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View synonyms for apple
apple
[ ap-uhl ]
noun
- the usually round, red or yellow, edible fruit of a small tree, Malus sylvestris, of the rose family.
- the tree, cultivated in most temperate regions.
- the fruit of any of certain other species of tree of the same genus.
- any of these trees.
- any of various other similar fruits, or fruitlike products or plants, as the custard apple, love apple, May apple, or oak apple.
- Informal. anything resembling an apple in size and shape, as a ball, especially a baseball.
- Bowling. an ineffectively bowled ball.
- Slang. a red capsule containing a barbiturate, especially secobarbital.
apple
/ ˈæpəl /
noun
- 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
- the fruit of this tree, having red, yellow, or green skin and crisp whitish flesh
- the wood of this tree
- 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
- apple of one's eyea person or thing that is very precious or much loved
- bad apple or rotten applea person with a corrupting influence
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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
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Word History and Origins
Origin of apple1
Old English æppel; related to Old Saxon appel, Old Norse apall, Old High German apful
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Idioms and Phrases
- polish the apple
- rotten apple
- upset the applecart
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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.
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