Emily Dickinson Lexicon — CHER'ISH-ER

CHER'RY, n.¹ [Fr. cerise; L. cerasus; It. ciriegia; Port. cereja; Sp. cereza; Arm. geresen D. kars, or kriek; G. kirsche; Sw. kirsbar; Dan. kirsebær; so named, it is said, from Cerasus, a city in Pontus, near the Euxine, whence the tree was imported into Italy.]

The fruit of a tree, a species of Prunus, of which there are many varieties, as the red or garden cherry, the red heart, the white heart, the black cherry, the black heart, and several others. The fruit is a pulp inclosing a kernel. It is related that this fruit was brought from Cerasus in Pontus to Italy, after the defeat of Mithridates by Lucullus, A.R. 680, and introduced into England by the Romans, about 120 years afterward, A.D. 55. Barbadoes cherry, is the genus Malpighia, of several species. The berries are red, cherry-shaped, acid and eatable. Bird cherry, is a species of Prunus, the common laurel, or lauro-cerasus. – Lee. Also the Prunus Padus. – Encyc. Cornelian cherry, is the fruit of the Cornus, cornel-tree or dogwood. It is a small, acid, cherry-like, eatable berry. Dwarf cherry, is the fruit of a species of Lonicera, or honey-suckle. Hottentot cherry, is the fruit of a species of Cassine. The fruit is a trispermous berry of a dark purple color. Winter cherry, is a name of the fruit of the Physalis, a genus of many species. It is a berry of the size of a small cherry, inclosed in an inflated, bladder-like calyx. This name is also given to a species of Solarium. – Fam. of Plants.

CHER'RY, n.²

A cordial composed of cherry juice and spirit, sweetened, and diluted. The wild cherry is most generally used for this purpose, being steeped for some days in spirit, which extracts the juice of the fruit; the tincture is then sweetened and diluted to the taste. This cordial is moderately bitter and astringent. It is sometimes made of the mazzard.

CHER'RY-CHEEK-ED, a.

Having ruddy cheeks. – Congreve.

CHER'RY-PIT, n.

A child's play, in which cherry stones are thrown into a hole. – Shak.

CHER'RY-TREE, n.

A tree whose fruit is cherries, in the more appropriate sense of the word. The name is mostly given to the common cultivated trees, and to that which produces the black wild cherry. The wood of the latter is valued for cabinet work.

CHER'SO-NESE, n. [Gr. χερσονησος; χερσος, land, or uncultivated land, and νησος, an isle.]

A peninsula; a tract of land of any indefinite extent, which is nearly surrounded by water, but united to a larger tract by a neck of land or isthmus; as, the Cimbric Chersonese, or Jutland; the Tauric Chersonese, or Crimea.

CHERT, n.

In mineralogy, a subspecies of rhomboidal quartz; called also hornstone, petrosilex or rock flint. It is less hard than common quartz; its fracture usually dull and splintery, sometimes more or less conchoidal. It is more or less translucent, sometimes at the edges, and sometimes the whole mass, if thin, has the strong translucency of certain horns. Its colors are numerous and usually dull. It is usually amorphous, sometimes globular, or in nodules. It occurs often in veins, especially metallic, in primitive mountains. – Jameson. Cleaveland. Chert is also applied to other minerals besides hornstone. Aikin calls a variety of flint, flinty chert, and the Derbyshire miners apply the term, black chert, to a fusible mineral, whereas the hornstone above described is infusible.

CHERT'Y, a.

Like chert; flinty. – Pennant.

CHER'UB, n. [plur. Cherubs, but the Hebrew plural Cherubim is also used. Heb. כרוב kerub. In Ch. and Syr. the corresponding verb signifies to plow; and the word is said to signify properly any image or figure; if so, it may have been named from engraving. But this is uncertain, and the learned are not agreed on the signification.]

A figure composed of various creatures, as a man, an ox, an eagle or a lion. The first mention of cherubs is in Gen. iii. 24, where the figure is not described, but their office was, with a flaming sword, to keep or guard the way of the tree of life. The two cherubs which Moses was commanded to make at the ends of the mercy seat, were to be of beaten work of gold; and their wings were to extend over the mercy seat, their faces toward each other, and between them was the residence of the Deity. Ex. xxv. The cherubs, in Ezekiel's vision, had each four heads or faces, the hands of a man, and wings. The four faces were, the face of a bull, that of a man, that of a lion, and that of an eagle. They had the likeness of a man. Ezek. iv. and x. In 2 Sam. xxii. 11, and Psalm xviii, Jehovah is represented as riding on a cherub, and flying on the wings of the wind. In the celestial hierarchy, cherubs are represented as spirits next in order to seraphs. The hieroglyphical and emblematical figures embroidered on the veils of the tabernacle are called cherubs of curious or skillful work. Ex. xxvi. A beautiful child is called a cherub.

CHER-U'BIC, or CHER-U'BIC-AL, a.

Pertaining to cherubs; angelic. – Sheldon.

CHER'U-BIM, n.

The Hebrew plural of Cherub.

CHER'U-BIN, a.

Cherubic; angelic. – Shak.

CHER'U-BIN, n.

A cherub. – Dryden.

CHER'UP, v. [or n.]

a corruption of Chirp, – which see.

CHER'VIL, n. [Sax. cerfille, a contraction of L. chærophyllum; Gr. χαιρεφυλλον, χαιρω, to rejoice, and φυλλον, leaf.]

The popular name of a plant, of the genus Chærophyllum.

CHES'A-PEAK, n.

A bay of the United States, whose entrance is between Cape Charles and Cape Henry, in Virginia, and which extends northerly into Maryland 270 miles. It receives the waters of the Susquehannah, Potomac, Rappahannoe, York, and James rivers.

CHES'I-BLE, n. [Old Fr. casuble.]

A short vestment without sleeves, worn by a Popish priest at mass. – Bale.

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