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apple a day

Idioms  
  1. A small preventive treatment wards off serious problems, as in He exercises regularly—an apple a day is his motto. This idiom shortens the proverb An apple a day keeps the doctor away, first cited about 1630.


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

This simple at-home treatment is as commonplace as an apple a day.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 25, 2025

“Our ancestors, always hurried,” she writes in “Angel in the Forest,” “left little evidence of their existence, if one discounts intangibles, a sundial, an apple a day, an angel in the forest.”

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 10, 2024

We've all heard that an apple a day keeps the doctor away, but how true is that?

From Salon • Aug. 10, 2023

Researchers did find that apple eaters were a bit less likely to require prescription medications compared to non-apple-eaters, leading the researcher to joke that “an apple a day keeps the pharmacist away.”

From Washington Post • Oct. 11, 2019

Just now we are trying to increase the consumption of apples, to lead the people to eat an apple a day: it cannot be accomplished by customary commercial methods.

From The Apple-Tree The Open Country Books—No. 1 by Bailey, L. H. (Liberty Hyde)