apple — English Dictionary

Noun

1. A common, firm, round fruit produced by a tree of the genus Malus. The fruit of the tree Malus domestica, chiefly with a green, red, or yellow skin, cultivated in temperate climates for cidermaking, cooking, and eating.

   Broader terms

   fruithand fruitpome

   Examples

   This apple is red.

   More examples (6)

   All apples eaten ſoone after yͭ they be gathered, are cold, hard to digeſt, and do make ill and corrupted bloud, but being wel kept vntill yͤ next winter, or the year folowing, eatẽ [eaten] after meales, they are right holeſome, & doe confyrme the ſtomacke, & make good digeſtion, ſpecially if they be roſted or baked, […]

   [T]hey [i.e., writers] aſſigne and lay to India, the countrey of the Aſpagores, ſo plentifull in vines, laurels, and box, and generally of all ſorts of apple trees and other fruitfull trees that grovv vvithin Greece.

   VVhat of my droſs thou findeſt there, be bold / To throvv avvay, but yet preserve the Gold. / VVhat if my Gold be vvrapped up in Ore? / None throvvs avvay the Apple for the Core.

   Instead of the assembly of honourable merchants, substantial tradesmen, and knowing masters of ships; the mumpers, the halt, the blind, and the lame; your venders of trash, apples, plums; your ragamuffins, rakeshames, and wenches; have justled the greater number of the former out of that place.

   I have so often heard Mr. Woodhouse recommend a baked apple. I believe it is the only way that Mr. Woodhouse thinks the fruit thoroughly wholesome. We have apple dumplings, however, very often. Patty makes an excellent apple-dumpling.

   This red seems to me the perfect premonition of summer—like the red on the outside of apple blossom—and later, the red of the apple. It is the premonition in redness of summer and of autumn.

   Close by and under cover, I watched the juicing process. Apples were washed, then tipped, stalks and all, into the crusher and reduced to pulp.

2. A common, firm, round fruit produced by a tree of the genus Malus. Often with a qualifying word: any fruit or vegetable, or any other thing (such as a cone or gall) produced by a plant, especially if from a tree and similar to the fruit of Malus domestica (noun sense 1.1).

   Broader terms

   fruithand fruitpome

   Examples

   custard apple rose apple thorn apple

   More examples (6)

   The apples wherewith the Indian Canibales inueneme theyr arrowes, growe on certeyne trees couered with many braunches and leaues beinge very greene and growyng thicke. They are laden with abundaunce of theſe euyll frutes, […]

   This apple is called in high Dutch, Zyꝛbel [Zyrbel]: in low Dutch, Pijn appel: in Engliſh, Pine apple, Clogge, and Cone. […] The vvhole Cone or apple being boiled vvith freſh Horehound, ſaith Galen, and aftervvards boyled againe vvith a little hony till the decoction be come to the thicknes of hony, maketh an excellent medicine for the clenſing of the cheſt and lungs.

   As touching Arabia, vvhich lyeth neere and bordereth upon theſe Iſlands, the ſpices and odoriferous fruits that be therein, are to be treated of vvith diſtinction: for their merchandiſe doth conſiſt of roots, braunches, barke, juice or liquor, gums and roſins, vvood, tvvigs, flovvers, leaves, and apple.

   The fruite or Apples of Palme-trees (eſpecially ſuch as grovv in ſalt grounds neare the Sea ſides, as in Cyrene of Affrica, and Indea, and not in Egypt, Cyprus, Syria, Helvetia, and Aſsiria do fatten and feed Hogges.

   In Perſia there grovvs a deadly tree, vvhoſe apples are poiſon, and preſent death: therefore there it is uſed for a puniſhment: but being brought over to the Kings into Egypt, they become vvholeſome apples to eat, and loſe their harmfulneſſe, as Columella vvrites.

   [T]he fly injects her juices into the oak leaf to raiſe an apple for hatching her young and therein ſupplies us vvith ink for our correſpondence and improvement.

   [I]t [Otaheite] is remarkable for producing great quantities of that delicious fruit we called apples, which are found in none of the others, except Eimeo.

   More examples (4)

   Hippomane mancinella. (Manchineel-tree.) Dr. Peysonnel relates that a soldier, who was a slave with the Turks, eat some of the apples of this tree, and was soon seized with a swelling and pain of the abdomen.

   The cross-bill will have seeds from the apple, or cone of the fir—the green-finch, seeds from the uplands, or door of barn, or rickyard.

   One kind of apple or gall, inhabited only by one grub, is hard and woody on the outside, resembling a little wooden ball, of a yellowish color, but internally it is of a soft, spongy texture.

   The "apple" or gall usually forms a somewhat kidney-shaped excrescence, attached by a small base on the concave side, and varying in size from a half an inch to an inch and a half in length.

3. A common, firm, round fruit produced by a tree of the genus Malus. Something which resembles the fruit of Malus domestica (noun sense 1.1) in shape (such as a ball, breast, or globe) or colour.

   Broader terms

   fruithand fruitpome

   Examples

   [H]old a round ball or hollovv apple of glaſſe full of vvater againſt the Sunne, it vvill be ſo hot, that it is ready to burne any cloth that it toucheth.

   More examples (2)

   [S]hrugging up her Shoulders, to ſhevv the tempting Apples of her vvhite Breaſts, ſhe ſuddainly lets them ſink again, to hide them, bluſhing, as if this had been done by chance, […]

   [T]he ſaid elector of Saxony ſhall have on his right the count-palatine of the Rhine, vvho ſhall carry the globe or imperial apple; and, on his left, the marquis of Brandenburg carrying the ſcepter.

   The arms of Upland were a golden apple, or globe, surrounded with a belt, in allusion to the monarchy.

   More examples (3)

   Andy picked up his two grenades and followed the line into the pits. The apples felt strangely heavy in his hands, and when he looked at them one was as ugly and lethal-looking as the other.

   A peasant blouse that showed the tops of those lovely little apples.

   Contrary to Henricus Martellus [Germanus], [Martin] Behaim included the tropics [on his globe]. […] Evidently, there was no space for a Fourth Continent on Behaim's apple, although some recollection of the Catalan map seems to lie behind the shape of southern Africa.

4. A common, firm, round fruit produced by a tree of the genus Malus. Something which resembles the fruit of Malus domestica (noun sense 1.1) in shape (such as a ball, breast, or globe) or colour. The round, fleshy part of a cheek between the eye and the corner of the mouth when a person is smiling.

   Usage

   • Informal

5. A common, firm, round fruit produced by a tree of the genus Malus. Something which resembles the fruit of Malus domestica (noun sense 1.1) in shape (such as a ball, breast, or globe) or colour. The surface of revolution of a circular arc of an angle greater than 180° rotated about the straight line passing through the arc's two endpoints.

6. A common, firm, round fruit produced by a tree of the genus Malus. Something which resembles the fruit of Malus domestica (noun sense 1.1) in shape (such as a ball, breast, or globe) or colour. In full apple bowl: a round bowl of a tobacco pipe; also, a tobacco pipe with such a bowl.

7. A common, firm, round fruit produced by a tree of the genus Malus. Something which resembles the fruit of Malus domestica (noun sense 1.1) in shape (such as a ball, breast, or globe) or colour. In full old apple: a baseball.

   Usage

   • Obsolete
   • Slang

   Examples

   Hey Dad! What do you say we toss the old apple around, huh? Sound like fun?

8. A common, firm, round fruit produced by a tree of the genus Malus. According to postbiblical Christian tradition, the fruit of the tree of knowledge which was eaten by Adam and Eve despite God commanding them not to do so; the forbidden fruit.

   Broader terms

   fruithand fruitpome

   Examples

   Him [man] by fraud I [Satan] have ſeduc'd / From his Creator, and the more to increaſe / Your vvonder, vvith an Apple; […]

   More examples (1)

   I read and re-read her letter, and some softened feelings stole into my heart, and dared to whisper paradisiacal dreams of love and joy; but the apple was already eaten, and the angel's arm bared to drive me from all hope.

   Yes, of all human follies, love, / Methinks, hath served me best. / The Apple had done but little for me / If Eve had not done the rest.

   More examples (3)

   Yes, fair Eve, just as Adam ate the apple, so beware!

   Yes mam. Woman ate the apple, and discovered sex, and lost all shame, and lift^([sic]) up her fig-leaf, and she must suffer the pains of hell. Monthly.

   Sharon you've got a husband / And a family and a farm / I've got the apple of temptation / And a diamond snake around my arm

9. A common, firm, round fruit produced by a tree of the genus Malus. Synonym of pome (“a type of fruit in which the often edible flesh arises from the swollen base of the flower and not from the carpels”).

   Usage

   • Obsolete

   Broader terms

   fruithand fruitpome

10. A common, firm, round fruit produced by a tree of the genus Malus. An imaginary diminutive unit of height.

    Usage

    • Internet
    • Humorous

    Broader terms

    fruithand fruitpome

    Examples

    He's only three apples tall

11. A tree of the genus Malus; especially Malus domestica which is cultivated for its edible fruit; the apple tree.

    Synonyms

    malus

    Examples

    More examples (2)

    Trees that beare Maſt, and Nuts, are commonly more laſting, than thoſe that beare Fruits; Eſpecially the Moiſter Fruits: As Oakes, Beeches, Cheſ-nuts, VVall-nuts, Almonds, Pine-Trees, &c. laſt longer than Apples, Peares, Plums, &c.

    If the grafted portion of an Apple or other tree were examined after one hundred years, the old cut surfaces would still be present, for mature or ripened wood, being dead, never unites.

    This allows a weak plant to benefit from the strong roots of another, or a vigorous tree (such as an apple) to be kept small by growing on 'dwarfing rootstock'.

    Used to be apple orchards, used to be the river and irrigation ditches that watered the apples, used to be mining towns.

    More examples (1)

    Some fruit trees, like plums, do well in damp soil conditions. Other fruit trees, like apples, need well-drained soil.

12. Synonym of applewood (“the wood of the apple tree”).

13. A fruit of any kind.

14. A person.

    Usage

    • broadly
    • often
    • Slang
    • with qualifying word

    Examples

    “I saw a little guy with a can opener fooling around that gum machine,” was the reply. “And then?” asked McGonigle. “I can’t say,” replied the poor apple.

    “Take it easy with Thompson, Eddie,” he said lazily. “He’s a good apple but he’s mighty tough to go pushing around. He’s had a lot of bad luck lately.”

    More examples (1)

    Pop delighted in calling his grandson Blenheim; it was such a nice round apple of a name. ‘Well, how’s Charley boy? And how’s my little apple?’

15. Synonym of CBer (“a CB radio enthusiast”).

    Usage

    • broadly
    • Slang

    Examples

    More examples (1)

    Because of overcrowding, many a CB enthusiast (called an "apple") is strapping an illegal linear amplifier ("boots") on to his transceiver ("ears") which is limited by the Federal Communications Commission ("Big Daddy" in the US) to an output power of no more than five watts.

16. An assist.

    Usage

    • broadly
    • Slang

17. A Native American or redskinned person who acts or thinks like a white (Caucasian) person.

    Usage

    • US usage
    • broadly
    • Derogatory
    • ethnic
    • Slang
    • slur

    Examples

    My ancestors five generations removed were "apples" who were "White" on the inside and "Red" on the outside. […] We need a new breed of "apples."

    The presenter, close to tears, told the audience that she's really an apple—white on the inside and red on the outside—Native American.

Verb

1. To make (something) appear like an apple (noun sense 1.1).

   Usage

   • Transitive

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   To choose responsibly, our active citizen must know what is being offered, much of this knowledge being filtered through appearance: things must look what they are supposed to be. Apples must look like applies. One might say they have to be appled-up; varieties are selected for marketing which have the most apple-like qualities.

   A large smile appled his full cheeks as the four sprytes eagerly served themselves from the seeds and thinly sliced fruits.

2. To become like an apple.

   Usage

   • Intransitive

   Examples

   He glanced at me, his cheeks appled in the impish grin I was learning to recognise as the clever under-side of his broad and gentle smile.

   She smiled, and her cheeks appled up and her teeth were big and flat and her mouth was wide and spacious like an open invitation.

3. To collect fir-cones.

   Usage

   • UK usage
   • dialectal
   • Intransitive
   • Rare

4. Of a flower bud or vegetable (especially a root vegetable): to grow into the shape of an apple.

   Usage

   • dialectal
   • Intransitive

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   As for Scolymus [possibly type of artichoke?], it differeth from the reſt of theſe Thiſtles herein, That the root, if it be ſodden, it is good to be eaten: beſides, it hath a ſtraunge nature, for all the ſort of them during the Summer throughout, never reſt and give over, but either they floure, or they apple, or els be readie to bring foorth fruit: […]

   To Pome or Apple, is ſaid of the Heads of Artichokes vvhen they grovv round, and full ſhaped as an Apple. It is ſaid alſo of Lettuce, &c.

   More examples (1)

   You may novv ſovv upon moderate hot-beds, a fevv of the ſmall ſalad ſeeds, ſuch as VVhite Muſtard, Rape, Creſſes, and Cabbage Lettuces, and you may also ſovv upon other hot-beds, not to be drawn until they are pretty large and vvell appled, Radiſhes and Turnips, obſerving to ſovv them very thin, that the plants may have room to ſvvell and grovv; […]

   The cabbage turnep is of tvvo kinds; one apples above ground, and the other in it.

   More examples (1)

   Some, however, recommend that the seed collected from a few turnips thus transplanted, should be preserved and sown in drills, in order to raise plants for see for the general crop, drawing out all such as are weak and improper, leaving only those that are strong and which take the lead; and that when these have appled or formed bulbs, to again take out such as do not appear good and perfect, as by this means turnip seed may be procured, not only of a more vigorous nature, but which is capable of vegetating with less moisture and which produces stronger and more hardy plants.

Noun

1. fruit with red or yellow or green skin and sweet to tart crisp whitish flesh

   Broader terms

   edible fruitpomefalse fruit

2. native Eurasian tree widely cultivated in many varieties for its firm rounded edible fruits

   Synonyms

   orchard apple treeMalus pumila

   Broader terms

   apple tree