Cranberry

Origin

Adapted in the 1640s from Dutch Low Saxon

or German Low German Kraanbeere, from Kraan m, which means and is cognate to crane + Beere f, which means and is cognate to berry.

Full definition of cranberry

Noun

1. A shrub belonging to the subgenus oxycoccus of the genus Vaccinium, consisting of four species.
2. The red berry of that shrub.
• 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, Mr. Pratt's Patients Chapter 8, That concertina was a wonder in its way. The handles that was on it first was wore out long ago, and he'd made new ones of braided rope yarn. And the bellows was patched in more places than a cranberry picker's overalls.

Synonyms

• arando Vaccinium erythrocarpum
• bearberry Vaccinium erythrocarpum or
• dingleberry Vaccinium erythrocarpum
• fenberry dated Vaccinium oxycoccos
• mossberry Canada

Derived terms

• American cranberry
• common cranberry Vaccinium oxycoccos
• cranberry juice
• cranberry morpheme
• cranberrylike
• highbush cranberry
• large cranberry
• northern cranberry Vaccinium oxycoccos
• small cranberry
• southern mountain cranberry Vaccinium erythrocarpum