gooseberry

Everyday

1. A small, round, sour green or reddish fruit with fine hairs and stripes that grows on a prickly bush. tree →
2. (UK, informal) «Play gooseberry» means to be the third person with a couple who want to be alone. tree →
3. Cape gooseberry: a different small orange fruit in a papery case. tree →

In the lessons

In gardening and food lessons gooseberries are a traditional British fruit used in pies, jam and «gooseberry fool». In everyday British talk, being «a gooseberry» means feeling left out with a couple. Phrases: gooseberry jam, gooseberry bush, play gooseberry.

Examples

• We picked gooseberries from Grandad's prickly bush. tree →
• Gooseberries are very sour unless you cook them with sugar. tree →
• Mum made a gooseberry crumble. tree →
• I didn't want to play gooseberry, so I left my sister and her boyfriend alone. tree →
• Cape gooseberries are orange and sweet. tree →
• The gooseberry bush scratched my arms. tree →

Note

Plural: gooseberries (y → ies). Pronounced GOOZ-buh-ree (UK) or GOOS-berry. It has nothing to do with geese. Old joke for small children: babies were «found under a gooseberry bush», which is not true.