navel orange

American  

noun

1. a seedless variety of orange having at the apex a navellike formation containing a small secondary fruit.

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navel orange British  

noun

1. a sweet orange that is usually seedless and has at its apex a navel-like depression enclosing an underdeveloped secondary fruit

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Etymology

Origin of navel orange

First recorded in 1885–90

Example Sentences

After a cold spell decimated Riverside’s navel orange crop in 1913, the residents of Pachappa Camp left to look for work in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 9, 2021

He’d already been through four months of chemotherapy, and now Dr. John Waldhausen, a surgeon specializing in neuroblastoma cases, was going to remove a tumor the size of a navel orange from his abdomen.

From Seattle Times • Apr. 23, 2021

Novel cultivars were catalyzing fruit industries across America: the seedless Washington navel orange, the Bartlett pear, Kolb’s Gem watermelon.

From Slate • Jan. 5, 2021

Despite the ruby red interior, the blood orange tastes just like a navel orange.

From Washington Post • Jun. 29, 2018

It grows wherever the orange is hardy, and its fruit, heart-shaped or oval, green or brown, is about the size of a navel orange.

From Trees Worth Knowing by Rogers, Julia Ellen