hagberry
(ˈhægbɛrɪ)
Also hack-, heck-, heg-berry, and (corruptly) egg-berry.
[Of Norse origin: Da. hægge-bær, Norw. hegge-bär, Sw. hägg-bär and hägg, ON. heggr.]
A northern name of the bird-cherry, Prunus Padus. b. Also a less usual synonym of the American hackberry.
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal 1322 Birds Cherrie..in Westmerland..called Hegberrie tree. 1778 Lightfoot Flora Scot. 253 Bird-Cherry Anglis; Hag-berries Scotis. 1794 Statist. Acc. Perthsh. IX. 239 (Jam.) On the banks of the Lunan, there is a shrub here called the hack-berry (prunus padus) that carries beautiful flowers, which are succeeded by a cluster of fine blackberries. 1818 Scott Let. to Laidlaw Mar. in Lockhart, I shall send..also some Hag-berries. 1825 Brockett N.C. Gloss., Heck-berry, the bird cherry. 1842 G. Turnbull in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. No. 10. 7 By its side the hagberry grew. 1868 Atkinson Cleveland Gloss., Hag-berry, the fruit of the bird cherry... See Egg-berry another form of the word. 1878 Britten & Holl. Plant-n., Egg-berry, Prunus Padus L. Cf. Heckberry. 1879–86 Britten & Holland, give hackberry, East. Borders, Cumb., Westm.; add. Roxb., Dumf., Perth; hag-berry Scotland generally, Cumb., Westm., N. Lancash., Yorksh.; heckberry, Cumb., Yorksh.; hegberry, Cumb. 1888 Mrs. H. Ward R. Elsmere 3 Masses of the white heckberry or bird-cherry. |