Advertisement

Advertisement

View synonyms for apple

apple

[ ap-uhl ]

noun

  1. the usually round, red or yellow, edible fruit of a small tree, Malus sylvestris, of the rose family.
  2. the tree, cultivated in most temperate regions.
  3. the fruit of any of certain other species of tree of the same genus.
  4. any of these trees.
  5. any of various other similar fruits, or fruitlike products or plants, as the custard apple, love apple, May apple, or oak apple.
  6. Informal. anything resembling an apple in size and shape, as a ball, especially a baseball.
  7. Bowling. an ineffectively bowled ball.
  8. Slang. a red capsule containing a barbiturate, especially secobarbital.


apple

/ ˈæpəl /

noun

  1. a rosaceous tree, Malus sieversii , native to Central Asia but widely cultivated in temperate regions in many varieties, having pink or white fragrant flowers and firm rounded edible fruits See also crab apple
  2. the fruit of this tree, having red, yellow, or green skin and crisp whitish flesh
  3. the wood of this tree
  4. any of several unrelated trees that have fruits similar to the apple, such as the custard apple, sugar apple, and May apple See also love apple oak apple thorn apple
  5. apple of one's eye
    a person or thing that is very precious or much loved
  6. bad apple or rotten apple
    a person with a corrupting influence
“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
Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of apple1

First recorded before 900; Middle English appel, Old English æppel; cognate with Old Frisian, Dutch appel, Old Saxon apl, appul, Old High German apful ( German Apfel ), Crimean Gothic apel, from unattested Germanic aplu (akin to Old Norse epli, from unattested apljan ); Old Irish ubull (neuter), Welsh afal, Breton aval, from unrecorded pre-Celtic ǫblu; Lithuanian óbuolas, -ỹs, Latvian âbuol(i)s (with reshaped suffix), Old Prussian woble, perhaps Thracian (din)upla, (sin)upyla “wild pumpkin,” Old Church Slavonic (j)ablŭko (representing unrecorded ablŭ-ko, neuter), from unattested Balto-Slavic āblu-. Avalon
Discover More

Word History and Origins

Origin of apple1

Old English æppel; related to Old Saxon appel, Old Norse apall, Old High German apful
Discover More

Idioms and Phrases

  • polish the apple
  • rotten apple
  • upset the applecart
Discover More

Example Sentences

Hot dogs, or “meat apples,” as we’ve come to jokingly call them, are a gas station go-to in the remote Faroe Islands.

From Salon

The skin of an apple, a cherry, a tomato: all different ways of twisting light into hues of red.

From Salon

"There are some little things to eat in the woods but no apples which what they really like, " he said, "so we are hoping that will draw them in the next day or two".

From BBC

Catechins are also found in apples, blueberries and strawberries.

From Salon

She has an epiphany about her own ambitiousness, the apple not falling far from the tree.

Advertisement

Related Words

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement


applauseapple a day