apple

[ap-uhl]

noun

1. the usually round, red or yellow, edible fruit of a small tree, Malus sylvestris, of the rose family.

2. the tree, cultivated in most temperate regions.

3. the fruit of any of certain other species of tree of the same genus.

4. any of these trees.

5. any of various other similar fruits, or fruitlike products or plants, as the custard apple, love apple, May apple, or oak apple.

6. Informal.,  anything resembling an apple in size and shape, as a ball, especially a baseball.

7. Bowling.,  an ineffectively bowled ball.

8. Slang.,  a red capsule containing a barbiturate, especially secobarbital.

apple

/ ˈæpəl /

noun

1. 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 fruits See also crab apple

2. the fruit of this tree, having red, yellow, or green skin and crisp whitish flesh

3. the wood of this tree

4. any of several unrelated trees that have fruits similar to the apple, such as the custard apple, sugar apple, and May apple See also love apple oak apple thorn apple

5. a person or thing that is very precious or much loved

6. a person with a corrupting influence

Word History and Origins

Origin of apple¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English appel, Old English æppel; cognate with Old Frisian, Dutch appel, Old Saxon apl, appul, Old High German apful ( German Apfel ), Crimean Gothic apel, from unattested Germanic aplu (akin to Old Norse epli, from unattested apljan ); Old Irish ubull (neuter), Welsh afal, Breton aval, from unrecorded pre-Celtic ǫblu; Lithuanian óbuolas, -ỹs, Latvian âbuol(i)s (with reshaped suffix), Old Prussian woble, perhaps Thracian (din)upla, (sin)upyla “wild pumpkin,” Old Church Slavonic (j)ablŭko (representing unrecorded ablŭ-ko, neuter), from unattested Balto-Slavic āblu-. Avalon

Word History and Origins

Origin of apple¹

Old English æppel; related to Old Saxon appel, Old Norse apall, Old High German apful

Idioms and Phrases

• polish the apple
• rotten apple
• upset the applecart

Example Sentences

Comedians telling jokes about politicians, including the president, are as American as apple pie and the whoopee cushion — that is, until this year’s festival.

Read more on Salon

Like a Fourth of July baseball game played with apple pie, Monday evening had Mrs. Brady herself, Florence Henderson, dancing to a song from “The Sound of Music.”

Read more on Salon

It gives them the ability to ask for an apple that’s in the fridge.

Read more on Salon

“If strawberries are expensive, I’ll buy apples—there are substitutes,” said Meredith Fowlie, an energy economist at the University of California, Berkeley.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The smell of the breeze through the apple trees on a summer day.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• asteroid 
• earth 
• globe 
• sphere 
• world