blueberrying

1. 1
   noununcountable

   The act of gathering blueberries, usually by hand from bushes or fields.

   The family made a day of blueberrying along the old logging trail.

   Good blueberrying depends on rain earlier in the season and warm days after.

   Note

   English names this pastime simply by adding -ing to the berry itself. As a noun it behaves like any activity word: it takes an article (the blueberrying), follows a preposition (barrens for blueberrying), and pairs with a season (blueberrying in August). Charlotte Perkins Gilman, in The Living of Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1935), calls it a pleasure she had not had since her youthful days.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle of blueberry.

   They spent the whole morning blueberrying along the ridge.

   She is blueberrying with her grandmother near the lake today.

   Note

   The verb behind this form means to go out gathering blueberries. Its participle pairs with be to describe an outing in progress: she is blueberrying near the lake. The y of blueberry stays put before -ing. As a gerund it is spelled exactly like the noun for the pastime. An adverb of place or time attached to it, as in blueberrying along the ridge, signals the verb.

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