barberry

American  

[bahr-ber-ee, -buh-ree] / ˈbɑrˌbɛr i, -bə ri /

noun

• barberries
  plural

1. a shrub of the genus Berberis, especially B. vulgaris, having yellow flowers in elongated clusters.

2. the red, elongated, acid fruit of this shrub.

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barberry British  

/ ˈbɑːbərɪ /

noun

1. any spiny berberidaceous shrub of the widely distributed genus Berberis , esp B. vulgaris , having clusters of yellow flowers and orange or red berries: widely cultivated as hedge plants

2. the fruit of any of these plants

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• barberries
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of barberry

1350–1400; Middle English barbere < Medieval Latin barbaris (< Arabic barbāris ), with -baris conformed to bere berry

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

barberry barberries

Berberine is a chemical compound extracted from plants like goldenseal and barberry and often sold as a supplement, typically in capsules filled with yellow-tinged powder.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 12, 2023

Plucking a thorn from a nearby Japanese barberry bush, he scraped the yellow dust off, revealing three painted dots underneath.

From New York Times ● Oct. 16, 2021

"Three of the most common ornamental species that are actually invasive are burning bush, privet, and barberry, but there are dozens of others."

From Salon ● Sep. 17, 2021

They dug out more than 30 barberry, nandina and other mature shrubs, but the makeover really picked up steam when Leider got his hands on a sod-cutter.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 20, 2021

There is an endless variety in these various welcomes among the flowers, and our barberry has one of the queerest of them all.

From Eye Spy Afield with Nature Among Flowers and Animate Things by W. Hamilton (William Hamilton) Gibson

Acres of terraced growing areas and multiple greenhouses produced many native plants grown from seed collected around the park such as sumacs, ceanothus, yellow-blooming flannel bush, manzanitas, barberries, monkeyflowers, Catalina cherry, toyon and coffeeberry.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 26, 2024

His brisket is shawarma-inspired, served with stewed leeks, thyme and pickled barberries.

From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2023

The Indian mutanjan pulao is also evocative of the Persian Morasa Polow or jewelled rice that packs in shreds of chicken breast along with barberries, pistachio, raisins and orange peel.

From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2023

Over at Amoo’s, chef and co-owner Sebastian Oveysi serves not one, but five kinds of rice, including an almost candied preparation with glazed pistachios, barberries, orange peel and more.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 18, 2019

Mamou made my favorite dish for dinner: zereshk polow, which is rice mixed with sweetened dried red barberries.

From "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram

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