Definition

1. Noun:

   • A small, pulpy, and often edible fruit: A "berry" is typically a small, fleshy fruit that develops from a single ovary and contains seeds. In botanical terms, it has a specific structure (e.g., a grape or tomato), but in common culinary use, it refers to various small fruits like strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries.
   • A small, rounded fruit used in desserts, jams, etc.: "Berry" commonly denotes any of numerous small, juicy fruits consumed fresh or used in cooking, baking, and preserves.

2. Verb:

   • To pick or gather berries: The action of collecting berries from plants.

Examples of Usage

• Noun:
  • She added fresh berries to her morning yogurt.
  • The botanist explained that a banana is technically a berry.
• Verb:
  • Every August, we go to the forest to berry.
  • They spent the afternoon berrying for the pie contest.

Advanced Usage

• "To go berrying": To go out specifically to pick wild berries.
  • As children, we loved to go berrying in the hills behind our house.

Variants and Related Words

• Berrylike (adj): Resembling a berry in appearance or texture.
• Berrypicker (n): A person or tool used for gathering berries.

Synonyms

• Fruitlet: A small fruit.
• Drupelet: A small drupe (a fruit with a stone), often part of an aggregate fruit like a raspberry.

Related Phrases (Phrasal Verbs)

(Note: "Berry" is not commonly used in phrasal verb constructions. The verb form typically stands alone.)

Related Idioms

• "As brown as a berry": Very suntanned.
  • After two weeks at the beach, he was as brown as a berry.

Noun

1. United States rock singer (born in 1931)
2. a small fruit having any of various structures, e.g., simple (grape or blueberry) or aggregate (blackberry or raspberry)
3. any of numerous small and pulpy edible fruits; used as desserts or in making jams and jellies and preserves

Verb

1. pick or gather berries
   • We went berrying in the summer