"cranberry" - Word of the Day from the OED

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cranberry

SECOND EDITION 1989

(krænbr)  Also 8 craneberry. [A name of comparatively recent appearance in English; entirely unknown to the herbalists of 16-17th c., who knew the plant and fruit as marsh-whorts, fen-whorts, fen-berries, marsh-berries, moss-berries. Several varieties of the name occur in continental languages, as G. kranichbeere, kranbeere, LG. krônbere, krones- or kronsbere, krônsbär, kranebere (all meaning crane-berry); cf. also Sw. tranbär, Da. tranebær, f. trana, trane, crane. As to its introduction into England, see sense 1.] 

    1. The fruit of a dwarf shrub, Vaccinium Oxycoccos, a native of Britain, Northern Europe, Siberia, and N. America, growing in turfy bogs: a small, roundish, dark red, very acid berry. Also the similar but larger fruit of V. macrocarpon, a native of N. America (large or American cranberry). Both are used for tarts, preserves, etc. The name is also given to the shrubs themselves.
  The name appears to have been adopted by the North American colonists from some LG. source, and brought to England with the American cranberries (V. macrocarpon), imported already in 1686, when Ray (Hist. Pl. 685) says of them ‘hujus baccas a Nova Anglia usque missas Londini vidimus et gustavimus. Scriblitis seu ortis (Tarts nostrates vocant) eas inferciunt’. Thence it began to be applied in the 18th c. to the British species (V. Oxycoccos). In some parts, where the latter is unknown, the name is erroneously given to the cowberry (V. Vitis Idæa).

1672 J. JOSSELYN New Eng. Rarities 119 Cranberry, or Bear Berry..is a small trayling plant that grows in salt marshes. 1694 Acct. Sev. Late Voy. I. Introd. p. xvii, A Shrub whose fruit was..full of red juice like Currans, perhaps 'tis the same with the New England Cranberry or Bear-berry with which we make tarts. 1743-4 P. COLLINSON in Linnus Corresp. 18 Jan., I herewith send you a box of Cranberries or Oxycoccus..They came from Pennsylvania; ours in England are very small. 1748 MRS. DELANY Life & Corr. (1861) II. 491, I gathered [near Clogher] four sorts of fruits, raspberries, cranberries, strawberries, and nuts. 1777 J. LIGHTFOOT Flora Scot. I. 203 Cran-berries, Moss-berries, or Moor berries. 1817-8 COBBETT Resid. U.S. (1822) 189 Cranberries, the finest fruit for tarts that ever grew, are bought for about a dollar a bushel, and they will keep..for five months. 1868 QUEEN VICTORIA Life in Highlands 139 The dinner..ending with a good tart of cranberries.

    2. Applied with qualifications to several plants having fruit resembling a cranberry; as Australian cranberry, Lissanthe sapida (family Epacridaceæ); bush cranberry, high cranberry, or cranberry tree, Viburnum Oxycoccos Pursh (family Caprifoliaceæ); Tasmanian cranberry, Astroloma humifusum (family Epacridaceæ).

1836 Backwoods of Canada 144 High and low-bush cranberries..brought by the Squaws in birch baskets..The low-bush cranberries..form a standing preserve on the tea-tables.. but for richness of flavour..I admire the high-bush cranberries. The bush on which this cranberry grows resembles the guelder rose. 1856 A. GRAY Man. Bot. North. U.S. (ed. 2) 168, V. Opulus L. (Cranberry Tree)..(V. Oxycoccus and V. edule, Pursh). The acid fruit is used as a (poor) substitute for cranberries, whence the name High Cranberry-bush. 1866 Treas. Bot. 688 Lissanthe sapida, a native of South-eastern Australia, is called the Australian Cranberry on account of its resemblance both in size and colour to our European cranberry.

    3. attrib. and Comb., as cranberry bog, -crop, marsh, -picking, pie, sauce, -tart; cranberry-gatherer, -rake U.S., an implement used in gathering cranberries; cranberry-tree = high cranberry (see 2).

1807 in Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. 2nd Ser. III. 94 They annually sell a hundred or two bushels of craneberries, which grow in great plenty in their craneberry bogs. 1948 Sat. Even. Post 4 Dec. 70/3 Caleb got lost and wandered down The bottom land to the cranberry bogs.

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1864 G. A. SALA in Daily Tel. 5 July, Speculators who have forestalled the cranberry crop at Cape Cod.

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a1877 KNIGHT Dict. Mech. 642/1 Cranberry-gatherer,..adapted to catch below the berries on the stalk, and collect them in a bag or box attached to the rake-head.

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1748 J. ELIOT Field-Husbandry i. 5 There are three kinds, viz. Thick Swamp, Boggy Meadow, and smooth, even, shaking Meadow; this last sort is called Cramberry Marsh. 1832 Boston Transcript 21 Jan. 1/1 She had a harsh face, like a cranberry marsh all spread with spots of white and red, as if she had the measles. 1924 C. C. DEAM Shrubs of Indiana 278 We have records of cranberry marshes as far south as Warren County.

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1832 L. M. CHILD Frugal Housewife 68 Cranberry pies need very little spice. 1869 MRS. STOWE Oldtown Folks xxvii. 340 Cranberry pies, huckleberry pies.

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1849 Cultivator VII. 52, I have used a wooden machine, made like a cranberry rake,..to gather my clover-seed this season.

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1767 J. ADAMS Diary 8 Apr. in Wks. (1865) II. 206 Tufts..determined to go over and bring [them]..to dine upon wild goose, and cranberry sauce. 1854 M. CUMMINS Lamplighter xix, She doesn't know anything about nursing, let her stick to her cranberry sauce and squash pie. 1948 Reader's Digest Mar. 147/2 We were winding up a huge supper of moose, roast grouse, cranberry sauce.

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1825 J. NEAL Bro. Jonathan II 342 Devouring a cranberry tart.

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