Gooseberry
Gooseberry , noun
[Corrupted for groseberry or groiseberry, from Old French groisele, French groseille, -- of German origin; compare German krausbeere, krauselbeere (from kraus crisp), Dutch kruisbes, kruisbezie (as if crossberry, from kruis cross; for kroesbes, kroesbezie, from kroes crisp), Swedish krusbar (from krus, krusing, crisp). The first part of the word is perh. akin to English curl. Compare Grossular, a.]
1.
(Botany) Any thorny shrub of the genus Ribes; also, the edible berries of such shrub. There are several species, of which Ribes Grossularia is the one commonly cultivated.
2.
A silly person; a goose cap. — Goldsmith
Collocations (4)
Barbadoes gooseberry , a climbing prickly shrub (Pereskia aculeata) of the West Indies, which bears edible berries resembling gooseberries.
Coromandel gooseberry , See Carambola.
Gooseberry fool , See 1st Fool.
Gooseberry worm (Zoology) , the larva of a small moth (Dakruma convolutella). It destroys the gooseberry by eating the interior.