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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 and kirsch.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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cherry (plural cherries)

  2. A small fruit, usually red, black or yellow, with a smooth hard seed and a short hard stem.
  3. Prunus subg. Cerasus, trees or shrubs that bear cherries.
  4. The wood of a cherry tree.
  5. Cherry red.
  6. The fruit of the coffee plant, containing the seeds or beans.
  7. (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 (lyrics and music), “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
  8. (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
    • 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
  9. (cricket, slang) A red cricket ball.
    • 2000, Woorkheri Raman, “Indians adopt safety first tactics”, in ESPNcricinfo‎[2], archived from the original on 2022-07-07, retrieved 2024-11-25:
      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 2016-04-09, retrieved 2024-11-25:
      Players are back out and it's Harmison to have first go with the cherry.
  10. (cricket, slang) A reddish mark left on the bat by the impact of the ball.
  11. 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
  12. The burning tip of a cigarette.

Usage notes

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Hypernyms

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Hyponyms

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other types of cherry tree and fruit

Derived terms

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Descendants

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Translations

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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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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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  • IPA(key): /ʃɛ.ʁi/ ~ /ʃe.ʁi/, /tʃɛ.ʁi/ ~ /tʃe.ʁi/
  • Audio:(file)

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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