Definitions

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

  • noun A sweet grape dried either in the sun or by artificial means.
  • noun A deep brownish purple.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A cluster of grapes; also, a grape.
  • noun A dried grape of the common Old World species, Vitis vinifera.

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

  • noun obsolete A grape, or a bunch of grapes.
  • noun A grape dried in the sun or by artificial heat.
  • noun (Bot.), [Eng.] the common red currant bush, whose fruit resembles the small raisins of Corinth called currants.

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

  • noun A dried grape.

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

  • noun dried grape

Etymologies

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

[Middle English, from Old French, grape, from Vulgar Latin *racīmus, from Latin racēmus, bunch of grapes.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Old French raisin ("grape"), from Latin racēmus.

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Examples

  • Apparently a raisin is a dried grape (knew that) while a sultana is a seedless raisin (didn't know that - presumably they mean dried seedless grape and not a raisin they've gone to the trouble of taking the seed from) and a currant is a dried seedless grape of a specific variety.

    Archive 2006-01-01 Jonathan 2006

  • Apparently a raisin is a dried grape (knew that) while a sultana is a seedless raisin (didn't know that - presumably they mean dried seedless grape and not a raisin they've gone to the trouble of taking the seed from) and a currant is a dried seedless grape of a specific variety.

    Currant affairs Jonathan 2006

  • Sour cream raisin is an old farm recipe in the midwest.

    sweet, not savory! | Homesick Texan Homesick Texan 2009

  • You know, there's money in raisin 'horses -- especially the big workhorses that run to eighteen hundred an' two thousand pounds.

    CHAPTER II 2010

  • On the menu it is referred to as "raisin et cannelle."

    Parisian Patisserie's Stateside Landing Marshall Heyman 2011

  • Made with Friday's leftover raisin raisin challah, local eggs and honey purchased at the Ballard Farmers Market (from Washington Bees that took a trip to California to pollinate lime, lemon and orange crops).

    As seen on my FLICKR 2006

  • Made with Friday's leftover raisin raisin challah, local eggs and honey purchased at the Ballard Farmers Market (from Washington Bees that took a trip to California to pollinate lime, lemon and orange crops).

    Raisin challah french toast with citrus honey 2006

  • I had the pork in raisin, prune and apricot sauce and felt it was also quite good.

    Visit to Patzcuaro - Questions 2006

  • Made with Friday's leftover raisin raisin challah, local eggs and honey purchased at the Ballard Farmers Market (from Washington Bees that took a trip to California to pollinate lime, lemon and orange crops).

    Raisin challah french toast with citrus honey 2006

  • Made with Friday's leftover raisin raisin challah, local eggs and honey purchased at the Ballard Farmers Market (from Washington Bees that took a trip to California to pollinate lime, lemon and orange crops).

    Seattle Bon Vivant: 2006

Comments

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  • Daffynition: a grape with a sunburn.

    January 6, 2007

  • If you put a raisin in a glass of champagne, it will keep floating to the top and sinking to the bottom.

    May 7, 2008

  • Now you're getting existential on my ass.

    May 10, 2008

  • Speaking of existentialism, have you ever pondered your raisin d'etre, yarb?

    May 10, 2008

  • No, but thank you for raisin' the point.

    May 10, 2008