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cherry

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Cherry

English

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Cherries of varying degrees of ripeness

Etymology

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From Middle English chery , cherie , chirie , from Anglo-Norman cherise (mistaken as a plural) and Old English ċiris , ċirse ("cherry"), both ultimately from Vulgar Latin ceresia , derived from Late Latin ceresium , cerasium , from Ancient Greek κεράσιον (kerásion, "cherry fruit"), from κερασός (kerasós, "bird cherry "), and ultimately possibly of Anatolian origin (the intervocalic σ suggests a pre-Greek origin for the word).[1] Doublet of cerise , Giresun , and kirsch .

Pronunciation

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Noun

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cherry (plural cherries )

  1. A small fruit, usually red, black or yellow, with a smooth hard seed and a short hard stem.
  2. Prunus subg. Cerasus , trees or shrubs that bear cherries.
  3. The wood of a cherry tree.
  4. Cherry red.
  5. The fruit of the coffee plant, containing the seeds or beans.
  6. (slang ) Virginity, especially female virginity as embodied by a hymen.
    • 1965 [1955], J. P. Donleavy, The Ginger Man , New York: Delacorte Press, page 39:
      "Well, Dangerfield, in less than an hour I'm off in search of my fortune. Jesus, I'm excited, like I was going to lose my cherry. Woke up this morning with an erection that almost touched the ceiling."
    • 1979, David Bowie, Brian Eno, "Boys Keep Swinging", in Lodger, performed by David Bowie:
      Nothing stands in your way when you're a boy / Clothes always fit ya / Life is a pop of the cherry when you're a boy
    • 1979, Gustav Hasford, The Short-Timers, New York: Bantam Books, published 1980, →ISBN, page 20:
      Philips—Sergeant Gerheim's black, silver-tongued House Mouse—is telling everybody about the one thousand cherries he has busted.
    • 1986, "Short Side (Blow Job Betty)" (track 5, 6:36–6:43 from the start), in Too Short (lyrics), Raw, Uncut and X-Rated :
      So what bitch, I busted your cherry – / Hell fucking no, I don’t wanna git married
  7. (graph theory ) A subtree consisting of a node with exactly two leaves.
    • 2004, Suleyman Cenk Sahinalp, S Muthukrishnan, Ugur Dogrusoz, Combinatorial Pattern Matching, Berlin [...] : Springer-Verlag, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 210:
      Non-isomorphism is detected whenever the algorithm finds a cherry v 1 ∈ T 1 {\displaystyle v_{1}\in T_{1}} {\displaystyle v_{1}\in T_{1}}
    • 2005, Lior Pachter, Bernd Sturmfels, Algebraic Statistics for Computational Biology, Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 74:
      Step 3: Output the tree T. The edge lengths of T are determined recursively: If (x,y) is a cherry connected to node z as in Step 2
  8. (cricket , slang ) A red cricket ball.
    • 2000, Woorkheri Raman, "Indians adopt safety first tactics", in ESPNcricinfo‎[2] , archived from the original on 7 July 2022, retrieved 25 November 2024:
      The Indians have to get early wickets on the morrow and they will have the option of taking the new cherry.
    • 2007, Ben Dirs, "England v West Indies 1st Test", in BBC Sport‎[3] , archived from the original on 9 April 2016, retrieved 25 November 2024:
      Players are back out and it's Harmison to have first go with the cherry.
  9. (cricket , slang ) A reddish mark left on the bat by the impact of the ball.
  10. A round, red light of the kind that is typically mounted on top of a police car.
    Synonym: cherrytop
    • 2009, Sandra Brown, Smash Cut, New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 249:
      "What do you think?" he asked as he wove through traffic, matching Sanford's speed but without the benefit of a flashing cherry on the roof of his car.
    • 2011, Rick Mofina, In Desperation, Don Mills, Ontario: MIRA, →ISBN, page 44:
      "This is a cartel operation," Hackett said as Larson activated the dash-mounted cherry
  11. The burning tip of a cigarette.

Usage notes

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Hypernyms

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Hyponyms

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Derived terms

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Descendants

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Translations

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fruit
tree
wood
color
slang: virginity
graph theory: subtree consisting of two nodes

See also

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Adjective

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cherry (comparative cherrier or more cherry, superlative cherriest or most cherry)

  1. Containing or having the taste of cherries.
  2. Of a bright red color; cherry red.
    cherry:  
  3. (informal , often of cars) In excellent condition; mint condition.
    • 2003, John Morgan Wilson, Blind Eye, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, →ISBN, page 108:
      A few years earlier, I’d restored my ’65 Mustang convertible to cherry condition—fire engine red, with matching tuck-and-roll—and I wasn’t surprised that it drew attention.
    • 2006, "White & Nerdy", in "Weird Al" Yankovic (lyrics), Straight Outta Lynwood , performed by "Weird Al" Yankovic:
      All of my action figures are cherry

Derived terms

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Translations

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flavour
color
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

See also

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Verb

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cherry (third-person singular simple present cherries , present participle cherrying , simple past and past participle cherried )

  1. (transitive , dated , obsolete ) To redden; to infuse a cherrylike color to something.
  2. (transitive , dated , obsolete ) To cheer, to delight.

References

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  1. ^ Robert Stephen Paul Beekes (2010), "κέρασος", in Etymological Dictionary of Greek‎[1] , Brill, →ISBN

French

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Etymology

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From English cherry .

Pronunciation

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Noun

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cherry m (plural cherrys or cherries )

  1. cherry brandy

Further reading

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Spanish

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA (key): /ˈt͡ʃeri/ [ˈt͡ʃe.ri]
  • Rhymes: -eri
  • Syllabification: che‧rry

Noun

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cherry m (plural cherrys or cherries )

  1. cherry tomato

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