Haws

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The edible berries from certain thorny shrubs are popular in the preparation of jellies and drinks due to their appealing flavor and nutritional properties
2. Fruits that grow on thorny shrubs are commonly utilized in making various culinary products, including jellies and beverages that are enjoyed by both humans and wildlife
3. The small, tart fruits harvested from spiny bushes are frequently used in the culinary world to create jellies and drinks that delight many palates

Etymology: Old English "haga" meant "enclosure, hedge", and from it Middle English "hawe" came to denote the hedgerow itself. The berries of the hawthorn, the spiny shrub that grew along those hedges, took the name of the place where they grew, so the fruit is named after the fence around the field. The same Germanic root produced several words for enclosed land. Dutch "haag" and German "Hag", meaning hedged farmland, still carry the sense, and Norwegian "hage" has come to mean a garden. Further back, the Proto-Indo-European base "*kagʰ-" meant "to catch, grasp", a picture of a hedge as something that holds things in. Its meaning has kept close to that original picture. The hawthorn bush is still a hedging plant, and the berries are still gathered from the hedgerows where the name began.