OXFORD DICTIONARY
, n. & adj.
--n. (pl. -ies)
1 a a small soft round stone-fruit. b any of several trees of the genus Prunus bearing this or grown for its ornamental flowers.
2 (in full cherry wood) the wood of a cherry.
3 US sl. a virginity. b a virgin.
--adj. of a light red colour.
cherry brandy a dark-red liqueur of brandy in which cherries have been steeped. cherry-laurel Brit. a small evergreen tree, Prunus laurocerasus, with white flowers and cherry-like fruits. cherry-picker colloq. a crane for raising and lowering people. cherry-pie
1 a pie made with cherries.
2 a garden heliotrope.
cherry plum
1 a tree, Prunus cerasifera, native to SW Asia, with solitary white flowers and red fruits.
2 the fruit of this tree. cherry tomato a miniature tomato with a strong flavour.
ME f. ONF cherise (taken as pl.: cf. PEA) f. med.L ceresia perh. f. L f. Gk kerasos
ROGET THESAURUS
Purity
N
purity, decency, decorum, delicacy, continence, chastity, honesty, virtue, modesty, shame, pudicity, pucelage, virginity, vestal, virgin, Joseph, Hippolytus, Lucretia, Diana, prude, pure, undefiled, modest, delicate, decent, decorous, virginibus puerisque, simon-pure, chaste, continent, virtuous, honest, Platonic, virgin, unsullied, cherry, as chaste as unsunn'd snow, a soul as white as heaven, 'tis Chastity, my brother, Chastity, to the pure all things are pure.