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

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of apple¹

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

Idioms and Phrases

• polish the apple
• rotten apple
• upset the applecart

Example Sentences

Major tech companies such as Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Amazon and Apple reported strong third-quarter earnings, with revenue exceeding expectations across the board.

From Salon

Ives said he expects Trump to make exceptions for Tesla and Apple so they’re not hit by a tax on imported goods.

From Los Angeles Times

Apple Podcasts will only work on MacOS operating systems since Catalina.

From Slate

You can subscribe directly from the What Next show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

From Slate

Apple has strongly denied Which's accusations.

From BBC

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