/ˈæp.əl/, /ˈæ.pɘl/, /ˈa.pɘl/
OriginFrom apple. As a surname, also an Americanized form of Appel or Apfel.
- The fruit of the tree Malus domestica, chiefly with a green, red, or yellow skin, cultivated in temperate climates for cidermaking, cooking, and eating.
“All apples eaten ſoone after yͭ they be gathered, are cold, hard to digeſt, and do make ill and corrupted bloud, but being wel kept vntill yͤ next winter, or the year folowing, eatẽ [eaten] after meal”
“[T]hey [i.e., writers] aſſigne and lay to India, the countrey of the Aſpagores, ſo plentifull in vines, laurels, and box, and generally of all ſorts of apple trees and other fruitfull trees that grovv”
“VVhat of my droſs thou findeſt there, be bold / To throvv avvay, but yet preserve the Gold. / VVhat if my Gold be vvrapped up in Ore? / None throvvs avvay the Apple for the Core.”
- Often with a qualifying word: any fruit or vegetable, or any other thing (such as a cone or gall) produced by a plant, especially if from a tree and similar to the fruit of Malus domestica (noun sense 1.1).
“custard apple rose apple thorn apple”
“The apples wherewith the Indian Canibales inueneme theyr arrowes, growe on certeyne trees couered with many braunches and leaues beinge very greene and growyng thicke. They are laden with abundaunce o”
“This apple is called in high Dutch, Zyꝛbel [Zyrbel]: in low Dutch, Pijn appel: in Engliſh, Pine apple, Clogge, and Cone. […] The vvhole Cone or apple being boiled vvith freſh Horehound, ſaith Galen, a”
- Something which resembles the fruit of Malus domestica (noun sense 1.1) in shape (such as a ball, breast, or globe) or colour.
“[H]old a round ball or hollovv apple of glaſſe full of vvater againſt the Sunne, it vvill be ſo hot, that it is ready to burne any cloth that it toucheth.”
“[S]hrugging up her Shoulders, to ſhevv the tempting Apples of her vvhite Breaſts, ſhe ſuddainly lets them ſink again, to hide them, bluſhing, as if this had been done by chance, […]”
“[T]he ſaid elector of Saxony ſhall have on his right the count-palatine of the Rhine, vvho ſhall carry the globe or imperial apple; and, on his left, the marquis of Brandenburg carrying the ſcepter.”
- abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsisEllipsis of Adam's apple (“the lump in the throat, usually more noticeable in men than in women; the laryngeal prominence”).
“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 li”
“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 app”
“He looked with vague hope up and down the quay, a big apple bulging in his neck.”
- abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsisEllipsis of apple-green (“a bright green colour with a light tint of yellow, like that of a Granny Smith apple”).
- abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, historicalEllipsis of apple of the eye (“the pupil, or pupil and iris, of the eye, originally believed to be spherical; also, the eyeball”).
“None have their eies all of one colour: for the ball or apple in the middeſt is ordinarily of another colour than the vvhite about it.”
“The dart did vndergore / His eye-lid, by his eyes deare rootes; and out the apple fell, / The eye pierc'd through: […]”
- informalThe round, fleshy part of a cheek between the eye and the corner of the mouth when a person is smiling.
- The surface of revolution of a circular arc of an angle greater than 180° rotated about the straight line passing through the arc's two endpoints.
- In full apple bowl: a round bowl of a tobacco pipe; also, a tobacco pipe with such a bowl.
- obsolete, slangIn full old apple: a baseball.
“Hey Dad! What do you say we toss the old apple around, huh? Sound like fun?”
- According to postbiblical Christian tradition, the fruit of the tree of knowledge which was eaten by Adam and Eve despite God commanding them not to do so; the forbidden fruit.
“Him [man] by fraud I [Satan] have ſeduc'd / From his Creator, and the more to increaſe / Your vvonder, vvith an Apple; […]”
“I read and re-read her letter, and some softened feelings stole into my heart, and dared to whisper paradisiacal dreams of love and joy; but the apple was already eaten, and the angel's arm bared to d”
“Yes, of all human follies, love, / Methinks, hath served me best. / The Apple had done but little for me / If Eve had not done the rest.”
- obsoleteSynonym of pome (“a type of fruit in which the often edible flesh arises from the swollen base of the flower and not from the carpels”).
- Internet, humorousAn imaginary diminutive unit of height.
“He's only three apples tall”
- A tree of the genus Malus; especially Malus domestica which is cultivated for its edible fruit; the apple tree.
“Trees that beare Maſt, and Nuts, are commonly more laſting, than thoſe that beare Fruits; Eſpecially the Moiſter Fruits: As Oakes, Beeches, Cheſ-nuts, VVall-nuts, Almonds, Pine-Trees, &c. laſt longer ”
“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.”
“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'.”
- Synonym of applewood (“the wood of the apple tree”).
- broadly, often, slangA person.
““I saw a little guy with a can opener fooling around that gum machine,” was the reply.
“And then?” asked McGonigle.
“I can’t say,” replied the poor apple.”
““Take it easy with Thompson, Eddie,” he said lazily. “He’s a good apple but he’s mighty tough to go pushing around. He’s had a lot of bad luck lately.””
“Pop delighted in calling his grandson Blenheim; it was such a nice round apple of a name.
‘Well, how’s Charley boy? And how’s my little apple?’”
- broadly, slangSynonym of CBer (“a CB radio enthusiast”).
“Because of overcrowding, many a CB enthusiast (called an "apple") is strapping an illegal linear amplifier ("boots") on to his transceiver ("ears") which is limited by the Federal Communications Commi”
- broadly, slangAn assist.
- A computer produced by the company Apple Inc.
“Arthur bought the Apple anyway. Over a few days he also acquired some astronomical software, plotted the movements of stars, drew rough little diagrams of how he seemed to remember the stars to have b”
- transitiveTo make (something) appear like an apple (noun noun sense 1.1).
“To choose responsibly, our active citizen must know what is being offered, much of this knowledge being filtered through appearance: things must look what they are supposed to be. Apples must look lik”
“A large smile appled his full cheeks as the four sprytes eagerly served themselves from the seeds and thinly sliced fruits.”
- intransitiveTo become like an apple.
“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.”
“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.”
- UK, dialectal, intransitive, rareTo collect fir-cones.
- dialectal, intransitiveOf a flower bud or vegetable (especially a root vegetable): to grow into the shape of an apple.
“As for Scolymus [possibly type of artichoke?], it differeth from the reſt of theſe Thiſtles herein, That the root, if it be ſodden, it is good to be eaten: beſides, it hath a ſtraunge nature, for all ”
“To Pome or Apple, is ſaid of the Heads of Artichokes vvhen they grovv round, and full ſhaped as an Apple. It is ſaid alſo of Lettuce, &c.”
“You may novv ſovv upon moderate hot-beds, a fevv of the ſmall ſalad ſeeds, ſuch as VVhite Muſtard, Rape, Creſſes, and Cabbage Lettuces, and you may also ſovv upon other hot-beds, not to be drawn until”
- countable, uncountableNickname for New York City: a major city in New York, United States; more commonly in the form the Big Apple.
- countable, rareA female given name from English.
- countableA surname.
Formsapples(plural) · apples(present, singular, third-person) · appling(participle, present) · appled(participle, past) · appled(past) · Apples(plural)