crab apple

noun

a small, sour, wild apple.

any of various small, tart, cultivated varieties of apple, used for making jelly and preserves.

any tree bearing such fruit.

Words nearby crab apple

cqsw, cr, cr., craal, crab, crab apple, crab cactus, crab canon, crab grass, crab louse, crab nebula

Origin of crab apple

First recorded in 1705–15

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for crab apple

If you find a crab-apple on a tree, you may be sure that the tree is a crab-tree.
Mrs Whittelsey's Magazine for Mothers and Daughters|Various
Ecks was executing a series of caricatures illustrating the involution of Hodgkins' face back into a crab-apple.
The Incendiary|W. A. (William Augustine) Leahy
I was in the library alone, and he was with Anne in the garden, when Maggie came into the room with a saucer of crab-apple jelly.
The Confession|Mary Roberts Rinehart
The girl on the bench under the crab-apple tree was beginning to draw herself up proudly.
Sally of Missouri|R. E. Young

You can't get a peach out of a crab-apple, nor a pumpkin out of a watermelon, nor eagles out of ducks' eggs.
Letters of Major Jack Downing, of the Downingville Militia|Seba Smith

British Dictionary definitions for crab apple

crab apple

noun

any of several rosaceous trees of the genus Malus that have white, pink, or red flowers and small sour apple-like fruits

the fruit of any of these trees, used to make jam

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

crab apple

noun

Content related to crab apple

Words nearby crab apple

Origin of crab apple

Examples from the Web for crab apple

British Dictionary definitions for crab apple

noun