- a small green fruit that grows on a bush with thorns. Gooseberries have a bitter sharp taste and are usually cooked to make jam, pies, etc. Children are sometimes told that babies come from ‘under the gooseberry bush’.
- a gooseberry bush
Word Originmid 16th cent.: the first element perhaps from goose, or perhaps based on Old French groseille, altered because of an unexplained association with the bird.Want to learn more?
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Idioms
See gooseberry in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionaryplay gooseberry
- (British English) to be a third person with two people who have a romantic relationship and want to be alone together
Check pronunciation:
gooseberry