bullace

English

Etymology

From Middle English bolas, bolace, from Anglo-Norman and Old French beloce, buloce (“sloe”), from Vulgar Latin *bullucea, from Late Latin bulluca (“kind of small fruit”); of Celtic/Gaulish origin, akin to Celtiberian *bullācā,[1] from Proto-Celtic *bullākā, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeHw- (“to swell, puff”), itself imitative.[2][3] Possibly influenced by Latin galla (“oak apple”) with metathesis of the consonants.

See also Spanish bugalla (“oak apple”), Portuguese bugalho, and (the distantly related) Latin bucca.

Noun

bullace (plural bullaces)

  1. A small European plum (Prunus interstitia, syn. Prunus domestica subsp. insititia).
    Synonym: damson
    • 1930, Harold Webber Freeman, Down in the Valley, page 48:
      If he ate bullace tart and bullace pie for a week, he would hardly empty the smallest of the baskets; and then they would begin to go bad. Nothing remained but to give them away, but to whom?
  2. The bully tree.

Translations
European plum — see damson

References
  1. “bullace”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
  2. The template Template:R:es:Roberts:2014 does not use the parameter(s): 
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  3. MacBain, Alexander, Mackay, Eneas (1911) “bucaid”, in An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language‎, Stirling, →ISBN

Anagrams
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