love apple

noun

a tropical, tender plant, Solanum aculeatissimum, of the nightshade family, having prickly leaves, clusters of large, star-shaped white flowers, and red, tomatolike fruit.
Archaic. the tomato.

Origin of love apple

1570–80; compare French pomme d'amour, German Liebesapfel

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for love apple

Historical Examples of love apple

It was first used for ornamental purposes and was called "love-apple."
Human Foods and Their Nutritive Value
Harry Snyder
All swallow the love-apple bait presented by some wicked genius of the devil, who sports with the affections of mankind.
The Court of Cacus
Alexander Leighton
So far was he concern'd in looking after that Love-apple, or Night-shadow, for the cure of his own burning distemper.
The Ten Pleasures of Marriage and The Confession of the New-married Couple (1682)
A. Marsh

British Dictionary definitions for love apple

love apple

noun

an archaic name for tomato

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

Word Origin and History for love apple

"tomato," 1570s, corresponding to French pomme d'amour, German liebesapfel, but the reason for the term remains obscure. One guess is that it is a corruption of Italian pomo de'Mori or Spanish pome dei Moro, literally "Moorish apple."