ohelon.
/ə(ʊ)ˈheɪləʊ/, U.S. /oʊˈheɪloʊ/ The red or yellow fruit, resembling a blueberry, of a small shrub of the volcanic regions of the Hawaiian islands of Hawaii and Maui, Vaccinium reticulatum (family Ericaceae); (also) the shrub itself. Also ohelo berry.
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the world > food and drink > food > fruit and vegetables > fruit or a fruit > berry > [noun] > bilberry or myrtleberry
blackberrylOE
myrtlea1400
hurtleberryc1460
myrtle berry?a1500
hurt1542
blaeberry1562
whortleberry1578
bilberry1584
blue1587
hurtle1597
hurtberrya1661
frawn1726
ohelo1825
1825 W. Ellis Jrnl. Tour Hawaii (1963) ix. 162 We saw a number of low bushes bearing beautiful red and yellow berries in clusters, each berry being about the size and weight of a large currant... The native name of the plant is ohelo.
1843 J. J. Jarves Hist. Hawaiian Islands i. 9 The banana, yam, sweet potato.., ohelo (a berry),..are indigenous and plentiful.
1864 R. Anderson Hawaiian Islands 35 The principal indigenous fruits were..ohilo (a berry) [etc.].
1893 Bot. Gaz. 18 22 These ‘ohelo’ berries are much esteemed, and are especially good when cooked.
1917 Sci. Monthly Jan. 80 The Hawaiian huckleberry, ohelo (Vaccinium reticulatum Smith), is as distinctive of the uplands and mountain ridges as the mountain apple is of the valleys.
1977 Time 17 Oct. 41/1 Native Hawaiians have long attempted to placate the fire goddess Pele by dropping offerings—ohelo berries, liquor and, once upon a time, an occasional human—into the crater of the 4,090ft. volcano Kilauea.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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