Forms: see STRAW sb. and BERRY sb.1: also 4–6 straubery, 5–6 strebere, 6 strai-, strawbere, 7 -berre, strewbery, stra-, strawbury. [OE. stréaw-, stréow, stréa-, stréuberiʓe, f. stréaw STRAW sb.1 + beriʓe BERRY sb.
No corresponding word is found in any other Teut. lang. The reason for the name has been variously conjectured. One explanation refers the first element to STRAW sb.1 2, a particle of straw or chaff, a mote, describing the appearance of the achenes scattered over the surface of the strawberry; another view is that it designates the runners (cf. STRAW sb.1 3).
The view of Kluge, that OE. stréaw- in streawberiʓe is cogn. w. L. frāgum strawberry, is not phonologically satisfactory, and is also open to objection on other grounds.]
I. 1. The ‘fruit’ (popularly so called) of any species of the genus Fragaria, a soft bag-shaped receptacle, of a characteristic color (scarlet to yellowish), full of juicy acid pulp, and dotted over with small yellow seed-like achenes. It is eaten alone or crushed with sugar and cream (or wine). The wild or wood strawberry is smaller than the cultivated kinds.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 136/14. Fraga, streaberiʓe.
1328–9. Exch. K. R. Mem. Rolls, 2 Edw. III., m. 166. 1 furcam de argento pro strauberiis.
c. 1340. Nominale (Skeat), 693. Frese rouge, streberie.
c. 1450. Two Cookery-bks., II. 75. And streberies, if hit be in time of yere.
a. 1500[?]. London Lickpenny, ix. (MS. Harl. 542). Hot pescods, one gan cry, strabery rype, and chery in the ryse.
1541. in MSS. Dk. Rutland (Hist. MSS. Comm.), IV. 314. To a servaunte … that brought streberes to my Lorde Roose, iiijd.
1542. Boorde, Dyetary, xiii. (1870), 267. Rawe crayme vndecocted, eaten with strawberyes or hurlis, is a rurall mannes banket.
1620. Venner, Via Recta, vii. 126. The wilde or voluntary Strawberies … are not so good as those that are manured in gardens.
1655. Walton, Angler, I. v. (1661), 118. We may say of Angling as Dr. Boteler said of Strawberries; Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did.
1788. J. Hurdis, Village Curate (1797), 75. To Godstow bound … For strawberries and cream.
1862. Calverley, Verses & Transl. (ed. 2), 17. At my side she mashed the fragrant Strawberry.
2. The plant that bears this fruit; a stemless herb with trifoliate leaves, white flowers, and slender runners that trail on the ground.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., I. 138. Ðeos wyrt ðe man fraga & oðrum naman streawberʓean nemneð.
a. 1387. Sinon. Barthol. (Anecd. Oxon.), 22. Fragaria, Fraser, straubery.
1530. Palsgr., 277/1. Straubery an herbe, fraysier.
1563. Hyll, Art Garden. (1593), 107. The Strawberrie is accounted among those hearbs that grow in the fieldes of their owne accorde.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, I. lviii. 84. The Strawberrie with his small and slender hearie branches, creepeth alongst the ground.
1866. Treas. Bot., 504. The Pine Strawberries have generally large flowers and fruit, with foliage of a darker green … than that of the scarlets.
1870. H. Macmillan, True Vine, v. (1872), 224. The fragrance that is absent from the leaf and the blossom of the strawberry is apparent in the delicious fruit.
3. A representation of the fruit as an ornament.
1523. in Archæologia, XXXVIII. 360. A leyer of sylver, doble gylte, with a straibere on þe topp.
1533. in Kal. & Inv. Exch. (1836), II. 291. Item a salte of golde wrought wt braunches of strawburyes wt a tufte of strawburyes or hawes opon the cover.
1604. Shaks., Oth., III. iii. 435. A Handkerchiefe Spotted with Strawberries.
4. Short for strawberry color, red, etc.
1688. Lond. Gaz., No. 2364/4. A light Sorrel Nag, inclining to a Strawberry.
5. Short for strawberry jam.
1890. R. C. Lehmann, Harry Fludyer, 6. Cook says she is pleased you liked the jam, but there are only three of the strawberry left, and would you like some of the gooseberry?
II. attrib. and Comb.
6. attrib., passing into adj. Resembling a strawberry in color. Also strawberry roan, crushed strawberry, etc.
1675. Lond. Gaz., No. 1038/4. Stolen … A strawberry Mare.
1690. Pagan Prince, xxx. 83. A grave Gentleman with a Strawberry Countenance.
1854. Poultry Chron., I. 263/1. In colour they are mealy or strawberry, the wings barred with a redder tint.
1864. Boutell, Her. Hist. & Pop., xxviii. 435. A strawberry-roan horse salient.
1897. ‘Olive P. Rayner’ (Grant Allen), Type-writer Girl, i. 16. Our modern novelists dress her up afresh in the princess robe of the day (sage green or crushed strawberry).
1899. Westm. Gaz., 13 April, 3/1. A strawberry and white cow.
7. Simple attrib., as strawberry bed, blossom, border, garden, † -prick (= seed), root, runner, seed, time.
1535. in E. Law, Hampton Crt. Pal. (1885), 372. For gathering of 34 bushells of strawberry rot.
1573–80. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 41. Wife, into thy garden, and set me a plot, with strawbery rootes.
1619. Depositions Bk., Archd. Essex & Colchester, 117 b. Deponit that, in Strabury tyme was twelve moneth, [etc.].
1681. Grew, Musæum, I. § 7. i. 160. In colour, shape, and bigness like a Strawberry-seed.
1682. Wheler, Journ. Greece, I. 45. The curious Plants I here took particular notice of, are these:… 9. Lychnis, with Flowers, speckled, like the Strawberry-pricks.
1699. Evelyn, Kal. Hort., March (ed. 9), 34. You can hardly over-water your Strawberry-Beds in a dry Season. Ibid., Aug., 99. Pluck up Strawberry Runners.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 8 May 1654. A vineyard, planted in strawberry borders.
1802. Wordsw., Foresight, 3. Strawberry blossoms, one and all, We must spare them.
b. Designating a confection or drink in which strawberries are an ingredient or flavoring, as † strawberry ale, water, wine; strawberry cream, ice (-cream), jam, jelly.
1523. in W. H. Turner, Select. Rec. Oxford (1880), 49. For strawbery ale and a posset iiijd.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., II. V. I. vi. (1624), 327. Strawbury water.
1669. Sir K. Digby’s Closet opened, 127. Strawberry Wine.
1818. S. F. Gray, Suppl. Pharmacopœias, 291. Strawberry jelly.
1846. Soyer, Cookery, 552. Fill it with strawberry ice.
1861. [Trevelyan], Horace at Univ. Athens (1862), 12. Pitching into strawberry-jam Like wranglers at their tea.
1862. Mrs. I. Williamson, Pract. Cookery (ed. 5), 151. Strawberry Cream.
1890. R. C. Lehmann, Harry Fludyer, 8. Afterwards a strawberry ice cream landed on his shirt-front.
c. Parasynthetic and similative, as strawberry-colo(u)red, -like.
1688. Lond. Gaz., No. 2310/4. A Strawberry colour’d Gelding above 13 hands.
1756. W. Toldervy, Hist. Two Orphans, IV. 196. An open chaise, drawn by a pair of strawberry coloured horses.
1862. Ansted, Channel Isl., IV. xxi. (ed. 2), 496. Its bright red strawberry-like berries.
1875. B. Meadows, Clin. Observ., 15. The child is peevish,… with relaxed bowels, and a strawberry-like tongue.
8. Special comb.: strawberry bags U.S., the fish Pomoxys sparoides; strawberry blite, Blitum capitatum and B. virgatum, the fruit of which resembles the strawberry; strawberry bush, (a) = strawberry shrub; (b) the shrub Euonymus americanus, with crimson and scarlet pods; † strawberry cinquefoil, the genus Potentilla; strawberry clover = strawberry trefoil (Prior, Plant-n., 1863); † strawberry cockle, some kind of shell-fish; strawberry comb, a cock’s-comb resembling a strawberry; strawberry crab (see quot.); strawberry finch, the amadavat; strawberry geranium (see quot.); strawberry-headed trefoil = strawberry trefoil; strawberry-mark, a birth-mark or nævus resembling a strawberry; strawberry pear, the fruit of the W. Indian cactus Cereus triangularis, or the plant itself (Treas. Bot., 1866); strawberry perch U.S. = strawberry bass; strawberry shrub U.S. = CALYCANTHUS; strawberry spinach = strawberry blite; strawberry tomato (see quot.); strawberry tongue (see quot.); strawberry-tree, † (a) = sense 2; (b) = ARBUTUS; (c) U.S. = strawberry bush b; strawberry trefoil, Trifolium fragiferum; strawberry vine = sense 2; strawberry wire, the runner of the strawberry plant; † strawberry wise, † with = sense 2.
Also, in recent U.S. dictionaries, in names of insects injurious to the fruit or plant, as strawberry borer, moth, sawfly, weevil, worm, etc.
1882. Jordan & Gilbert, Syn. Fishes N. Amer., 465. Pomoxys sparoides,… *Strawberry Bass.
1753. Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl. App., *Strawberry-blite.
1847. Darlington, Amer. Weeds (1860), 135. Calycanthus … *Strawberry-bush.
1856. A. Gray, Man. Bot. (1860), 81. Euonymus Americanus, Strawberry Bush.
1753. Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., s.v. Pentaphylloides, The erect pentaphylloides, called by authors the *strawberry-cinque-foil.
1713. Petiver, Aquat. Anim. Amboinæ, 4/2. Red *Strawbery Cockle.
1815. Burrow, Elem. Conchol., 195. Cardium Fragum. White Strawberry Cockle. C. Unedo. Strawberry Cockle.
1746. in Poultry Chron. (1855), III. 439. Yellow Dun, low *strawberry comb.
1850. [A. White], Spec. Anim. Brit. Mus., IV. Crustacea, 8. Eurynome aspera, *Strawberry Crab.
1880. Bessey, Bot., 526. Saxifraga sarmentosa, the so-called *Strawberry Geranium, a fine basket plant from China.
1822. Hortus Anglicus, II. 271. *Strawberry headed Trefoil.
1847. J. M. Morton, Box & Cox (at end). Have you such a thing as a *strawberry mark on your left arm?
1888. Goode, Amer. Fishes, 69. In Lake Erie, and in Ohio generally, it is the ‘Strawberry Bass,’ *‘Strawberry Perch’ or ‘Grass Bass.’
1731. Miller, Gard. Dict., Chenopodio-morus; major … commonly call’d *Strawberry Spinage.
1867. A. Gray, Man. Bot. (1874), 382. Physalis Alkekengi. *Strawberry Tomato.
1876. Dunglison, Med. Lex., *Strawberry Tongue, a characteristic appearance of the tongue in scarlatina, in which, after the clearing away of a thick white fur, the organ becomes preternaturally red and clean.
14[?]. Lat.-Eng. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 584/29. Fragus, a *streberytre.
1548. Turner, Names Herbes, 16. Arbutus … may be called in english strawbery tree, or an arbute tree.
a. 1687. Petty, Polit. Surv. Irel. (1719), 109. That part of Kerry called Desmond, where the Arbutus or Strawberry Tree groweth in great Quantity.
1845. A. Gray, Bot. Text-bk. (ed. 2), 376. Euonymus Americanus (sometimes called Strawberry tree).
1731. Miller, Gard. Dict., Trifolium; fragiferum.… *Strawberry-Trefoil.
1867. Augusta Wilson, Vashti, iii. I … pull out grass and weeds from the *strawberry vines.
1601. Holland, Pliny, XXV. ix. II. 228, marg. The leaves of Cinquefoile are much like to the Strawberrie leafe: But as the one hath no fruit or berrie at all, so the other (to wit, the *Strawberrie-wire) puts forth but three leaves.
1879. Miss Jackson, Shropsh. Word-bk., Straberry-wires, strawberry-runners.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 136/15. Framen, *streaberiewisan.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 478/2. Strawbery wyse [Winch. MS. strawbyry vyse], fragus.
c. 1450. M. E. Med. Bk. (Heinrich), 177. Tak bugle, streberywyse, mene consond [etc.].
1483. Cath. Angl., 367/1. A *Straberi wythe, fragus.
† b. In allusion to Latimer’s condemnation of preachers who preach only once a year (see quots. below), as strawberry preacher, preaching, sermon; strawberry-wise adv.
1549. Latimer, Ploughers (Arb.), 20. The preachynge of the worde of God vnto the people is called meate…. Not strauberies, that come but once a yeare and tary not longe…. The people muste haue meate that muste be familier and continuall, and dayly geuen vnto them to fede vpon. Many make a strauberie of it, ministringe it but once a yeare, but such do not thoffice of good prelates.
1566. in Latimer’s Serm. (Parker Soc., 1844), 62, note. A pitious case it is, that now in all Oxford there is not past five or six preachers, I except strawberry preachers.
1605. F. Mason, Author. Ch. (1607), 24. Wherefore that in stead of strawberie Sermons there might bee a more plentifull prouision in the house of God, our Church hath decreed, that [etc.].
1606. S. Gardiner, Bk. Angling, 107. Then would not Sermons bee so daintie as they are, which come from some strawberre-wise, that is, once a yeere.
1615. Hieron, Dignitie of Preaching, 14. That, which old Latimer … once blamed vnder the witty terme of strawbery-preaching.
1648. E. Sparke, Shute’s Sarah & Hagar, Pref. b j b. These are no Strawberry-Sermons, pick’d and cull’d out with long vagaries.
Hence † Strawberried ppl. a., marked with a strawberry-mark. Strawberrying vbl. sb., gathering strawberries (in phr. to go strawberrying).
1634. Shirley, Example, IV. i. I can gather Warme Snowe from her faire brow, her chin, her neck,… Sated with these, I’le finde new appetite, And come a wanton strawberying to her cheekes.
1675. Lond. Gaz., No. 1035/4. Strayed away…, a gray Gelding,… Strawberred in the near Cheak.
1856. Susan Warner, Hills of Shatemuc, viii. I wonder who’ll go strawberrying with them?
