▪ I. apple, n.
(æp(ə)l)
Forms: 1 æppel, æpl, 2–7 appel, 2–4 eppel(e, epple, 3–4 appell, 3–5 appil(e, 4–5 -yl(le, -ulle, 4–6 -ul, 5 apille, -elle, 6 -ill, aple, 4– apple. Pl. 3– apples; 1 æp(p)la (the fruit), æpplas of the eye, 3–4 applen.
[common Teut.: with OE. æppel cf. OFris. appel, OHG. aphul, aphal, apfal, mod.G. apfel, all masc.; ON. ępli (for apli), OSw. æpli, (Goth. unkn. ? apuls, pl. apuleis, masc., or apli, pl. aplja, neut.); cf. Lith. óbůlas, -is, Samogitian abolis, Lettish ahbols, OSl. jabl'ko, Russ. jablo-ko, Pol. jabł-ko; also Irish abhal, ubhal, Welsh afal. The relation of these to the Teutonic, and the origin of the word are unknown (see Grimm I. 532–3); nor does it seem certain whether the general or special meaning is the earlier.]
A. 1. a. The round firm fleshy fruit of a Rosaceous tree (Pyrus Malus) found wild, as the crab-apple, in Europe and the Caucasus, and cultivated in innumerable varieties all over the two temperate zones.
| c 885 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. xv. 94 Ða readan apla [v.r. appla, L. poma granata] onᵹemang ðæm bellum. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 25 He..beð al swa is an eppel iheowed. 1297 R. Glouc. 283 Upe þe hexte bowe tueye applen he sey. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. vi. v. (1495) 192 Chyldren loue an apple more than golde. c 1449 Pecock Repr. ii. iv. 160 This tree..bringith forth soure Applis. 1533 Elyot Cast. Helth ii. vii. 21 Rough tasted appules are holsome where the stomake is weake. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. i. iii. 102 A goodly apple rotten at the heart. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 509 ¶2 Venders of..apples, plumbs. 1813 Sir H. Davy Agric. Chem. 255 Most of our best apples are supposed to have been introduced into Britain by a fruiterer of Henry the Eighth. |
b. Common in proverbial expressions. Phr.
(as) sure as God made little apples, and similar phrases.
| 1340 Ayenb. 205 A roted eppel amang þe holen, makeþ rotie þe yzounde. 1532 More Confut. Tindale Wks. 689/1 Let him take mine yie for an apple, if, etc. 1579 Fulke Heskins's Parl. 241 Your argument is as like, as an apple is like an oyster. 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. i. i. 139 Faith (as you say) there's small choise in rotten apples. 1623 Sanderson Serm. Wks. 1681 I. 95 Of a wavering and fickle mind; as we say of children; won with an apple, and lost with a nut. 1874 M. Clarke His Natural Life (1875) iii. xv. 261 I'll tie you up and give you fifty for yourself, as sure as God made little apples. 1912 Mulford & Clay Buck Peters xxii. 198 It's Buck as sure as little apples Kesicks. 1926 J. Black You can't Win (1927) ix. 121 Sure as God made little apples I'll see that you get ten days. 1942 M. Lasswell Suds in Eye ix. 112 I'm gonna learn to read sure as God made little apples. |
c. Short for
apple-tree.
| a 1626 Bacon (T.) Oaks and beeches last longer than apples and pears. 1785 [see pear n. 2]. 1940 E. Step Wayside & Woodland Trees 40 The Wild Apple has not the pyramidal form of the Wild Pear. |
2. a. Any fruit, or similar vegetable production; especially such as in some respect resemble the apple, but, from the earliest period, used with the greatest latitude.
| a 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 64 Genim brembel-æppel. c 1000 ælfric Numb. xi. 5 Cucumeres þæt sind eorþæppla. 1398 Trevisa Barth De P.R. xvii. cviii. (1495) 670 Al manere apples that ben closyd in an harde skynne, rynde, other shale, ben callyd Nuces. 1555 R. Eden Decades N. Worlde v, Venemous apples wherwith they poyson theyr arrowes. 1607 Topsell Four-footed Beasts (1673) 516 The fruit or Apples of Palm-trees. 1765 Tucker Lt. Nat. 377 The fly injects her juices into the oak-leaf, to raise an apple for hatching her young. 1861 Hulme Moquin-Tandon ii. iii. v. 153 Bedeguars, commonly called ‘Soft apples.’ This name is given to Galls which are covered with numerous close-set hairs or fibres. |
b. Bot. Any fruit of the structure of the apple; ‘an inferior fleshy many-celled fruit’; a pome.
| 1729 J. Martyn Lect. Bot. 20 in Chambers Cycl. Supp. |
3. Hence forming part of the name of a large number of fruits; as
apple Punic,
obs. name of the pomegranate;
apple of Sodom, or
Dead Sea Fruit, described by Josephus as of fair appearance externally, but dissolving, when grasped, into smoke and ashes; a ‘traveller's tale’ supposed by some to refer to the fruit of
Solanum Sodomeum (allied to the tomato), by others to the
Calotropis procera;
fig. Any hollow disappointing specious thing.
| c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1129 Quane here apples ripe ben, fier-isles man mai ðor-inne sen. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xiii. xiii, Ther [by the dead sea] groweþ most feyre applis..and when þou takest, he fadeþ and falleþ in to ashes and smokeþ as þouȝe he were brennynge. 1601 Holland Pliny (1634) I. 398 Hereof cometh the colour of Puniceus (i. a light red, or a bay) taking the name of the apple Punicke, or Pomegranat. 1634 Rainbow Labour (1635) 6 Those apples of Sodom which dye betwixt the hand and the mouth. 1703 Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1721) 85 As for the Apples of Sodom..I neither saw nor heard of any. 1869 Eng. Mech. 24 Dec. 354/1 Mecca galls, Dead Sea apples, Sodom apples, or mad apples..are occasionally imported from Bussarah. |
b. apple of Adam = Adam's apple;
apple of love = love ¶ See also alligator a., balsam a., cherry a., custard a., devil's a., egg a., elephant a., Jew's a., kangaroo a., mad a., mandrake a., May a., monkey a., oak a., Otaheite a., Persian a., pine a., prairie a., rose a., star a., thorn a.
4. ‘The fruit of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste brought death into the world, and all our woe’ (Milton).
| a 1000 Cædmon Gen. 637 (Grein) æppel unsǽlᵹa, deáþ⁓beámes ofet. c 1230 Ancr. R. 52 Eue biheold o þen uorbodene eppele. a 1300 Cursor M. 755 Adam brake goddis co⁓mandement of the appil. a 1450 Knt. de la Tour (1868) 59 The delite of the apille slow Eve. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 487 Him by fraud I have seduc'd From his Creator..with an Apple. 1829 Southey All for Love ii, The Apple had done but little for me, If Eve had not done the rest. |
5. apple of discord: the golden apple inscribed ‘For the fairest,’ fabled to have been thrown by Eris, the personification of discord, into the assembly of the gods, and contended for by Juno, Minerva, and Venus; whence, any subject of disagreement and dissension.
| [c 1400 Destr. Troy vi. 2434 Hit semit me..Þat Venus the vertuus was verely þe fairest, And I duli..demyt hir the appull.] a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Irene Wks. 1711, 173 Who throw the apple of dissension amongst your subjects. 1680 Established Test 10 The Apple of Contention between the Prince and the People. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. I. iv. 195 This great and wealthy church constantly formed an apple of discord. |
6. Anything resembling an apple in form or colour; any smooth globular body of metal, glass, etc.
golden apple: the orb in the British Regalia.
| a 1000 Sal. & Sat. 28 Irenum aplum. 1366 Mandeville i. 8 He was wont to holden a round Appelle of Gold in his Hond. c 1430 Lydg. Bochas (1554) 220 b, Ye mot forsake of gold your apple round, Scepter and swerde. 1559 Morwyng Evonym. 207 To make the apple of the chieck ruddy. 1601 Holland Pliny (1634) II. 598 A round bal or hollow apple of glasse. 1881 N.Y. Art Interchange 27 Oct. 93/1 Of double-faced Canton flannel, finished with fringe and floss apples. |
7. a. apple of the eye: the pupil or circular aperture in the centre of the eye through which the dark retina is seen; so called, because it was supposed to be a globular solid body. Sometimes extended to the
iris and
pupil; or to the
eyeball; but apparently only by misunderstanding.
| c 885 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. xi. 68 On ðæs siweniᵹean eaᵹum beoð ða æplas [v.r. æpplas] hale..Sio scearpnes bið ᵹewierd ðæs æples [v.r. æpples]. a 1300 W. de Biblesworth in Wright Voc. 145 La prunele, the appel of the eye. 1483 Cath. Angl., Appylle of ee, pupilla. 1586 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad 145 We see our owne eies shine within the apples of our neighbours eies. 1600 Chapman Iliad xiv. 409 The dart did undergore His eye-lid, by his eye's dear roots, & out the apple fell. 1601 Holland Pliny xi. 37 None have their eyes all of one color, for the bal or apple in the midst is ordinarily of another color than the white about. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., He cut asunder the Apple of the eye in several animals. 1827 Blackw. Mag. XXII. 374/1 Dull people turn up..the apples of their eyes on beholding Prose by a Poet. |
b. Used as a symbol of that which is cherished with the greatest regard.
| c 885 K. ælfred Boeth. xxxix. §10 H{iacu} scilde swa ᵹeorn⁓l{iacu}ce swá swá man déþ ðone æpl on his eáᵹan. a 1300 E.E. Psalter xvi. 8 Als appel of eghe yheme þou me. 1535 Coverdale Zech. ii. 8 Who so toucheth you, shal touche the aple of his owne eye. 1816 Scott Old Mort. xx, Poor Richard was to me as an eldest son, the apple of my eye. 1930 R. Campbell Poems 11 Live and die The apple, nay the onion, of his eye? 1941 F. Gruber Hungry Dog (1950) x. 81 He may have been the apple of your eye, but to me he was only a cinder. |
8. apple(s) and pears: rhyming slang for ‘stairs’; also (
ellipt.)
apples.
| 1857 ‘Ducange Anglicus’ Vulg. Tongue 1, Apple and Pears, stairs. 1909 Ware Passing Eng. 9/1 Bill an' Jack's gone up apples. 1914 C. Mackenzie Sinister Street II. iv. ix. 1100, I soon shoved him down the Apples-and-pears. 1962 J. G. Bennett Witness xviii. 218 One of the removal men asked him if a sofa was to go ‘up the apples’. |
9. (to be) apples [rhyming slang for
apples and rice (or
spice), nice]: (to be) fine or satisfactory.
Austral. and
N.Z. slang.| 1943 J. Binning Target Area 140 If everything is running smoothly ‘she's apples’. 1952 T. A. G. Hungerford Ridge & River 44 How's it going, Wally? Everything apples? 1958 R. Stow To Islands iv. 92 She felt their faint movements of relief and surprise. ‘Well,’ said Dixon, ‘that'd be a break. That'd be apples, that would.’ 1963 R. H. Morrieson Scarecrow (1964) xii. 133 Don't cry, Pru. Yuh go and see old Len Ramsbottom and betcha everything'll be apples. 1975 Sydney Morning Herald 24 June 6 No one reckons it's ‘apples’ in the battle for Bass. |
B. Comb. and
attrib. I. General relations.
1. obj. with active
pple., or
obj. gen. with
n. of agent or action, as
apple-bite,
apple-buyer,
apple-gathering,
apple-paring,
apple-quarterer,
apple-seller,
apple-stealing.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 795 Of þat ilk appel bitt þair suns tethe ar eggeid yitt. c 1500 Cock Lorells Bote 5 Andrewe of habyngedon apell-byer. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. II. iii. 161 As in the apple-gathering tide. 1879 D. J. Hill Bryant 39 Huskings and apple-parings had not gone out of fashion. 1440 Promp. Parv., Appullseller, Pomilius. 1865 Athenæum 28 Jan. 120/2 The well-known ‘apple-stealing’ capital in the south transept of Wells Cathedral. |
2. a. similative, as
apple-bright,
apple-green,
apple-smelling,
apple-yellow; passing into
synthetic derivatives, as
apple-cheeked,
apple-faced,
apple-leaved,
apple-rotten,
apple-scented,
apple-shaped.
| 1930 E. Sitwell Coll. Poems 90 Their *apple-bright and ruddy flesh. |
| 1864 Tennyson En. Ard. 158 A bevy of Eroses *apple-cheek'd. 1921 W. de la Mare Crossings 86 A shy, fat, apple-cheeked child. |
| 1837 Dickens Pickw. II. xlii. 457 A little white-headed *apple-faced tipstaff. 1848 ― Dombey (C.D. ed.) 9 A plump, rosy-cheeked..apple-faced young woman. |
| 1648 Hexham Groot Woorden-Boeck, Appel-groen, *Apple-greene. 1797 Heideloff Gallery of Fashion Nov. in R. W. Chapman Sense & Sensibility (1933) 387 Hungarian robe of apple-green satin. 1812 Sir H. Davy Chem. Philos. 426 Oxides of uranium give bright colours to glass..brown, apple green, or emerald green. 1917 D. H. Lawrence Look! We have come Through! 54 The dawn was apple-green. |
| 1905 ‘Q’ Shining Ferry iii. xxvi. 271 The schooner might be *apple-rotten. |
| 1923 W. de la Mare Riddle 2 The cool *apple-scented pantry. |
| 1880 Browning Pan & Luna 42 That *apple-shaped Head which its hair binds close into a ball. |
| 1809 Pearson Phil. Trans. XCIX. 331 The same *apple-smelling liquid. |
| 1953 Bannerman Birds Brit. Isles I. 180 Young birds..are more grey-green, that colour replacing the brighter *apple-yellow of the adult. |
b. apple head, a type of rounded skull found in certain small dogs; so
apple-domed,
apple-headed adjs.| 1883 G. Stables Our Friend the Dog vii. 59 Apple-headed, the roundness of the top of the skull. 1922 R. Leighton Compl. Bk. of Dog v. xx. 290 These small dogs usually have ‘apple-heads’. 1948 C. L. B. Hubbard Dogs in Britain xix. 216 The head [of the Chihuahua] is well rounded and apple-domed. 1959 Observer 1 Feb. 11/3 ‘Apple’ heads (that is a thick, domed skull with snipey fore-face)..are particularly deplored [in toy poodles]. |
3. attrib. a. simply, as
apple-bloom,
apple-blossom,
apple-core,
apple-flower,
apple-graft,
apple-harvest,
apple-hoard,
apple-juice,
apple-legend,
apple-seed,
apple-stem,
apple-time;
b. of purpose or use, as
apple-loft,
apple-orchard,
apple-room,
apple-stall;
c. of material (
= made of or with apples), as
apple-dumpling,
apple-fritters,
apple-ice,
apple-jelly,
apple-pap,
apple pasty,
apple-pudding,
apple-tart,
apple-toddy.
| 1949 Blunden After Bombing 50 As new *apple-bloom May be by hailstones ravaged. |
| 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. ii. (1863) 244 Her *apple-blossom complexion. |
| 1711 W. Byrd Secret Diary 18 Aug. (1941) 391 At dinner I ate some *apple dumpling. 1721 Amherst Terræ Fil. 293 A regimen of bread and water; or, what is little better, of small beer and apple-dumplings. |
| 1596 Chapman Iliad iii. 509 Fragrant *appleflowers. |
| c 1460 Russell Bk. Nurt. 502 *Appulle fruture is good hoot, but þe cold ye not towche. |
| a 1691 Boyle (J.) Twenty sorts of *apple-grafts upon the same old plant. |
| 1861 Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. III. clxxviii. 214 Apples in *apple-harvest, and potatoes in potato time. |
| a 1732 Gay Wks. 1745 I. 107 Now the squeez'd press foams with our *apple hoards. |
| 1879 R. Edwards Russ. at Home I. 197 Frozen apples, like lumps of *apple-ice. |
| 1727 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Apple, Make an *Apple-Jelly..by extracting the Juice of the Rind and Cores. |
| 1708 E. Cook Sot-weed Factor 19 There with good punch and *apple juice We spent our hours without abuse. 1766 Cavendish in Phil. Trans. LVI. 177 The air, discharged from apple-juice by fermentation. 1961 Harrods Food News 11/1 Canadian Apple Juice, natural. |
| 1872 Black Adv. Phaeton xxviii. 382 The *apple legend of Tell. |
| 1740 Mrs. Delany Autobiog. (1861) II. 120 Go see what's doing in the cheese-chamber and the *apple-loft. |
| 1721 New-Eng. Courant 14–21 Aug. 2/2 There was a larger *Apple Orchard at that Place. 1807 Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 236 Very good apple-orchards. |
| a 1625 Fletcher M. Thomas iii. i, Which will down easily without *applepap. |
| 1728 E. Smith Compleat Housewife (ed. 2) 108 *Apple-Pasties to Fry. 1880 Mrs. Parr Adam & Eve 281 A couple of apple pasties. |
| 1710 W. Byrd Secret Diary 24 Aug. (1941) 222, I ate some *apple pudding for dinner. 1807 Home in Phil. Trans. XCVII. 143 A child..who..ate so large a quantity of apple-pudding that it died. |
| 1699 J. Lord Let. 21 Feb. in Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. (1861) 4th Ser. V. 306 *Apple-seeds, sown by us since we came, came up in January. 1930 T. S. Eliot Ash-Wed. 19 Spitting from the mouth the withered apple-seed. |
| 1907 Yeats Deirdre 10 Praise the blossoming *apple-stem. |
| 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. iv. iii. 89 A sleeue..caru'd like an *apple Tart. |
| 1865 Swinburne Chastelard iv. i. 120 And now the flower, and deadly fruit will come With *apple-time in autumn. |
| 1809 W. Irving Knickerb. (1849) 239 Great roysters, much given to..*apple-toddy. |
II. Special combinations.
apple-aphis, the insect (
Lachnus lanigerus) which produces
apple-blight, a cottony substance found on apple-trees;
apple-bee, (
a)
dial. a wasp; (
b)
U.S. (see
bee n.1 4);
apple-berry, an Australian shrub and its fruit, of genus
Billardiera;
apple-borer U.S., an insect attacking apple-trees;
apple-box,
-gum, names for species of
Eucalyptus;
apple-brandy, a spirit distilled from cider;
apple-bug, a water-beetle of the family Gyrinidæ, which exudes a milky liquid having an odour of apples;
apple-butter (see
quot. 1860);
apple charlotte: see
charlotte;
apple-cheese, compressed
apple-pomice;
apple-corer, an instrument for cutting out the core of apples;
apple-crook, a crook for gathering apples from the trees, also
fig.;
apple-dowdy chiefly
U.S., a kind of apple-pie made in a deep dish (
cf. pandowdy);
apple-drone,
-drane,
dial. a wasp;
apple-eating a., used
fig. for ‘easily-tempted’;
† apple-fallow a., of the yellowish-red colour of apples, bay;
apple-fly (see
quot.);
† apple-garth, an apple-garden or orchard;
† apple-gray a. (
ON. apal-grár), having the streaky colour of an apple;
apple-jack, American name for apple-brandy, in east of England for an apple-turnover;
† apple-monger, a dealer in apples, fruiterer;
apple-moss, a genus of moss with apple-shaped capsules;
apple-moth,
Tortrix pomana;
apple-oil, a synthetic chemical used to imitate the odour of apples in confectionery;
apple-pear, probably the tankard-pear;
apple-peru U.S., the thorn-apple;
apple-plum, one grafted on an apple stock;
apple-polishing vbl. n. (
U.S. slang), currying favour; toadying; so
apple-polisher, a toady;
apple-pomice, the residue of apple-pulp after expressing the juice;
apple's queen, Pomona;
apple-sauce (see sense B. I. 3 c), (
a)
lit.; (
b)
transf. nonsense, absurdity; insincere flattery (
U.S. slang);
apple-scoop, an instrument made of bone or ivory used in eating apples;
apple-shell,
-snail, a family of Gasteropods, so named from their shape;
apple-slump U.S. (see
quot. 1872);
apple snow: see
snow n.1 5 a;
apple strudel [partial
tr. of G.
apfelstrudel (also used),
f. apfel apple +
strudel flaky pastry], a baked sweet consisting of a spiced mixture of apples rolled in flaky pastry;
† apple-water, cider;
apple-wife,
-woman, a female who keeps a stall for sale of apples;
apple-worm, the maggot bred in apples;
apple-wort, any plant of the sub-order Pomaceæ;
† apple-yard (
= apple garth).
Also
apple-john, -mose, -pie, -squire, -tree,
q.v.| 1815 Kirby & Spence Entomol. (1843) I. 23 The *apple aphis..has done such extensive injury to our orchards. |
| 1808 Monthly Mag. XXVI. 421/2 *Apple-bee, a wasp. C[ornwall]. 1912 C. Mackenzie Carnival xxxix. 397 It was vain for Thomas to assure her that apple-bees did not sting without provocation. |
| 1859 Trans. Ill. Agric. Soc. 1857–8 III. 344 The most destructive of these..is that known as the *apple borer. |
| 1890 Melbourne Argus 9 Aug. 4/6 An ironstone hill..with *apple-box and ironbark dotted about. 1944 F. D. Davison in Coast to Coast 238 The creek made a horseshoe bend under its bower of apple-box-trees. |
| c 1780 in Maryland Hist. Mag. (1907) II 256, [I] accepted 13 gals. of peach brandy in satisfaction of the damage... He cheated me with *apple brandy. 1809 W. Irving Knickerb. (1861) 123 Flushed with victory and apple-brandy. |
| 1832 J. P. Kennedy Swallow B. I. xii. 129 The *apple-bugs (as school-boys call that glossy black insect which frequents the summer pools, and is distinguished for the perfume of the apple) danced in busy myriads over the surface of the still water. 1869 Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. 1868 80 The fifth family, gyrinidae, comprises those oval water-beetles usually known by the name of ‘whirligigs’ or apple-bugs. |
| c 1774 Crèvecœur Sk. 18th-Cent. Amer. (1925) 105 We often make *apple-butter. 1860 Bartlett Dict. Amer., Apple Butter, A sauce made of apples stewed down in cider. 1870 Congress. Globe Apr. 2685/1 Apple-butter is a substitute for butter; it is spread upon bread and eaten in like manner. |
| 1706 J. Philips Cyder ii. 110 The *Apple-Cheese..will cherish and improve the Roots Of sickly Plants. |
| 1796 H. Glasse Cookery v. 71 Some carrot..cut round with an *apple-corer. |
| 1382 Wyclif Pref. Epist. vii. 70 The *appel croke drawinge tourmentis to synful men. |
| 1923 W. Nutting Massachusetts 241 Did ever a dish of *apple dowdy go to the spot like that? 1952 M. Laski Village vii. 114 To make an apple-dowdy in the kitchen. |
| 1620 Melton Astrol. 53 Foolish, credulous, and *Appleeating women will believe them. |
| a 1000 Beowulf 4336 Feower mearas..*æppel⁓fealuwe. |
| 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., *Apple Fly..a small green fly found sometimes within an Apple. |
| 1483 Cath. Angl., *Appelle garth, pometum. |
| 1640 King & North. Maid 54 in Hazl. E.P.P. IV. 295 As though his eyes were *apple gray. |
| 1847 Leichhardt Jrnl. viii. 264 Another Eucalyptus [E. Stuartiana]..with smooth upper trunk and cordate ovate leaves..; we called it the *Apple-gum. 1963 W. S. Ramson in Austral. Quart. XXXV. Sept. 53 Some have been named after their supposed resemblance to the foliage or timber of European trees, like apple gum, [etc.]. |
| 1816 ‘Old Scene Painter’ Emigrant's Guide 30 A partial distillation is also made from apples..called *Apple-Jack. 1865 N.Y. Tribune in Morn. Star 20 Apr., The genuine Virginia stimulant known as apple-jack, or apple whisky. 1932 E. Wilson Devil take Hindmost i. 1 The old cider mills are still barrelling applejack and hard cider. |
| 1552 Huloet, *Applemonger, Pomilius. |
| 1864 Intell. Observ. V. 263 The straight-leaved *Apple-moss grows on Alpine rocks. |
| 1857 *Apple oil [see valerianate]. 1867 Bloxam Chem. 553 The valerianate of amyle, which has the flavour of apples,..is known as apple-oil. |
| 1784 Cutler in Mem. Amer. Academy (1785) I. 419 *Apple-peru..Common by the waysides. August. 1850 Hawthorne Scarlet L. (1851) i. 60 A grass-plot, much overgrown with burdock, pig-weed, apple-peru, and such unsightly vegetation. |
| 1601 Holland Pliny (1634) I. 437 They began to graffe plums vpon apple-tree stocks, and those brought forth plums named *Apple-plums. |
| 1928 Amer. Speech III. 218 *Apple polisher. 1947 E. A. McCourt Music at Close 116 The apple-polishers in the front row laughed with forced heartiness. |
| 1935 A. G. Kennedy Current Eng. ii. 28 The college boy with his pet phrases such as *apple-polishing, currying favor with a professor. |
| 1664 Evelyn Pomona Advt. 95 Water, wherein a good Quantity of *Apple-pomice hath been boil'd. |
| a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Wks. 1711 6/2 Fair looketh Ceres with her yellow hair; And *apple's-queen, when rose-cheek'd she doth smile. |
| 1739 E. Smith Compleat Housewife (ed. 9) 104 Boil them as you do *Apple-sauce. 1824 Miss Mitford Village (1863) ii. 321 Names quite as inseparable as goose and apple-sauce. 1921 Collier's 1 Jan. 18/4 That's all apple sauce! 1924 Wodehouse Bill the Conqueror xii. 210 It sounds to me a good deal like apple sauce. Seems like there ain't no sense in it. 1926 S.P.E. Tract XXIV. 119 Applesauce (noun or interjection). One of the latest pieces of slang in this country [sc. U.S.A.]. It has two quite distinct meanings, (1) nonsense! and (2) flattery. It is commonly used as a term of jocular contempt in reply to effusive but unjustifiable flattery. ‘He a great author? Apple-sauce!’ 1934 J. O'Hara Appt. in Samarra (1935) ii. 45, ‘I just didn't want to spoil your evening, that's all.’ ‘Applesauce,’ said Irma. |
| 1870 Nicholson Zool. (1880) 408 Ampullaria canaliculata. one of the *Apple shells. |
| 1831 H. J. Finn Amer. Comic Annual 140 The pumpkin pies and *apple slump..were smoking on the table. 1872 Schele de Vere Americanisms 415 Apple-Slump is..a favorite New England dish, consisting of apples and molasses baked within a bread-pie in an iron pot. 1884 E. E. Hale Christmas in Narragansett i. 11 Guessed that they had done justice to..Polly's apple-slump. |
| 1863 Mrs. Beeton Bk. Househ. Managem. xxix. 703 *Apple Snow,..10 good-sized apples, the whites of 10 eggs, the rind of 1 lemon, ½ lb. of pounded sugar. a 1887 Apple snow [see snow n.1 5 a]. |
| 1936 Lucas & Hume Au Petit Cordon Bleu 148 *Apfelstrudel. 1963 Punch 2 Jan. 27 What I lose on the nursery slopes I gain on the apfelstrudel. |
| 1923 Hemingway In our Time (1926) xi. 164 We have some *apple strudel if you want it. 1935 M. Lane Faith, Hope, No Charity iv. 108 Ada's friend from the Jewish caterers..came round with a four-pound apple strudel. |
| 1606 Choice, Chance, etc. (1881) 11 *Apple water, otherwise called Sider. |
| 1599 Nashe Lent. Stuff (1871) 72 Pomona, the first *apple-wife. |
| 1741 Pope & Arbuthnot Mem. M. Scriblerus vi. 46 Yonder are two *Apple-women scolding. 1840 Gen. P. Thompson Exerc. (1842) V. 330 If members of parliament had the spirit of apple-women. |
| 1869 Eng. Mech. 23 July 393/2 The *apple-worm moth. |
| 1847 Lindley Veg. K. (ed. 2) 559 *Appleworts are closely allied to Rose⁓worts. |
| 1440 Promp. Parv., *Appullyerde, Pomerium. |
▸
U.S. slang (
orig. Jazz). Usu. with capital initial. With
the. Originally: Harlem. Hence later: New York City.
Cf. Big Apple
n. 4.
| 1939 C. Calloway New Cab Calloway's Cat-ologue Apple: the big town, the main stem, Harlem. 1953R. Ellison Let. 18 Mar. in R. Ellison & A. Murray Trading Twelves (2000) 39 I'll write you from the apple. 1974G. Giddins in Village Voice (N.Y.) 2 May 69/5 Both groups are symptomatic of the flood of young musicians storming into the Apple, abandoning studio sinecures and rock bands to play difficult improvisatory music. 2005 Wall St. Jrnl. (Central ed.) 7 Jan. a10/3 Many of the city's most creative people in the 1970s (as now) were high IQ boys and girls from Smalltown who fled to the Apple. |
▸
colloq. (
orig. and chiefly
U.S.).
how do you like them (also those) apples? and variants: ‘how do you like that?’, ‘what do you think of that?’ Freq. used as a jeer or taunt, implying that the thing referred to will be unwelcome.
| 1924 Kingston (N.Y.) Daily Freeman 29 Sept. 1/4 ‘How do you like those apples?’ asked Thomas..as he kicked a window out of the police car..after he had been arrested. 1941 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 15 Apr. 29/1, I knew them better and saw them in action more often than ‘Mr. Smith’. How do you like them apples, Smithy old boy? 1987 D. F. Wallace Broom of Syst. (1993) 348 I'll talk to him directly. Spit in his eye. How'll he like those apples? 2001 B. Perry In Name of Hate vii. 190 Disgusting people marching in the streets demanding all sorts of things... How do you like them apples? |
▪ II. apple, v. rare.
(
æp(ə)l)
[f. prec. n.; OE. had pa. pple. æppled.] 1. a. trans. and intr. To form or turn into apples; to bear apples, or similar fruit; to fruit.
| a 1000 Juliana 688 æpplede gold. 1601 Holland Pliny (1634) II. 98 Either they floure, or they apple or els be ready to bring forth fruit. |
b. intr. Of turnips: to swell into globular shape.
| 1712 J. Morton Nat. Hist. Northants. ix. 483 Unless the Soil has some mixture of Sand the Turnips do not apple, as they call it: that is, do not bottom well. 1731 Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Rapa, If the Autumn should not prove very mild, [the Turnips] will not have time to Apple before Winter. 1796 Marshall Gardening (T.) The cabbage turnep is of two kinds; one apples above ground. |
2. intr. To gather apples.
| 1799 A. Young Agric. Surv. Linc., The poor people supply themselves with very good fuel by gathering the fir⁓apples..appleing, as they call it. |