BlackBerry

English

Etymology

Brand name, from the resemblance of the keyboard's buttons to the skin of a fruit.

Noun

BlackBerry (plural BlackBerrys or BlackBerries)

1. A wireless handheld device, a cross between a cellphone and a mobile email appliance and Internet-capable PDA, marketed by BlackBerry Limited.
   • 2007, Daniel Hoffman, Blackjacking: Security Threats to BlackBerry® Devices, PDAs, and Cell Phones in the Enterprise, Wiley Publishing, Inc., →ISBN, page 49:

     Knowing that DA, Inc. was using BlackBerrys, the CEO of the competition hired an underground hacker to come up with a way to thwart the competition.

   • 2007 November, Gil Schwartz, “Escape from the job monster”, in Men's Health, volume 22, number 9, →ISSN, page 120:

     A few days ago, I took a walk with my wife and did not take my BlackBerry! That's progress. Of course, I reached into my empty pockets six or seven times, so clearly I have a long way to go.

   • 2014, John Timpson, Ask John: Straight-Talking, Common Sense from the Front Line of Management, Icon Books, →ISBN:

     Posers using BlackBerrys on the button lift can be pretty irritating, but I bet it gives a lot of pleasure whenever an unfortunate captain of industry drops his vital little device in the snow.

   • 2023, David White, Angus Gillies, “All roads lead north”, in Far North, Echo Publishing, →ISBN:

     Thugga and the rest of the group communicated using BlackBerrys set up so that messages would automatically delete after 48 hours.

Derived terms

• BlackBerried
• crackberry

Translations

Verb

BlackBerry (third-person singular simple present BlackBerries, present participle BlackBerrying, simple past and past participle BlackBerried)

1. To send a text message or e-mail with a BlackBerry device.
   • 2007, Kristin Gore, Sammy's Hill, Miramax Books, published 2007, →ISBN, page 219:

     "I BlackBerried a sort of risque joke message to this friend of mine — it was totally a joke — but, um, I accidentally sent it to two hundred strangers. […]

   • 2009, Colleen DeBaise, The Wall Street Journal: Complete Small Business Guidebook, Three Rivers Press, published 2009, →ISBN, page 205:

     We've interviewed female entrepreneurs who say they were BlackBerrying up into the final stages of labor; […]

   • 2012, Matthew Zencey, Unlikely Liberal: Sarah Palin's Curious Record as Alaska's Governor, Potomac Books, published 2012, →ISBN, page 144:

     But Revenue Commissioner Pat Galvin told me she was well known for BlackBerrying during face-to-face meetings.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:BlackBerry.

References

Further reading

• BlackBerry on Wikipedia.Wikipedia