English
apple
see also: Apple
Pronunciation
  • (America, British) enPR: ăpʹ(ə)l, IPA: /ˈæp.əl/, [ˈæp.ɫ̩]
Noun

apple (plural apples)

  1. A common, round fruit produced by the tree Malus domestica, cultivated in temperate climates. [from 9th c.]
    • c. 1378, William Langland, Piers Plowman:
      I prayed pieres to pulle adown an apple.
  2. Any of various tree-borne fruits or vegetables especially considered as resembling an apple; also (with qualifying words) used to form the names of other specific fruits such as custard apple, rose apple, thorn apple etc. [from 9th c.]
    • 1658, trans. Giambattista della Porta, Natural Magick, I.16:
      In Persia there grows a deadly tree, whose Apples are Poison, and present death.
    • 1784, James Cook, A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, II:
      Otaheite […] is remarkable for producing great quantities of that delicious fruit we called apples, which are found in none of the others, except Eimeo.
    • 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.
  3. The fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, eaten by Adam and Eve according to post-Biblical Christian tradition; the forbidden fruit. [from 11th c.]
    • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book X:
      Him by fraud I have seduced / From his Creator; and, the more to encrease / Your wonder, with an apple […].
  4. A tree of the genus Malus, especially one cultivated for its edible fruit; the apple tree. [from 15th c.]
    • 2000 PA 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'.
  5. The wood of the apple tree. [from 19th c.]
  6. (in the plural, Cockney rhyming slang) Short for apples and pears, slang for stairs. [from 20th c.]
  7. (baseball, slang, obsolete) The ball in baseball. [from 20th c.]
  8. (informal) When smiling, the round, fleshy part of the cheeks between the eyes and the corners of the mouth.
  9. (pejorative, ethnic slur) A Native American or red-skinned person who acts and/or thinks like a white (Caucasian) person.
  10. (ice hockey slang) An assist.
Translations Translations Verb

apple (apples, present participle appling; past and past participle appled)

  1. To become apple-like.
  2. (obsolete) To form buds.
Apple
Pronunciation Proper noun
  1. (trademark) The company Apple Inc., formerly Apple Computer, that produces computers and other digital devices.
  2. (with "the") A nickname for New York City, usually “the Big Apple”.
  3. A multimedia corporation (Apple Corps) and record company (Apple Records) founded by the Beatles.
  4. (rare) A female given name.
  5. Surname
Translations Noun

apple (plural apples)

  1. A computer produced by the company Apple Inc.


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