blackberry
/ˈblækbɛɹi/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.65 in modern English
23
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
3
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A fruit-bearing shrub of the aggregate species Rubus fruticosus and some hybrids.
verb
To gather or forage for blackberries.
noun
A wireless handheld device, a cross between a cellphone and a mobile email appliance and Internet-capable PDA, marketed by BlackBerry Limited.
verb
To send a text message or e-mail with a BlackBerry device.
Example Sentences
- "Here at the creek, a ways off from the trail, we have blackberries for now, not as fat and sweet as they get, but I like them tart, with that little bit of red still at their tops, or if they’re just a little hard and not so soft they come off when you pull at them and leave your fingers stained."
- "She had gone up into the tower alone and left them blackberrying in the sun"
- "My mother and Cordelia were blackberrying along the woods edge of a nearby meadow."
- "Thereafter we blackberried unceasingly and returned with a large basketful, together with some maggoty windfall apples found neglected in the wet grass on the edge of an orchard and Mrs Clare duly stewed these for us."
- "My wife and children were blackberrying at the end of the garden and I was simply reading."
- "Another instance of someone who is blackberrying and sees fairies can be found at Kingheriot Farm (South-West Wales: Pembrokeshire): maybe gathering berries puts the percipient into a relaxed or dissociated frame of mind, more conducive to being able to see things that one would perhaps not normally be able to see."
Etymology
Etymology tree Old English blæcberġe Middle English blakberie English blackberry From Middle English blakberie, blakeberie (“brambleberry”), from Old English blacu berġe, blæcberġe (attested in plural blaca berġan), equivalent to black + berry.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: blakberie, blacu berġe
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈblækbɛɹi/
- British English: /ˈblækbəɹi/