Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A mat-forming, evergreen shrub (Vaccinium macrocarpon) in the heath family, native to eastern North America and widely cultivated for its tart, red, edible berries.
  • noun The berries of this plant, used in sauces, jellies, relishes, and beverages.
  • noun Any of several other plants in the genus Vaccinium having red berries, especially V. oxycoccos.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The fruit of several species of Vaccinium.
  • noun The plant which bears this fruit.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Bot.) A red, acid berry, much used for making sauce, etc.; also, the plant producing it (several species of Vaccinum or Oxycoccus.) The high cranberry or cranberry tree is a species of Viburnum (Viburnum Opulus), and the other is sometimes called low cranberry or marsh cranberry to distinguish it.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A shrub belonging to the subgenus oxycoccus of the genus Vaccinium, consisting of four species.
  • noun The red berry of that shrub.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun very tart red berry used for sauce or juice
  • noun any of numerous shrubs of genus Vaccinium bearing cranberries

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Partial translation of Low German Kraanbere : Kraan, crane (from Middle Low German kran; see gerə- in Indo-European roots) + bere, berry.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

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.

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