Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CRAN'BER-RY, n. [crane and berry.]

The fruit of a species of Oxycoccus, [sour berry,] a berry that grows on a slender, bending stalk. It is also called moss-berry, or moore-berry, as it grows only on peat-bogs, or swampy land. The berry when ripe is red, and of the size of a small cherry or of the hawthorn berry. These berries form a sauce of exquisite flavor, and are used for tarts. The cranberry of the United States is the O. macrocarpus, that of Europe is O. palustris. [The common pronunciation, cramberry, is erroneous.]