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It is not only important, but, in a degree necessary, that the people of this country, should have an American Dictionary of the English language; for, although the body of the language is the same as in England, and it is desirable to perpetuate that sameness, yet some differences must exist. Language is the expression of ideas; and if the people of one country cannot preserve an identity of ideas, they cannot retain an identity of language. |
CURRANT, n. [from Corinth.]
A small kind of seedless raisin,
imported from the Levant, chiefly from Zante and Cephalonia; --
used in cookery.
The acid fruit or berry of the
Ribes rubrum or common red currant, or of its variety, the
white currant.
A shrub or bush of
several species of the genus Ribes (a genus also including
the gooseberry); esp., the Ribes rubrum.
Black currant,a shrub or bush (Ribes nigrum and R. floridum) and its black, strong- flavored, tonic fruit. -- Cherry currant, a variety of the red currant, having a strong, symmetrical bush and a very large berry. -- Currant borer (Zoöl.), the larva of an insect that bores into the pith and kills currant bushes; specif., the larvae of a small clearwing moth (Ægeria tipuliformis) and a longicorn beetle (Psenocerus supernotatus). -- Currant worm (Zoöl.), an insect larva which eats the leaves or fruit of the currant. The most injurious are the currant sawfly (Nematus ventricosus), introduced from Europe, and the spanworm (Eufitchia ribearia). The fruit worms are the larva of a fly (Epochra Canadensis), and a spanworm (Eupithecia). -- Flowering currant, Missouri currant, a species of Ribes (R. aureum), having showy yellow flowers. | ||||||||