Fi'lbert. n.s. [This is derived by Junius and Skinner from the long beards or husks, as corrupted from full beard, or full of beard. It probably had its name, like many other fruits, from some one that introduced or cultivated it; and is therefore corrupted from Filbert or Filibert, the name of him who brought it hither.] A fine hazel nut with a thin shell.
In August comes fruit of all forts; as plumbs, pears, apricots, barberries, filberts, muskmelons, monkshoods of all colours. Bacon, Essay 47.
Thou hast a brain, such as it is indeed!
On what else should thy worm of fancy feed?
Yet in a filbert I have often known
Maggots survive, when all the kernel's gone. Dorset.
There is also another kind, called the filbert of Constantinople; the leaves and fruit of which are bigger than either of the former: the best are those of a thin shell. Mortimer.