Early bird laid out with fruit (5)

I believe the answer is:

berry

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'fruit' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

I cannot understand how the remainder of the clue works.

(Other definitions for berry that I've seen before include "Small juicy fruit" , "'One might be straw, rasp or blue, say (5)'" , "Small edible fruit" , "eg Chuck or Halle" , "Romeo's family" .)

I've seen this clue in the Irish Times (Crosaire) and the Irish Times.

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