dogberry

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
15
Words With Friends
16
Letters
8
Pronunciation
/ˈdɒɡbəɹi/ (UK)
See all 3 pronunciations
/ˈdɒɡbəɹi/ (UK) · /ˈdɔɡˌbɛɹi/ (US) · /ˈdɑɡˌbɛɹi/ (US)

Definition of dogberry

3 senses · 1 part of speech · etymology included

noun

  1. The berry of the dogwood.
See all 3 definitions

noun

  1. The berry of the dogwood.
  2. Clintonia borealis (yellow clintonia)
  3. A pompous, foolish or self-important official.
    “It would be interesting to know how many village Dogberries there were like Thomas Law, the constable of Quendon, Essex, whose reaction in 1651 on being informed of a robbery was to call on the astrologer, William Hills, ‘with an intent to hear what he might say, so that he might make his search accordingly’.”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

See dogwood and berry. Compare also dog rose. Compare German Hundbeere (“bittersweet”), Ancient Greek κυνόσβατος (kunósbatos, “evergreen rose”), Lithuanian šùnobelė (“buckthorn”), Italian mela canina (“mandrake”).

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