wintergreen Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun any of several evergreen perennials of the genus Pyrola
pyrola.
noun creeping shrub of eastern North America having white bell-shaped flowers followed by spicy red berrylike fruit and shiny aromatic leaves that yield wintergreen oil
teaberry; ground-berry; groundberry; Gaultheria procumbens; checkerberry; creeping wintergreen; mountain tea.
noun spicy red berrylike fruit; source of wintergreen oil
spiceberry; boxberry; teaberry; checkerberry.

(Bot.) A plant which keeps its leaves green through the winter. ✍ In England, the name wintergreen is applied to the species of Pyrola which in America are called English wintergreen, and shin leaf (see Shin leaf, under Shin.) In America, the name wintergreen is given to Gaultheria procumbens, a low evergreen aromatic plant with oval leaves clustered at the top of a short stem, and bearing small white flowers followed by red berries; -- called also checkerberry, and sometimes, though improperly, partridge berry.