DCHP-1 Online

chokecherry † 

• 1 n. an astringent wild cherry of the genus Prunus, especially P. virginianus.

  See also: chokeberry (def. 2)  

  • 1793  (1933)  The wild plumb . . . choak and sand cherries . . . are also natives of this [Assiniboine] country.
  • 1886  He poured over the meat a thick, reddish-colored . . . sauce, which I . . . recognized as boiled dried choke-cherries.
  • 1954  Cranberries, choke-cherries and the tall wild roses strewed their reds and starlets in amongst the gold and green. . . .

• 2 n. the shrubby tree these cherries grow on.

  • 1809  (1889-1890)  . . . cutting a green branch of chokecherry and passing it through a piece of fat dried meat, they planted it in the ground close to each pipe.
  • 1961  A . . . pair of brown thrashers have taken over a bushy bunch of choke cherries.