maraschino cherry
1
5.1
- noun
- /ˌmɛrəˈskiːnoʊ ˈtʃɛri/
:
cereza maraschino
- The glasses were lined up on the bar in front of him, the other two empty except for the maraschino cherries whose stems looked like hands waving for rescue as they sank between the melting cubes.
- garnish with maraschino cherries
- 1 cup of maraschino cherries
- jar of maraschino cherries
Examples
-
She unscrewed the maraschino cherry jar.
Fiction book (2000) -
When the plate was in front of me, I took a fork and speared a maraschino cherry.
Fiction book (2000) -
Look, it's a maraschino cherry.
-
- Have you got any maraschino cherries on you?
-
Hannah looked down into her drink, where the maraschino cherry rested, and appeared to think about this for a long time.
Fiction book (1998) -
Grapefruit juice with vodka and three maraschino cherries.
-
Mine is grapefruit juice with some vodka and exactly three maraschino cherries.
-
No one had mentioned the maraschino cherry on top of the whipped cream (hi Patricia) on top of the ice cream.
Blog text (29) -
But tonight the circus is in town, and there are strangers here, including four showgirls at a table between me and the jukebox drinking what look like vodka tonics—tall, clear drinks with maraschino cherries.
Fiction book (1999) -
A classic sundae is not complete without a maraschino cherry on top.
Synonyms
3
8.6
A sweet cherry kept in syrup and used to decorate drinks or desserts
A cherry kept in rum and sugar to flavor drinks and cakes
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is a straightforward modifier + noun construction: 'maraschino' specifies the type/process (cherry preserved in syrup or liqueur) and 'cherry' names the fruit, so the overall meaning is directly derivable from the constituents. This kind of type-specifying combination is common cross-linguistically and follows standard English noun phrase composition, making it immediately comprehensible to learners who know both words.
Etymology
Maraschino cherry comes from a simple practice: cooks soaked cherries in a sweet red 'liqueur' or syrup so the fruit stayed bright and lasted longer. Because these shiny, sweet cherries were put on drinks and desserts as a 'garnish', the name now means the sweet cocktail cherry.