ripener
(ˈraɪp(ə)nə(r))
[f. as prec. + -er1.]
1. One who, or that which, causes ripening; † spec. in Med., a maturative.
| 1562 Legh Armory (1597) 4 b, She [sc. the moon] is the ripener and increaser of fruites. 1666 W. Boghurst Loimographia (1894) 88 For Ripeners, these are good, Mallowes, violetts, comfrey. 1718 Quincy Compl. Disp. 214 Ripeners and Drawers. 1737 Bracken Farriery Impr. (1749) 289 Suppuratives or Ripeners as they are stiled. 1871 Smiles Charac. iv. (1876) 107 The best ripener of the energetic vitality of strong natures. |
2. One who, or that which, comes to ripeness.
| 1731 Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Vitis, The Corinth Grape..is an early Ripener. 1786 Abercrombie Gard. Assist. 280 Those late ripeners will keep..till May or June. 1862 Thornbury Turner I. 24 We may suppose the boy slowly advancing (for he is one of the slow ripeners). |
3. A device in which honey is allowed to stand until it is fit to be put in jars.
| [1883 Brit. Bee Jrnl. XI. 209/2 The above simple arrangement..will combine that of a honey-extractor and a honey-ripener in one compact piece of apparatus.] 1905 Instruction in Bee-Keeping (Dept. Agric. & Techn. Instruction for Ireland) 20 The ripener..is a tinned iron cylinder about 19 inches in depth by about 8½ inches in diameter, and fitted with a treacle tap at the base. 1930 W. Herrod-Hempsall Bee-Keeping I. ix. 525 The ripener was so named because at one time both the unsealed and sealed honey used to be extracted together, it was then run into the ripener and allowed to stand for some time in a warm room. 1971 Country Life 18 Nov. 1347/1 The ripener, into which the extracted honey is put, so that air bubbles may escape in due time, was so heavy that it was all both of us could do to lift it. |