherry, etc.: (
usu. in negative contexts) to behave with affected nicety; to divide (a task, etc.) unnecessarily minutely;
to take two bites of a cherry, etc.: to take or have a further opportunity to achieve something. Also,
a second bite at the cherry, etc., a second chance.
| 1666 G. Torriano Piazza Universale di Proverbi Italiani ii. 184/2 To play the Hypocrite, and be demure, are that will make two bits of one Chery, but in private can devour a pound and more. 1694 P. A. Motteux tr. Rabelais's Wks. v. xxviii. 145 Nothing is to be got out of him but Monosyllables; by Jingo, I believe he would make three bits of a Cherry. 1819 Farmer's Almanack 1820 (Boston) xxviii. 11 Never make two bites at a cherry. 1827 Scott Two Drovers in Chron. Canongate 1st. Ser. I. xiv. 315 Take it all, man—take it all—never make two bites of a cherry. 1861 C. Reade Cloister & Hearth II. xiv. 269 There were soldiers of a lower stamp, who would not make two bites of such a cherry. 1905 S. Weyman Starvecrow Farm v. 41 I'll have no goings on with such in my house, and no making two bites of a cherry! 1966 [see supplemental a. a]. 1968 ‘A. Gilbert’ Night Encounter xi. 186 Never heard of taking two bites at a cherry? If he couldn't afford to let Mr. Crook go on breathing before, he's got twice as much reason to want to shut him up now. 1971 Nature 1 Jan. 5/2 One of the chief purposes of the Open University is to provide a second bite at the higher education cherry for those students who..have missed out on their first opportunity. 1986 Sunday Tel. 9 Nov. 11/8 In a second bite at the cherry last week the Sunday Express clarified Dr Seale's position. |
[II.] [10.] cherry tomato orig. U.S., any of several varieties of tomato plant, originating from South America but now also widely cultivated elsewhere, with fruit about the size of a cherry; the fruit itself.
| 1859 G. Thurber Darlington's Amer. Weeds & Useful Plants (rev. ed.) 251 The small round kind, known as ‘*Cherry Tomato’, is probably L. Cerasiforme. 1887 [see tomato n. 2 a]. 1943 Home Garden Aug. 75/1 Most people seem to think of the cherry tomato as a novelty or luxury. 1986 New Yorker 3 Mar. 33/2 There are cherry tomatoes halved and stuffed with peaks of cheese. |
▪ II. † ˈcherry, v.1 nonce-wd. [f. prec.] trans. To impart a cherry-like colour to; to redden.
| c 1611 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iv. Decay 110 Her cheek shee cherries, and her ey shee cheers. |
▪ III. † ˈcherry, v.2 Obs. rare—1.
[f. F. chérir (pa. pple. chéri) to cherish.] trans. To cheer, delight.
| 1596 Spenser F.Q. vi. x. 22 Mylde Euphrosyne; Next faire Aglaia, last Thalia merry; Sweete Goddesses all three, which me in mirth do cherry! |