cherry

Etymology

From Middle English chery, cherie, chirie, from Anglo-Norman cherise (mistaken as a plural) and Old English ċiris, ċirse (“cherry”), both ultimately from Vulgar Latin ceresia, derived from Late Latin ceresium, cerasium, from Ancient Greek κεράσιον (kerásion, “cherry fruit”), from κερασός (kerasós, “bird cherry”), and ultimately possibly of Anatolian origin (the intervocalic σ suggests a pre-Greek origin for the word). Doublet of cerise and kirsch.

noun

1. A small fruit, usually red, black or yellow, with a smooth hard seed and a short hard stem.
2. Prunus subg. Cerasus, trees or shrubs that bear cherries.
3. The wood of a cherry tree.
4. (color) Cherry red.
5. The fruit of the coffee plant, containing the seeds or beans.
6. (slang) Virginity, especially female virginity as embodied by a hymen.
   "Well, Dangerfield, in less than an hour I'm off in search of my fortune. Jesus, I'm excited, like I was going to lose my cherry. Woke up this morning with an erection that almost touched the ceiling." 1955, J P Donleavy, The Ginger Man, France, published 1955 (France), page 39
   Nothing stands in your way when you're a boy / Clothes always fit ya / Life is a pop of the cherry when you're a boy 1979, David Bowie, Brian Eno (lyrics and music), “Boys Keep Swinging”, in Lodger, performed by David Bowie
   Philips—Sergeant Gerheim's black, silver-tongued House Mouse—is telling everybody about the one thousand cherries he has busted. 1979, Gustav Hasford, The Short-Timers, New York: Bantam Books, published 1980, page 20
   So what bitch, I busted your cherry – / Hell fucking no, I don’t wanna git married 1986, “Short Side (Blow Job Betty)” (track 5, 6:36–6:43 from the start), in Too Short (lyrics), Raw, Uncut and X-Rated
7. (graph theory) A subtree consisting of a node with exactly two leaves.
   Non-isomorphism is detected whenever the algorithm finds a cherry v_1∈T_1… 2004, Suleyman Cenk Sahinalp, S Muthukrishnan, Ugur Dogrusoz, Combinatorial Pattern Matching
   Step 3: Output the tree T. The edge lengths of T are determined recursively: If (x,y) is a cherry connected to node z as in Step 2… 2005, Lior Pachter, Bernd Sturmfels, Algebraic Statistics for Computational Biology
8. (cricket, slang) A cricket ball.
   The Indians have to get early wickets on the morrow and they will have the option of taking the new cherry. 2000, Woorkheri Raman, Indians adopt safety first tactics, ESPNcricinfo
   Players are back out and it's Harmison to have first go with the cherry. 2007, Ben Dirs, England v West Indies 1st Test, BBC
9. A round, red light of the kind that is typically mounted on top of a police car.
   "What do you think?" he asked as he wove through traffic, matching Sanford's speed but without the benefit of a flashing cherry on the roof of his car. 2009, Sandra Brown, Smash Cut, page 333
   “This is a cartel operation,” Hackett said as Larson activated the dash-mounted cherry 2014-02-28, Rick Mofina, In Desperation (A Jack Gannon Novel, Book 3)
10. The burning tip of a cigarette.

adj

1. Containing or having the taste of cherries.
2. Of a bright red colour; cherry red.
   cherry:
3. (informal, often of cars) In excellent condition; mint condition.
   A few years earlier, I’d restored my ’65 Mustang convertible to cherry condition—fire engine red, with matching tuck-and-roll—and I wasn’t surprised that it drew attention. 2003, John Morgan Wilson, Blind Eye, St. Martin’s Press, page 108
   All of my action figures are cherry 2006, “White & Nerdy”, in "Weird Al" Yankovic (lyrics), Straight Outta Lynwood, performed by "Weird Al" Yankovic