DCHP-3

huckleberry

[prob. a variant of hurtleberry]
DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.

1n.

a shrub of the genus Gaylussacia; also its edible, bluish-black berries.

This term is also used to refer to the blueberry, Vaccinium sp., as may, in fact, be the case in some of the following quotations.

Quotations

1743
a Huckle Berrie Mis ke ma na.
1852
"We shall have neither huckleberries nor strawberries this summer," she said, mournfully. . . .
1902
The point he chose was where a dense growth of huckleberry and withe-wood ran out to within a few feet of the water's edge, and where the sand of the beach was dotted thickly with tufts of grass.
1958
They . . . lived off the land, utilizing fish . . . salmon berries, silver currants and huckleberries (blue, red, to jet black). . . .
1959
A few huckleberries glimmered frostily blue among the russet leaves.
2n. — Slang

a trite saying; cliché.

Quotations

1957
"Things could always be worse" is another of the old huckleberries usually uttered by folk who never had it better.