a tap or stamp of the foot, formerly serving as a warning of one's intent to attack, but now also used as a feint.
a sharp stroke with the blade used for the purpose of procuring an opening.
a stamp of the foot, used to warn of one's intent to attack
a sharp blow with the blade made to procure an opening
From French; see origin at appeal
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
And what about Adem and Eev and the sin with the tree of nowlege and eating the appel and the fall.
From "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes
You bet I was mad, wen I fownd out there warnt no cherry or mince pie, not even dryed appel, but only a lot of type wot had got mixed up.
From The Bad Boy At Home And His Experiences In Trying To Become An Editor - 1885 by Victor, Metta Victoria Fuller
Mony appel is bryht wiþ vte. and Bitter wiþ inne.
From Selections from early Middle English, 1130-1250 Part I: Texts by Hall, Joseph
And so, finally, at eight in the evening this Third stupendous Voting, by roll-call or appel nominal, does begin.
From The French Revolution by Carlyle, Thomas
This may have lasted an hour, and then, with a loud voice, a voice with the vibration of young manhood, the veteran exclaimed: 'Farewell, my friends; they are beating the appel on high.'
From Mated from the Morgue A tale of the Second Empire by O'Shea, John Augustus
In the 1970s, President Gerald Ford insisted on making some of his medical information public, over the objections of his own physician, Appel told the BBC.
From BBC ● May 30, 2026
Baerlein called the allegations regarding Wendy Appel “unsubstantiated and false.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 25, 2025
That's why Eric Appel at Stanford University, and colleagues have been working on gel-like fire retardants that could be sprayed onto a home hours before a wildfire reaches it, to limit the damage.
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2025
“According to queer theory, if you’re a man who behaves in ‘unmasculine’ ways or wears eyeliner you must be a woman inside, which I thought was regressive,” Appel, who graduated in 2020, recalled.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025
Mr. Penrose was so hard on Hicks that Mr. Appel interposed quickly: "Do they ever come around at night, Cookie?"
From The Dude Wrangler by Lockhart, Caroline
I dint eat no appels or do nothing sinful.
From "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes
Also a kinde of russet appels that be very great, of a good tast.
From The History of the Great and Mighty Kingdom of China and the Situation Thereof, Volume I (of 2) by Mendoza, Juan Gonzalez de
I eat ate appels at a fate, Then took my leve and warked home strait.
From The Crown of Success by A. L. O. E.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
