currant Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun any of several tart red or black berries used primarily for jellies and jams
  2. noun any of various deciduous shrubs of the genus Ribes bearing currants
    currant bush.
  3. noun small dried seedless raisin grown in the Mediterranean region and California; used in cooking

WordNet

Cur"rant noun
Etymology
F. corinthe (raisins de Corinthe raisins of Corinth) currant (in sense 1), from the city of Corinth in Greece, whence, probably, the small dried grape (1) was first imported, the Ribes fruit (2) receiving the name from its resemblance to that grape.
Definitions
  1. A small kind of seedless raisin, imported from the Levant, chiefly from Zante and Cephalonia; -- used in cookery.
  2. The acid fruit or berry of the Ribes rubrum or common red currant, or of its variety, the white currant.
  3. (Bot.) A shrub or bush of several species of the genus Ribes (a genus also including the gooseberry); esp., the Ribes rubrum.

Webster 1913