greengage

American  

[green-geyj] / ˈgrinˌgeɪdʒ /

noun

1. any of several varieties of light-green plums, as Prunus insititia italica.

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greengage British  

/ ˈɡriːnˌɡeɪdʒ /

noun

1. a cultivated variety of plum tree, Prunus domestica italica, with edible green plumlike fruits

2. the fruit of this tree

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Etymology

Origin of greengage

1715–25; green + Gage, after Sir William Gage, 18th-century English botanist who introduced such varieties from France circa 1725

Example Sentences

He once wrote about asking for the local guava jelly in one of Trinidad's intellectual clubs, only to be told that they only had English greengage jam.

From Time Magazine Archive

My mother’s wedding ring is in that greengage plum next to the banana, and aunt Sophia Babcock’s is in that damson, a little below to the right.

From Ainslee's, Vol. 15, No. 6, July 1905 by Various

At least one fruit, the greengage, is named from a person, Sir William Gage, a gentleman of Suffolk, who popularised its cultivation early in the 18th century.

From The Romance of Words (4th ed.) by Weekley, Ernest

You remember that we represented him by a football, while the earth was only a greengage plum.

From The Children's Book of Stars by Mitton, G. E. (Geraldine Edith)

And those syrups of fruit, the strawberry, the greengage!

From The Way of Ambition by Soper, J. H. Gardner