high-bushadj.
/ˈhʌɪbʊʃ/, U.S. /ˈhaɪˌbʊʃ/ Chiefly North American.
Of a shrubby plant, esp. one with edible berries: growing relatively tall; having an erect growth habit. Contrasted with low-bush adj.
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1805 W. Clark Jrnl. 29 Oct. in Jrnls. Lewis & Clark Exped. (1988) V. 353 Those people gave us, High bush cram berries..bread made of roots.
1821 S. Elliott Sketch Bot. South-Carolina & Georgia I. 568 High bush-blackberry.
1846 G. B. Emerson Rep. Trees & Shrubs Forests Mass. 401 The High Bush Whortleberry. Swamp Whortleberry. V. corymbosum.
1907 Biltmore Nursery, (Biltmore, N. Carolina) No. 3. 66/1 High Bush Honeysuckle. A shrub 4 to 5 feet tall.
1942 Brittonia 4 225 The highbush red bilberry, Vaccinium parvifolium, is one of the characteristic shrubs of the lowlands and mountain valleys from Santa Cruz and Fresno Counties, California, northward into Alaska.
2013 E. Small N. Amer. Cornucopia 387 The common huckleberry (G. baccata) is also called black and high-bush huckleberry.
Compounds
high-bush blueberry n. any relatively tall blueberry, esp. Vaccinium corymbosum; (also) a fruit of such a plant.
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1852 Monthly Lit. Misc. Dec. 560/2 A high bush blue-berry, acid.
1900 Farmers' Bull. (U.S. Dept. Agric.) No. 119 19 In no case should the rake be employed in gathering the high-bush blueberries.
1938 Amer. Home Jan. 14/3 Below the shadbush..we set a drift of the highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum).
2002 E. Baird Summer Berries: Great Canad. Recipes 6 There is great potential for pick-your-own operations in high-bush blueberries.
high-bush cranberry n. (also †high-bush cramberry) a North American viburnum, Viburnum trilobum, having red fruits used like cranberries; (also) a fruit of this plant.
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1805High bush cram berries [see main sense].
1864 Jrnl. Royal Geogr. Soc. 34 163 Among the native fruits the blackberry, mulberry, raspberry,..and high-bush cranberry would require but little pains and culture to produce luxuriantly.
1943 M. L. Fernald & A. C. Kinsey Edible Plants Eastern North Amer. iii. 346 In northern states and Canada High-bush cranberries are generally known and in many regions..the fruit is regularly cooked and served under the name ‘Cranberry’.
2007 N. L. Jennings Prairie Beauty 150 Some confusion can arise because of the existence of a plant called a High-Bush Cranberry (V. trilobum), which occurs in similar habitat.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1805