huckleberry, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

huckleberry n.

[SE huckleberry, the fruit; influenced by the proper name in Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884)]

1. (US) a small amount, degree or extent.

1832		J.K. Paulding Westward Ho! I 182: I wish I may be hoppled all my life to come, if I didn’t get within a huckleberry of being smothered to death in one of them beds with curtains.
1920		E.W. Bok Americanization 165: He always kept ‘a huckleberry or two’ ahead of his readers [DA].

2. (US) a fellow, a boy.

1862		V.C. Giles Rags and Hope in Lasswell (1961) 56: I’m your huckleberry.
1868		New Eng. Base-Ballist 3 Sept. 17/1: Now then, my huckleberry, look sharp! you’re wrong! [DA].

3. (US) the person who suits one’s wishes [SE huckleberry, a sweetheart].

1896		W.C. Gore Student Sl. in Cohen (1997) 12: huckleberry n. [...] 2. The person or thing desired: ‘Hes got the cash, he’s your huckleberry’.
1899		H.E. Hamblen Yarn of Bucko Mate 234: ‘When we once get to work, we ’ll work watch and watch, the same as at sea, so as to keep going.’ ‘All right, sir; we ’re your huckleberries’.
1902		Appeal (St Paul, MN) 12 Apr. 1/1: I’m your huckleberry. When can I begin?
1937		J. Tully Bruiser 60: Well, I’m your huckleberry, Mr. Haney.

4. (US) a person of little importance.

1889–90		Barrère & Leland Dict. of Sl., Jargon and Cant I 479/1: ’Liger just got in his chariot, cut ’er loose, and flew. Dat’s wot kind of a huckleberry ’Liger was.
1906		F. Lynde Quickening 199: You know the whites—Welshmen, Cornishmen, and a good sprinklin’ o’ ‘huckleberries’ [DA].
1947		W.D. Overholser Buckaroo’s Code (1948) 54: We don’t like you huckleberries.

5. (US) constr. with the, bad treatment.

1883		Century mag. (N.Y.) June 280: He got the huckleberry, as we used to say in college, on that particular text [HDAS].
1970		Current Sl. V:3 9: Huckleberry, n. Bad treatment, the ‘shaft’ [...] ‘She really gave him the huckleberry.’.

6. (US) a nickname for a black person.

1931–33

in LANE Worksheets [DARE].

7. (US drugs) a very compact marijuana bud 5cm (2in) or less in length [resemblance to the fruit].

2001

Da Smokehouse Marijuana Gloss. 🌐 huckleberry [us] – a very compact, but beautiful bud two inches or less in length.

In phrases

huckleberry above persimmon (also huckleberry above one’s persimmon, ...the persimmon, ...below a persimmon, ...over one’s persimmon) [proverbial phr.; the disparate ‘status’ of the fruits] (US)

1. beyond one’s capabilities, esp. when the task cited is, in fact, simple.

1832		J.K. Paulding Westward Ho! I 172: No, no, it’s a disgraceful shot – what I call a full huckleberry below a persimmon.
1834		D. Crockett Narrative of Life of D.C. 70: But to do this, and write the warrants too, was at least a huckleberry over my persimmon .
1846		T.B. Thorpe Mysteries of the Backwoods 165: The way said lion and his companions used to destroy the beasts of the forests [...] was ‘huckleberry above the persimmon’ of any native in the country.
1859		H.E. Taliaferro Fisher’s River 47: I’ll show him I’m a huckleberry over his ’simmons, sartin.
1872		Schele De Vere Americanisms 50: The odd-sounding phrase, huckleberry above the persimmons, is used mainly in the South to express that something apparently simple and easy is far above the ability of the person who made the attempt.
1879		Daily LA Herald 29 July 2/2: This fortuitous combination [...] was nevertheless arrayed in a glory that was quite a persimmon above the huckleberry of Solomon’s raiment. Solomon’s ordinary attire, in factm, was snide in the comparison.
1886		Wichita Daily Eagle (KS) 10 Feb. 2/1: The double-jointed wind business is a huckleberry above our persimmons.
1892		L.A. Herald 3 July 4/3: The senator from Alabama [...] is a huckleberry above the persimmon of the Omaha convention.
1904		Gainsville Star (FL) 19 Apr. 4/1: There may not be a particle of mud-slinging in the entence, but it is certainly a ‘huckleberry above our persimmon’.
1922		Pullman Herald (WA) 10 Nov. 5/3: When we starts fer church he’s a huckleberry above any uv de persimmons wat belongs ter de odder gals.
1953		Randolph & Wilson Down in the Holler 220: If a hillman is asked a question and doesn’t know the answer, he often says, ‘Well, now, that’s a huckleberry over my persimmon,’ meaning that the matter is just a trifle beyond his knowledge.

2. (also ...to one’s persimmon) superior, to a single degree, to what it is compared with.

1832		J.K. Paulding Westward Ho! I 80: If the horn gets broadside to the current, I wouldn’t risk a huckleberry to a persimmon that we don’t every soul get treed, and sink to the bottom.
1852		‘L’Allegro,’ As Good as a Comedy 61: Well, Squire Barry, you’re a huckleberry above my persimmon, but I reckon something can be done [F&H].
1856		W.G. Simms Eutaw 553: My larning [...] ain’t a huckleberry to your persimmon [DA].