hackberry

[ hak-ber-ee, -buh-ree ]

/ ˈhækˌbɛr i, -bə ri /

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noun, plural hack·ber·ries.

any of several trees or shrubs belonging to the genus Celtis, of the elm family, bearing cherrylike fruit.

the sometimes edible fruit of such a tree.

the wood of such a tree.

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Origin of hackberry

1775–85, Americanism; variant of hagberry (of Scandinavian origin)

Words nearby hackberry

haciendado, Hacienda Heights, hack, hackamore, hackathon, hackberry, hack board, hackbut, Hackensack, hacker, hackery

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use hackberry in a sentence

On a cool, canvas-covered cot in the shade of the hackberry trees Sam Galloway passed the greater part of his time.
Sixes and Sevens|O. Henry
That evening Sam and old man Ellison dragged their chairs out under the hackberry trees.
Sixes and Sevens|O. Henry
His ranch was a little two-room box house in a grove of hackberry trees in the lonesomest part of the sheep country.
Sixes and Sevens|O. Henry
His guitar hung by its buckskin string to a hackberry limb, moaning as the gulf breeze blew across its masterless strings.
Sixes and Sevens|O. Henry

The Hackberry is infested by large numbers of species of Psyllids, and these produce a great variety of interesting galls.
Directions for Collecting and Preserving Insects|C. V. Riley

British Dictionary definitions for hackberry

hackberry

/ (ˈhækˌbɛrɪ) /

noun plural -ries

any American tree or shrub of the ulmaceous genus Celtis, having edible cherry-like fruits

the fruit or soft yellowish wood of such a tree

Word Origin for hackberry

C18: variant of C16 hagberry, of Scandinavian origin; compare Old Norse heggr hackberry

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012