apple
- the usually round, red or yellow, edible fruit of a small tree, Malus sylvestris, of the rose family.
- the tree, cultivated in most temperate regions.
- the fruit of any of certain other species of tree of the same genus.
- any of these trees.
- any of various other similar fruits, or fruitlike products or plants, as the custard apple, love apple, May apple, or oak apple.
- anything resembling an apple in size and shape, as a ball, especially a baseball.
- Bowling. an ineffectively bowled ball.
- Slang. a red capsule containing a barbiturate, especially secobarbital.
Origin of apple
Examples from the Web for apple
Contemporary Examples
Apple customers, on the other hand, are used to paying premium for perceived quality.
Lost For Thousands of Strokes: 'Desert Golfing' Is 'Angry Birds' as Modern ArtAlec Kubas-Meyer
January 2, 2015
The process of co-opting black music and selling it back to the adoring public in whiteface is as American as apple pie.
Companies like Delta, Apple, and Nike flex their political muscle on behalf of gay rights.
Corporations Are No Longer Silent on LGBT IssuesDecember 24, 2014
Apple, PetSmart, Wells Fargo, Marriott, and Delta also spoke out.
Corporations Are No Longer Silent on LGBT IssuesDecember 24, 2014
In “Cartoons and Cereal,” he sings, “Reminisce when I had the morning appetite/ Apple Jacks, had nothing that I hit the TV Guide.”
Historical Examples
Viviette shredded an apple blossom that had fallen into her lap.
VivietteWilliam J. Locke
Viviette seated herself on a bench beneath the apple blossoms.
VivietteWilliam J. Locke
"I give not the pip of an apple for king or for noble," cried the serf passionately.
The White CompanyArthur Conan Doyle
It is in the brain that the poppy is red, that the apple is odorous, that the skylark sings.
De ProfundisOscar Wilde
Apple sauce is eaten with roast pork, roast goose and roast ducks.
Directions for Cookery, in its Various BranchesEliza Leslie
apple
- a rosaceous tree, Malus sieversii, native to Central Asia but widely cultivated in temperate regions in many varieties, having pink or white fragrant flowers and firm rounded edible fruitsSee also crab apple
- the fruit of this tree, having red, yellow, or green skin and crisp whitish flesh
- the wood of this tree
- any of several unrelated trees that have fruits similar to the apple, such as the custard apple, sugar apple, and May appleSee also love apple, oak apple, thorn apple
- apple of one's eye a person or thing that is very precious or much loved
- bad apple or rotten apple a person with a corrupting influence
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for apple
n.
Old English æppel "apple; any kind of fruit; fruit in general," from Proto-Germanic *ap(a)laz (cf. Old Saxon, Old Frisian, Dutch appel, Old Norse eple, Old High German apful, German Apfel), from PIE *ab(e)l "apple" (cf. Gaulish avallo "fruit;" Old Irish ubull, Lithuanian obuolys, Old Church Slavonic jabloko "apple"), but the exact relation and original sense of these is uncertain (cf. melon).
A roted eppel amang þe holen, makeþ rotie þe yzounde. ["Ayenbite of Inwit," 1340]
In Middle English and as late as 17c., it was a generic term for all fruit other than berries but including nuts (e.g. Old English fingeræppla "dates," literally "finger-apples;" Middle English appel of paradis "banana," c.1400). Hence its grafting onto the unnamed "fruit of the forbidden tree" in Genesis. Cucumbers, in one Old English work, are eorþæppla, literally "earth-apples" (cf. French pomme de terre "potato," literally "earth-apple;" see also melon). French pomme is from Latin pomum "apple; fruit" (see Pomona).
As far as the forbidden fruit is concerned, again, the Quran does not mention it explicitly, but according to traditional commentaries it was not an apple, as believed by Christians and Jews, but wheat. ["The Heart of Islam: Enduring Values for Humanity," Seyyed Hossein Nasr, 2002]
Apple of Discord (c.1400) was thrown into the wedding of Thetis and Peleus by Eris (goddess of chaos and discord), who had not been invited, and inscribed kallisti "To the Prettiest One." Paris, elected to choose which goddess should have it, gave it to Aphrodite, offending Hera and Athene, with consequences of the Trojan War, etc.
Apple of one's eye (Old English), symbol of what is most cherished, was the pupil, supposed to be a globular solid body. Apple-polisher "one who curries favor" first attested 1928 in student slang. The image of something that upsets the apple cart is attested from 1788. Road apple "horse dropping" is from 1942.
Idioms and Phrases with apple
apple
In addition to the idioms beginning with apple
- apple a day
- apple of one's eye
- apple polisher
- apples and oranges
also see:
- polish the apple
- rotten apple
- upset the applecart