apple

noun

1. A common, firm, round fruit produced by a tree of the genus Malus.

   “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 meales, they are right holeſome, & doe confyrme the ſtomacke, & make good digeſtion, ſpecially if they be roſted or baked, […]”

   “[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 vvithin Greece.”

   “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.”

   “Instead of the assembly of honourable merchants, substantial tradesmen, and knowing masters of ships; the mumpers, the halt, the blind, and the lame; your venders of trash, apples, plums; your ragamuffins, rakeshames, and wenches; have justled the greater number of the former out of that place.”

   “I have so often heard Mr. Woodhouse recommend a baked apple. I believe it is the only way that Mr. Woodhouse thinks the fruit thoroughly wholesome. We have apple dumplings, however, very often. Patty makes an excellent apple-dumpling.”

2. A common, firm, round fruit produced by a tree of the genus Malus.

   “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 of theſe euyll frutes, […]”

   “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, and aftervvards boyled againe vvith a little hony till the decoction be come to the thicknes of hony, maketh an excellent medicine for the clenſing of the cheſt and lungs.”

   “As touching Arabia, vvhich lyeth neere and bordereth upon theſe Iſlands, the ſpices and odoriferous fruits that be therein, are to be treated of vvith diſtinction: for their merchandiſe doth conſiſt of roots, braunches, barke, juice or liquor, gums and roſins, vvood, tvvigs, flovvers, leaves, and apple.”

   “The fruite or Apples of Palme-trees (eſpecially ſuch as grovv in ſalt grounds neare the Sea ſides, as in Cyrene of Affrica, and Indea, and not in Egypt, Cyprus, Syria, Helvetia, and Aſsiria do fatten and feed Hogges.”

3. A common, firm, round fruit produced by a tree of the genus Malus.

   “[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.”

   “The arms of Upland were a golden apple, or globe, surrounded with a belt, in allusion to the monarchy.”

   “Andy picked up his two grenades and followed the line into the pits. The apples felt strangely heavy in his hands, and when he looked at them one was as ugly and lethal-looking as the other.”

4. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis)A common, firm, round fruit produced by a tree of the genus Malus.

   “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 like a ball balanced on a dancing jet of water.”

   “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 apple in his throat rose and remained there.”

   “He looked with vague hope up and down the quay, a big apple bulging in his neck.”

   “The apple in his neck was hitting against his collar every time he drew breath and he tore at his collar nervously.”

   “If the Hound had not been moving, the knife might have cored the apple of his throat; instead it only grazed his ribs, and wound up quivering in the wall near the door. He laughed then, a laugh as cold and hollow as if it had come from the bottom of a deep well.”

5. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis)A common, firm, round fruit produced by a tree of the genus Malus.
6. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, historical)A common, firm, round fruit produced by a tree of the genus Malus.

   “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: […]”

7. (informal)A common, firm, round fruit produced by a tree of the genus Malus.
8. A common, firm, round fruit produced by a tree of the genus Malus.
9. A common, firm, round fruit produced by a tree of the genus Malus.
10. (obsolete, slang)A common, firm, round fruit produced by a tree of the genus Malus.

    “Hey Dad! What do you say we toss the old apple around, huh? Sound like fun?”

11. A common, firm, round fruit produced by a tree of the genus Malus.

    “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 drive me from all hope.”

    “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.”

    “Yes, fair Eve, just as Adam ate the apple, so beware!”

    “Yes mam. Woman ate the apple, and discovered sex, and lost all shame, and lift^([sic]) up her fig-leaf, and she must suffer the pains of hell. Monthly.”

12. (obsolete)A common, firm, round fruit produced by a tree of the genus Malus.
13. (Internet, humorous)A common, firm, round fruit produced by a tree of the genus Malus.

    “He's only three apples tall”

14. 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 than Apples, Peares, Plums, &c.”

    “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'.”

    “Used to be apple orchards, used to be the river and irrigation ditches that watered the apples, used to be mining towns.”

    “Some fruit trees, like plums, do well in damp soil conditions. Other fruit trees, like apples, need well-drained soil.”

15. Synonym of applewood (“the wood of the apple tree”).
16. A fruit of any kind.
17. (broadly, often, slang)A 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?’”

18. (broadly, slang)Synonym 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 Commission ("Big Daddy" in the US) to an output power of no more than five watts.”

19. (broadly, slang)An assist.
20. (US, broadly, derogatory, ethnic, slang, slur)A Native American or redskinned person who acts or thinks like a white (Caucasian) person.

    “My ancestors five generations removed were "apples" who were "White" on the inside and "Red" on the outside. […] We need a new breed of "apples."”

    “The presenter, close to tears, told the audience that she's really an apple—white on the inside and red on the outside—Native American.”

21. 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 been […]”

verb

1. (transitive)To make (something) appear like an apple (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 like applies. One might say they have to be appled-up; varieties are selected for marketing which have the most apple-like qualities.”

   “A large smile appled his full cheeks as the four sprytes eagerly served themselves from the seeds and thinly sliced fruits.”

2. (intransitive)To 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.”

3. (UK, dialectal, intransitive, rare)To collect fir-cones.
4. (dialectal, intransitive)Of 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 the ſort of them during the Summer throughout, never reſt and give over, but either they floure, or they apple, or els be readie to bring foorth fruit: […]”

   “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 they are pretty large and vvell appled, Radiſhes and Turnips, obſerving to ſovv them very thin, that the plants may have room to ſvvell and grovv; […]”

   “The cabbage turnep is of tvvo kinds; one apples above ground, and the other in it.”

name

1. (countable, uncountable)Nickname for New York City: a major city in New York, United States; more commonly in the form the Big Apple.
2. (countable, rare)A female given name from English.
3. (countable)A surname.