wintergreen

[ win-ter-green ]

noun
  1. Also called checkerberry. a small, creeping, evergreen shrub, Gaultheria procumbens, of the heath family, common in eastern North America, having white, nodding, bell-shaped flowers, a bright-red, berrylike fruit, and aromatic leaves that yield a volatile oil.

  2. the oil of this shrub; wintergreen oil; methyl salicylate.

  1. the flavor of oil of wintergreen or something flavored with it.

  2. any of various other plants of the same genus.

  3. any of various small evergreen herbs of the genera Pyrola and Chimaphila.

Origin of wintergreen

1
1540–50; translation of Dutch wintergroen or German Wintergrün

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use wintergreen in a sentence

  • Years ago, when quite a youth, I was rambling in the woods one day with my brothers, gathering black birch and wintergreens.

    Eighth Reader | James Baldwin

British Dictionary definitions for wintergreen

wintergreen

/ (ˈwɪntəˌɡriːn) /


noun
  1. Also called: boxberry, checkerberry, teaberry, spiceberry, partridgeberry any of several evergreen ericaceous shrubs of the genus Gaultheria, esp G. procumbens, of E North America, which has white bell-shaped flowers and edible red berries

  2. oil of wintergreen an aromatic compound, formerly made from this and various other plants but now synthesized: used medicinally and for flavouring

  1. any of various plants of the genus Pyrola, such as P. minor (common wintergreen), of temperate and arctic regions, having rounded leaves and small pink globose flowers: family Pyrolaceae: Usual US name: shinleaf

  2. any of several plants of the genera Orthilia and Moneses: family Pyrolaceae

  3. chickweed wintergreen a primulaceous plant, Trientalis europaea, of N Europe and N Asia, having white flowers and leaves arranged in a whorl

Origin of wintergreen

1
C16: from Dutch wintergroen or German Wintergrün; see winter, green

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012