fruit
- any product of plant growth useful to humans or animals.
- the developed ovary of a seed plant with its contents and accessory parts, as the pea pod, nut, tomato, or pineapple.
- the edible part of a plant developed from a flower, with any accessory tissues, as the peach, mulberry, or banana.
- the spores and accessory organs of ferns, mosses, fungi, algae, or lichen.
- anything produced or accruing; product, result, or effect; return or profit: the fruits of one's labors.
- Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive. a contemptuous term used to refer to a male homosexual.
- to bear or cause to bear fruit: a tree that fruits in late summer; careful pruning that sometimes fruits a tree.
Origin of fruit
Related Words for fruit
product, nut, crop, produce, grain, berry, harvest, yield, pome, drupe, reward, return, advantage, profit, pay, effect, benefit, result, consequence, outcomeExamples from the Web for fruit
Contemporary Examples of fruit
Once I even got a Durian—Asian fruit notorious for smelling like a sweaty sock—which did not make me popular that month.
Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed.
He was eating the meal on which he would play—steak, peas, lettuce, fruit jello, and tea.
“Instead, go for things that give you energy in a more sustained way, like fruit,” says Kennedy.
This is the first time the Vatican calls us for help, which is a good start and the fruit of what they are doing there.
Historical Examples of fruit
The fruit of which they partook freely was quite sweet and palatable.
Brave and BoldHoratio Alger
It was the fruit of experience, of knowledge, of demonstration.
The Conquest of FearBasil King
They are much enjoyed by those who are fond of this class of fruit.
Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 5Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences
The purposes for which you intend your fruit is highly important.
You took no drink; the sideboard stands open; my fruit has disappeared.
The Boy Life of NapoleonEugenie Foa
fruit
- botany the ripened ovary of a flowering plant, containing one or more seeds. It may be dry, as in the poppy, or fleshy, as in the peach
- any fleshy part of a plant, other than the above structure, that supports the seeds and is edible, such as the strawberry
- the specialized spore-producing structure of plants that do not bear seeds
- any plant product useful to man, including grain, vegetables, etc
- (often plural) the result or consequence of an action or effort
- British old-fashioned, slang chap; fellow: used as a term of address
- slang, mainly British a person considered to be eccentric or insane
- slang, mainly US and Canadian a male homosexual
- archaic offspring of man or animals; progeny
- to bear or cause to bear fruit
Word Origin for fruit
Word Origin and History for fruit
late 12c., from Old French fruit "fruit, fruit eaten as dessert; harvest; virtuous action" (12c.), from Latin fructus "an enjoyment, delight, satisfaction; proceeds, produce, fruit, crops," from frug-, stem of frui "to use, enjoy," from PIE *bhrug- "agricultural produce," also "to enjoy" (see brook (v.)).
Classical sense preserved in fruits of one's labor. Originally in English meaning vegetables as well. Modern narrower sense is from early 13c. Meaning "odd person, eccentric" is from 1910; that of "male homosexual" is from 1935. The term also is noted in 1931 as tramp slang for "a girl or woman willing to oblige," probably from the fact of being "easy picking." Fruit salad recorded from 1861.
fruit
- The ripened ovary of a flowering plant that contains the seeds, sometimes fused with other parts of the plant. Fruits can be dry or fleshy. Berries, nuts, grains, pods, and drupes are fruits.♦ Fruits that consist of ripened ovaries alone, such as the tomato and pea pod, are called true fruits. ♦ Fruits that consist of ripened ovaries and other parts such as the receptacle or bracts, as in the apple, are called accessory fruits or false fruits. See also aggregate fruit multiple fruit simple fruit. See Note at berry.
Usage: To most of us, a fruit is a plant part that is eaten as a dessert or snack because it is sweet, but to a botanist a fruit is a mature ovary of a plant, and as such it may or may not taste sweet. All species of flowering plants produce fruits that contain seeds. A peach, for example, contains a pit that can grow into a new peach tree, while the seeds known as peas can grow into another pea vine. To a botanist, apples, peaches, peppers, tomatoes, pea pods, cucumbers, and winged maple seeds are all fruits. A vegetable is simply part of a plant that is grown primarily for food. Thus, the leaf of spinach, the root of a carrot, the flower of broccoli, and the stalk of celery are all vegetables. In everyday, nonscientific speech we make the distinction between sweet plant parts (fruits) and nonsweet plant parts (vegetables). This is why we speak of peppers and cucumbers and squash-all fruits in the eyes of a botanist-as vegetables.
fruit
In botany, the part of a seed-bearing plant that contains the fertilized seeds capable of generating a new plant (see fertilization). Fruit develops from the female part of the plant. Apples, peaches, tomatoes, and many other familiar foods are fruits.
Idioms and Phrases with fruit
fruit
see bear fruit; forbidden fruit.