apple

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See also: Apple and äpple

English

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Etymology

PIE word
*h₂ébōl
an apple

From Middle English appel, from Old English æppel (“apple, fruit in general, ball”), from Proto-West Germanic *applu, from Proto-Germanic *aplaz (“apple”) (compare Scots aipple, West Frisian apel, Dutch appel, German Apfel, Swedish äpple, Danish æble), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ébōl, *h₂ébl̥ (“apple”) (compare Welsh afal, Irish úll, Lithuanian óbuolỹs, Russian я́блоко (jábloko), possibly Ancient Greek ἄμπελος (ámpelos, “vine”)).[1][2]

Pronunciation

  • enPR: ăpʹ(ə)l, IPA(key): /ˈæp.əl/, [ˈæp.ɫ̩]
  • Audio (UK):(file)
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Hyphenation: ap‧ple
  • Rhymes: -æpəl

Noun

apple (plural apples)

  1. A common, round fruit produced by the tree Malus domestica, cultivated in temperate climates. [from 9th c.]
    Hypernyms: fruit, hand fruit, pome
    • c. 1378, William Langland, Piers Plowman:
      I prayed pieres to pulle adown an apple.
    • 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter IX, in Emma: […], volume I, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC, pages 184–185:
      I have so often heard Mr. Woodhouse recommend a baked apple. I believe it is the only way that Mr. Woodhouse thinks the fruit thoroughly wholesome. We have apple dumplings, however, very often. Patty makes an excellent apple-dumpling.
    • 2013 October 28, John Vallins, “Apples of Concord”, in The Guardian‎[1]:
      Close by and under cover, I watched the juicing process. Apples were washed, then tipped, stalks and all, into the crusher and reduced to pulp.
  2. Any fruit or vegetable, or any other thing produced by a plant such as a gall or cone, especially if produced by a tree and similar to the fruit of Malus domestica; also (with qualifying words) used to form the names of specific fruits such as custard apple, rose apple, thorn apple etc. [from 9th c.]
    • 1585, Richard Eden (translating a 1555 work by Peter Martyr), Decades of the New World, v:
      Venemous apples wherwith they poyson theyr arrows.
    • 1597, John Gerarde [i.e., John Gerard], “Of the Pine Tree”, in The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes. […], London: […] Edm[und] Bollifant, for Bonham and Iohn Norton, →OCLC, book III, page 1174:
      This apple is called in high Dutch, Zyꝛbel: in low Dutch, Pijn appel: in Engliſh, Pine apple, Clogge, and Cone. […] The whole Cone or apple being boiled with freſh Horehound, ſaith Galen, and afterwards boyled againe with a little hony till the decoction be come to the thicknes of hony, maketh an excellent medicine for the clenſing of the chest and lungs.
    • 1607, Edward Topsell, chapter IX, in The Historie of Fovre-footed Beastes. […], London: […] William Iaggard, →OCLC, page 666:
      The fruite or Apples of Palme-trees (eſpecially ſuch as grow in ſalt grounds neare the Sea ſides, as in Cyrene of Affrica, and Indea, and not in Egypt, Cyprus, Syria, Helvetia, and Aſsiria do fatten and feed Hogges.
    • 1658, trans. Giambattista della Porta, Natural Magick, I.16:
      In Persia there grows a deadly tree, whose Apples are Poison, and present death.
    • 1765, Abraham Tucker, The Light of Nature Pursued, page 337:
      The fly injects her juices into the oak-leaf, to raise an apple for hatching her young.
    • 1784, James Cook, A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean. Undertaken, by the Command of His Majesty, for Making Discoveries in the Northern Hemisphere. […], volume II, London: […] W[illiam] and A. Strahan; for G[eorge] Nicol, […]; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, book III (Transactions at Otaheite, and the Society Islands; and Prosecution of the Voyage to the Coast of North America), page 174:
      It [Otaheite] is remarkable for producing great quantities of that delicious fruit we called apples, which are found in none of the others, except Eimeo.
    • 1800, John Tuke, General View of the Agriculture of the North Riding of Yorkshire, page 150:
      It is generally thought, that the curled topped potatoe proceeds from a neglect of raising fresh sorts from the apple or [potato-]seed.
    • 1825, Theodric Romeyn Beck, Elements of Medical Jurisprudence, 2nd edition, page 565:
      Hippomane mancinella. (Manchineel-tree.) Dr. Peysonnel relates that a soldier, who was a slave with the Turks, eat some of the apples of this tree, and was soon seized with a swelling and pain of the abdomen.
    • 1833, Charles Williams, The Vegetable World, page 179:
      One kind of apple or gall, inhabited only by one grub, is hard and woody on the outside, resembling a little wooden ball, of a yellowish color, but internally it is of a soft, spongy texture.
    • 1853, Mrs. S. F. Cowper, Country Rambles in England, Or, Journal of a Naturalist, page 172:
      The cross-bill will have seeds from the apple, or cone of the fir—the green-finch, seeds from the uplands, or door of barn, or rick-yard.
    • 1889, Report of the Secretary of Agriculture, United States. Department of Agriculture, page 376:
      The "apple" or gall usually forms a somewhat kidney-shaped excrescence, attached by a small base on the concave side, and varying in size from a half an inch to an inch and a half in length.
  3. Something which resembles the fruit of Malus domestica, such as a globe, ball, or breast.
    • 1705, J. S., City and Country Recreation, page 104:
      […] shrugging up her Shoulders, to shew the tempting Apples of her white Breasts, Then suddainly lets them sink again, to hide them, blushing, as if this had been done by chance.
    • 1761, An Universal History: From the Earliest Accounts to the Present Time, page 508:
      […] count-palatine of the Rhine, who shall carry the globe or imperial apple; and, on his left, the marquis of Brandenburg carrying the scepter.
    • 1851, Robert Bigsby, Old Places Revisited; Or the Antiquarians Enthusiast, page 200:
      The arms of Upland were a "golden apple," or globe, surrounded with a belt, in allusion to the monarchy.
    • 1956, Marion Hargrove, The Girl He Left Behind: Or, All Quiet in the Third Platoon, page 129:
      Andy picked up his two grenades and followed the line into the pits. The apples felt strangely heavy in his hands, and when he looked at them one was as ugly and lethal-looking as the other.
    • 1975, C. W. Smith, Country Music, IX, 256:
      A peasant blouse that showed the tops of those lovely little apples.
    • 2008, Harald Kleinschmidt, Ruling the Waves, Bibliotheca Humanistica & Refo:
      Contrary to Henricus Martellus, Behaim included the tropics [on his globe...]. Evidently, there was no space for a Fourth Continent on Behaim's apple, although some recollection of the Catalan map seems to lie behind the shape of southern Africa.
    1. (baseball, slang, obsolete) The ball in baseball. [from 20th c.]
      • 1990, "The Telltale Head" (The Simpsons season 1 episode 8)
        - Hey Dad! What do you say we toss the old apple around, huh? Sound like fun?
    2. (informal) When smiling, the round, fleshy part of the cheeks between the eyes and the corners of the mouth.
    3. The Adam's apple.
      • 1898, Hugh Charles Clifford, Studies in Brown Humanity: Being Scrawls and Smudges in Sepia, White, and Yellow, page 99:
        The sweat of fear and exertion was streaming down his face and chest, and his breath came in short, tearing, hard-drawn gasps and gulps, while the apple in his throat leaped up and down ceaselessly […]
      • 1922, Henry Williamson, Dandelion Days, page 113:
        Elsie went away with her parents to Belgium and the convent-school on the twelfth, and as they left The Firs in the battered station cab surrounded by boxes and trunks, Willie could not speak. The apple in his throat rose and remained there  […]
      • 1999, Liam O'Flaherty, The Collected Stories, Wolfhound Press (IE) (→ISBN)
        The apple in his neck was hitting against his collar every time he drew breath and he tore at his collar nervously.
      • 2005, Sandra Benitez, Night of the Radishes, Hyperion, →ISBN:
        The apple in his neck bobbles as he gulps. “You've got to be kidding.” “No, I'm not. Your inheritance amounts to maybe three hundred thousand dollars."
      • 2020, George R. R. Martin, A Storm of Swords, Bantam, →ISBN, page 959:
        If the Hound had not been moving, the knife might have cored the apple of his throat; instead it only grazed his ribs, and wound up quivering in the wall near the door. He laughed then, a laugh as cold and hollow as if it had come from the bottom of a deep well.
  4. (Christianity) The fruit of the tree of knowledge, eaten by Adam and Eve according to modern Christian tradition; the forbidden fruit. [from 11th c.]
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC, lines 485–487:
      Him by fraud I have ſeduc'd / From his Creator, and the more to increaſe / Your wonder, with an Apple; […]
    • 1976, Joni Mitchell, Song for Sharon:
      Sharon you've got a husband
      And a family and a farm
      I've got the apple of temptation
      And a diamond snake around my arm
    • 1985, Barry Reckord, The White Witch:
      Woman ate the apple, and discovered sex, and lost all shame, and lift up her fig—leaf, and she must suffer the pains of hell. Monthly.
  5. A tree of the genus Malus, especially one cultivated for its edible fruit; the apple tree. [from 15th c.]
    • 1913, John Weathers, Commercial Gardening, page 38:
      If the grafted portion of an Apple or other tree were examined after one hundred years, the old cut surfaces would still be present, for mature or ripened wood, being dead, never unites.
    • 2000, P. A. Thomas, Trees: Their Natural History, page 227:
      This allows a weak plant to benefit from the strong roots of another, or a vigorous tree (such as an apple) to be kept small by growing on 'dwarfing rootstock'.
    • 2009, Sid Gardner, The Faults of the Owens Valley, →ISBN, page 34:
      Used to be apple orchards, used to be the river and irrigation ditches that watered the apples, used to be mining towns.
    • 2012, Terri Reid, The Everything Guide to Living Off the Grid, page 77:
      Other fruit trees, like apples, need well-drained soil.
  6. The wood of the apple tree. [from 19th c.]
  7. (in the plural, Cockney rhyming slang) Short for apples and pears (“stairs”). [from 20th c.]
  8. (derogatory, ethnic slur) A Native American or redskinned person who acts or thinks like a white (Caucasian) person.
    • 1998, Opal J. Moore, “Git That Gal a Red Dress: A Conversation Between Female Faculty at a State School in Virginia”, in Daryl Cumber Dance, editor, Honey, Hush!: An Anthology of African American Women's Humor, W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, page 537:
      The presenter, close to tears, told the audience that she's really an apple—white on the inside and red on the outside—Native American.
    • 2012 November 12, Joel Spring, The Cultural Transformation of A Native American Family and Its Tribe 1763-1995: A Basket of Apples‎[2], Routledge, →ISBN, ch. 9:
      My ancestors five generations removed were "apples" who were "White" on the inside and "Red" on the outside.
  9. (ice hockey, slang) An assist.
  10. (slang) A CB radio enthusiast.
    • 1977, New Scientist, volume 74, page 764:
      Because of overcrowding, many a CB enthusiast (called an "apple") is strapping an illegal linear amplifier ("boots") on to his transceiver ("ears") […]
  12. (geometry) The surface of revolution of a circular arc of angle greater than 180° rotated about the straight line passing through the arc’s two endpoints.
    Coordinate term: lemon

Synonyms

  • (a tree of the genus Malus): malus

Hyponyms

fruit of the genus Malus

Derived terms

Descendants

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

apple (third-person singular simple present apples, present participle appling, simple past and past participle appled)

  1. (transitive, intransitive) To make or become apple-like.
    • 1992, Marilyn Strathern, Reproducing the Future:
      One might say they have to be appled-up; varieties are selected for marketing which have the most apple-like qualities.
    • 2004, Gregory David Roberts, Shantaram: A Novel:
      He glanced at me, his cheeks appled in the impish grin I was learning to recognise as the clever under-side of his broad and gentle smile.
    • 2007, Claudia D. Newcorn, Crossover: Krisalys Chronicles of Feyree, page 35:
      A large smile appled his full cheeks as the four sprytes eagerly served themselves from the seeds and thinly sliced fruits.
    • 2011, Cynthia Robinson, The Barbary Dogs, page 57:
      She smiled, and her cheeks appled up and her teeth were big and flat and her mouth was wide and spacious like an open invitation.
  2. (obsolete) To form buds, bulbs, or fruit.
    • 1601, Philemon Holland, transl., Pliny, published 1634, II, page 98:
      Either they floure, or they apple or els be ready to bring forth fruit.
    • 1767, James Justice, The British gardener's calendar, page 274:
      You may now sow upon moderate hot-beds, a few of the small Salad feeds, such as White Mustard, Rape, Cresses, and Cabbage Lettuces, and you may also sow upon other hot-beds, not to be drawn until they are pretty large and well appled, Radishes and Turnips, observing to sow them very thin, that the plants may have room to swell and grow;
    • 1796, Charles Marshall, Gardening, published 1800, page 245:
      The cabbage turnep is of two kinds; one apples above ground, and the other in it.
    • 1807, The Complete Farmer:
      Other cultivators, however, advise "that the seed collected from a few turnips thus transplanted, should be preserved and sown in drills, in order to raise plants for see for the general crop, drawing out all such as are weak and improper, leaving only those that are strong and which take the lead; and that when these have appled or formed bulbs, to again take out such as do not appear good and perfect, as by this means turnip seed may be procured, not only of a more vigorous nature, but which is capable of vegetating with less moisture and which produces stronger and more hardy plants.

See also

References

  1. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “apple”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
  2. ^ dictionary.com

Anagrams

Middle English

Noun

apple

  1. Alternative form of appel
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