Definition of "cornel"

cornel

noun
plural cornels
1. Any tree or shrub of the dogwood subgenera, Cornus subg. Arctocrania (syn. Cornus subg. Chamaepericlymenum) or Cornus subg. Cornus, especially Cornus mas, the European cornel.
2. The cherry-like fruit of such plants, certain of which are edible.
  Quotations
  Cornels, and ſalvage Berries of the Wood, / And Roots and Herbs have been my meagre Food.
  1697, Virgil, “The Third Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], page 292, lines 855–856