apple

English Online Dictionary. What means apple‎? What does apple mean?

English

Etymology

The noun is derived from Middle English appel (“Malus domestica fruit or tree, apple; any type of fruit, nut, or tuber; tree bearing fruit; (figurative) ball, sphere; (Christianity) forbidden fruit in Eden”), from Old English æppel (“apple; any type of fruit; (figurative) ball, sphere; eyeball”), from Proto-West Germanic *applu (“apple; any type of fruit”), from Proto-Germanic *aplaz (“apple; any type of fruit”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ébōl, *h₂ébl̥ (“apple”).

As regards sense 1.4 (“forbidden fruit”), the type of fruit eaten by Adam and Eve is not identified in the Book of Genesis in the Bible. It may have come to be identified with the apple because of the similarity between Latin mālum (“apple”) and malum (“evil; misery, torment; wrongdoing”).

The verb is derived from the noun.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ap‧ple
• IPA^(key): /ˈæp(ə)l/, Rhymes: -æpəl
• (North India) IPA^(key): /ˈæpɐl/
• (South India) IPA^(key): /ˈæpɨɭ/

Noun

apple (plural apples)

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

   Hypernyms: fruit, hand fruit, pome

   2. The fruit of the tree Malus domestica, chiefly with a green, red, or yellow skin, cultivated in temperate climates for cidermaking, cooking, and eating. [from 9th c.]
   3. 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 (sense 1.1). [from 9th c.]

      custard apple    rose apple    thorn apple
   4. Something which resembles the fruit of Malus domestica (sense 1.1) in shape (such as a ball, breast, or globe) or colour.
      1. Short for Adam's apple (“the lump in the throat, usually more noticeable in men than in women; the laryngeal prominence”).
      2. Short for apple-green (“a bright green colour with a light tint of yellow, like that of a Granny Smith apple”).

      3. (historical) Short for apple of the eye (“the pupil, or pupil and iris, of the eye, originally believed to be spherical; also, the eyeball”).
      4. (informal) The round, fleshy part of a cheek between the eye and the corner of the mouth when a person is smiling.
      6. (geometry) 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.

         Coordinate term: lemon

      7. (smoking) In full apple bowl: a round bowl of a tobacco pipe; also, a tobacco pipe with such a bowl.
      8. (obsolete, baseball, slang) In full old apple: a baseball. [from 20th c.]
   6. (Christianity) 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. [from 11th c.]
   7. (obsolete, botany) Synonym 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”).
3. A tree of the genus Malus; especially Malus domestica which is cultivated for its edible fruit; the apple tree. [from 15th c.]

   Synonym: malus
4. Synonym of applewood (“the wood of the apple tree”). [from 19th c.]
5. (by extension, slang)
   1. (amateur radio) Synonym of CBer (“a CB radio enthusiast”).
   2. (ice hockey) An assist.
   3. (US, derogatory, ethnic slur) A Native American or redskinned person who acts or thinks like a white (Caucasian) person.

      Coordinate terms: banana, coconut, Oreo, Twinkie

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Descendants

Translations

See also

• malic

Verb

apple (third-person singular simple present apples, present participle appling, simple past and past participle appled)

1. (transitive) To make (something) appear like an apple (noun sense 1.1).
2. (intransitive)
   1. To become like an apple.
   2. (UK, dialectal, rare) To collect fir-cones.
   3. (obsolete except UK, dialectal) Of a flower bud or vegetable (especially a root vegetable): to grow into the shape of an apple.

Derived terms

• appleing, appling (noun)

Translations

Notes

References

Further reading

• apple on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• apple (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “apple, n.”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “apple”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• pepla, appel, appel., Appel

Middle English

Noun

apple

1. Alternative form of appel