GOOSEBERRY

gooseberry

(noun) currant-like berry used primarily in jams and jellies

gooseberry, gooseberry bush, Ribes uva-crispa, Ribes grossularia

(noun) spiny Eurasian shrub having greenish purple-tinged flowers and ovoid yellow-green or red-purple berries

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

gooseberry (plural gooseberries)

A fruit, Ribes uva-crispa, related to the currant.

Any other plant or fruit in the subgenus Grossularia, distinguished from currants by bearing spines, including Ribes hirtellum, the American gooseberry.

Any of several other plants that are not closely related but bear fruit in some way similar

the Chinese gooseberry or kiwifruit, the edible berry of a cultivar group of the woody vine Actinidia deliciosa and hybrids between this and other species in the genus Actinidia

the Indian gooseberry (Phyllanthus emblica), emblic, amla.

the Ceylon gooseberry, a species of Dovyalis native to Sri Lanka and southern India

the Barbados gooseberry (Pereskia aculeata), an unusual cactus

The Long Key locustberry or shiny locustberry (Byrsonima lucida)

Jamaican gooseberry tree (Phyllanthus acuminatus), a herb-like plant

star gooseberry

Otaheite gooseberry (Phyllanthus acidus)

katuk (Sauropus androgynus), a shrub grown in some tropical regions as a leaf vegetable

Physalis angulata, also called balloon cherry and cutleaf groundcherry

Cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana), indigenous to South America

poison gooseberry (Withania somnifera)

(dated, British slang) A chaperone.

(chiefly, British) An additional person who is neither necessary nor wanted in a given situation.

(dated, British slang) A fool.

(dated, British slang) A fantastic story; a tall tale; a hoax.

(dated, British slang, vulgar, usually, in the plural) A testicle.

Synonyms

• (fruit): goosegog (UK informal)

• (additional person): third wheel, fifth wheel

• (fool): see fool

• (testicle): see testicles

Source: Wiktionary

Goose"ber*ry, n.; pl. Gooseberries, Etym: [Corrupted for groseberry or groiseberry, fr. OF. groisele, F. groseille, -- of German origin; cf. G. krausbeere, kräuselbeere (fr. kraus crisp), D. kruisbes, kruisbezie (as if crossberry, fr. kruis cross; for kroesbes, kroesbezie, fr. kroes crisp), Sw. krusbär (fr. krus, krusing, crisp). The first part of the word is perh. akin to E. curl. Cf. Grossular, a.]

1. (Bot.)

Definition: Any thorny shrub of the genus Ribes; also, the edible berries of such shrub. There are several species, of which Ribes Grossularia is the one commonly cultivated.

2. A silly person; a goose cap. Goldsmith. Barbadoes gooseberry, a climbing prickly shrub (Pereskia aculeata) of the West Indies, which bears edible berries resembling gooseberries.

– Coromandel gooseberry. See Carambola.

– Gooseberry fool. See lst Fool.

– Gooseberry worm (Zoöl.), the larva of a small moth (Dakruma convolutella). It destroys the gooseberry by eating the interior.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition