Obs. Forms: 5 bery, 6 beery, 6–7 berrie, berry. [See BURROW.]
1. A (rabbit’s) burrow. Hence, the spec. name for a company of rabbits.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, F vi. A Bery of Conyis.
1519. Horman, Vulg., 283 b. I haue nede of a feret, to let into this beery to styrt out the conies.
1585. Mod. Curiosities Art & Nat. To make rabbets come out of their berries without a ferret.
1613. Purchas, Pilgr., IX. vii. 862. It [the penguin] … feeds on fish and grass and harbors in berries.
1685. R. Burton, Eng. Emp. Amer., xiii. 165. Musk-Rats who live in holes and Berries like Rabbits.
2. transf. An excavation; a mine in besieging.
1598. Sylvester, Du Bartas (1608), 514. Till one strict berrie, till one winding cave, Become the fight-field of two armies.
