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. See crab 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 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. See thorn apple, oak apple, love apple
   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. apple of one's eye
   apple of one's eye a person or thing that is very precious or much loved
6. bad apple
   bad applerotten apple 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

In that sense, comparing 2000 to 2020 isn’t “apples to apples,” he says.

From Fortune

Many flowers, from apples to zinnias, sport both male and female parts.

From Science News For Students

This scrub also boasts a string of household ingredients such as pink Himalayan sea salt and apple cider vinegar to remove even the most stubborn dry patches.

From Popular-Science

While the farm does sell some apples to wholesale distributors, Mofenson says, “Agritourism is really our primary focus.”

From Eater

The worst thing that can happen to them is to serve with a bad apple.

From Ozy

Leapolitan responded by saying, “hopefully youll [sic] bite into a poison apple.”

From The Daily Beast

Apple customers, on the other hand, are used to paying premium for perceived quality.

From The Daily Beast

The process of co-opting black music and selling it back to the adoring public in whiteface is as American as apple pie.

From The Daily Beast

Companies like Delta, Apple, and Nike flex their political muscle on behalf of gay rights.

From The Daily Beast

Apple, PetSmart, Wells Fargo, Marriott, and Delta also spoke out.

From The Daily Beast

This gives to the second volume something of the smell of an apple store-room.

From Project Gutenberg

Twenty acres of apple trees all in a orchard together, and twenty acres of strawberries set out betwixt and between the rows!

From Project Gutenberg

All this while Squinty was chewing on the apple which he had picked up from the ground after he had jumped over the rope.

From Project Gutenberg

And it did not take Squinty long to learn to jump the rope when there was no apple on the other side.

From Project Gutenberg

Then Squinty would toss the apple up in the air, off his nose, and catch it as it came down.

From Project Gutenberg

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