pear

▪ I. pear, n.
    (pɛə(r))
    Forms: 1 peru, pere, 3 peore, 4–6 peere, 4–7 pere, (5 peyr(e, ? 5 pyre), 5–6 peer, 6 Sc. peir, 6–7 peare, pare, 6– pear.
    [OE. pere, peru = MDu., MLG. pere, Du. peer, LG. peer, pêr:—WGer. pera, a. late L. pira, pēra fem. sing., for L. pira pl. of pirum pear. From pēra come also It., Sp., Pg. pera, F. poire.
    The mod. bot. L. Pyrus, is a med.L. corruption, connected by false etymology with Gr. πῦρ fire (Isidore) and pyramid.]
    1. a. The fleshy fruit of the pear-tree (see 2), a pome of a characteristic shape, tapering towards the stalk; in the very numerous cultivated varieties much esteemed as a dessert fruit, or for stewing, etc.

c 1000 ælfric Gram. vii. (Z.) 20 Hoc pirum seo peru. c 1290 Beket 1191 in S. Eng. Leg. I. 140 Applene, & peoren, and notes also. 1340 Ayenb. 208 God..nele þe yeue pere ne eppel ase me deþ ane childe. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 43 Appeles and peres that semen very gode, Ful ofte tyme are roten by the core. 1533 Elyot Cast. Helthe ii. vii. (1541) 22 Peares are muche of the nature of appulles, but they ar heuier. 1634 Althorp MS. in Simpkinson The Washingtons (1860) App. p. xvi, A jorney to Windsor for pares. 1730–46 Thomson Autumn 631 The juicy pear Lies, in a soft profusion, scattered round. 1859 Darwin Orig. Spec. i. (1873) 27 No one would expect to raise a first-rate melting pear from the seed of the wild pear.

    b. In various similes and allusions; formerly as a type of something of very small value.

c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 5722 Of þyne ne schalt þow lese noȝt, þe worthy of a pere. 1399 Langl. Rich. Redeles Prol. 73 It shulde not apeire hem a peere. 1503 Hawes Examp. Virt. vii. lxii, Nor fortune without me auayleth not hym a pere. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. iv. v. 103 As crest-falne as a dride⁓peare. 1700 T. Brown Amusem. Ser. & Com. 93 His Body was as Rotten as a Pear. 1845 Disraeli Sybil iv. xi, ‘But is the pear ripe?’ said the diplomatist. ‘The pear is ripe if we have courage to pluck it’, said Lord Marney.

    2. The tree Pyrus communis (family Rosaceæ), or other species with similar fruit; found wild in Europe and Asia, and widely grown in many varieties for the fruit (sense 1), which under cultivation becomes edible and rich-flavoured. More usually pear-tree, q.v.

a 1400 Pistill of Susan 82 Þe popeiayes..On peren and pynappel þei ioyken in pees. 1495 Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. xvii. cxxiv. (W. de W.) 685 Pirus, pyre is a tree that beryth fruyte. 1785 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. vii. (1794) 73 The pear and apple are..two..species of the same..genus. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) II. 200 In raising of standard pears for the orchard.

    3. Applied, with defining words, to various other fruits or plants in some way resembling the pear: as alligator pear, anchovy-pear, avocado pear, garlic pear, grape pear, prickly pear, strawberry pear (see these words); also hard pear (S. Africa), Olinia cymosa; vegetable pear = chocho; wild pear (W. Indies), Clethra tinifolia; wooden pear (Australia), Xylomelum pyriforme (Treas. Bot. 1866).

1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 322 Batchelor's Pear, Solanum. 1880 S. Africa (ed. 3) 127 In these kloofs grow..the Hard Pear..the White Pear. 1887 Standard 16 Sept. 5/2 The chocho of Jamaica,..the pipinella, chayota, or vegetable pear of Madeira. 1889 in Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 25 May 6/6 The vegetable pears are an excellent substitute for butter.

    4. transf. Applied to things resembling a pear in shape; e.g. the fruit or hip of the rose; a pear-shaped pearl used as an ornament. † pear of confession, a pear-shaped instrument of torture (cf. G. folterbirne).

1576 Baker Jewell of Health 4 The seedes within the peares of the Rose are..astringent. 1630 F. Constable Pathomachia iii. iv. 29 Vnlesse thou confesse,..the Scottish Bootes, the Dutch Wheels, the Spanish Strappado, Linnen Ball, and Pear of Confession shall torment thee. 1690 Evelyn Mundus Muliebris 4 Diamond Pendants for the Ears,..or two Pearl Pears. 1727 A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. II. xlv. 150 Some beautiful Pearls..among them a Pair of Pears worth 50L. Sterl. 1857 Gosse Creation 223 From the side of this ‘pear’ [Botryllus] another was developed by gemmation.

    5. attrib. and Comb., as pear-bin, pear-bud, pear-eater, pear-hoard, pear-leaf, pear-orchard, -pearl (cf. 4), pear-stock; pear-growing, pear-like, pear-shaped adjs.; pear-apple, (a) a rough variety of apple: see quot. 1707; (b) the fruit of a prickly pear, a cactus belonging to the genus Opuntia; † pear-bit, a kind of bit for a horse (? shaped like a pear); pear-blight, (a) a destructive disease of pear-trees, caused by a bacterium (Micrococcus amylovorus) which turns the leaves rapidly brown; = fire-blight s.v. fire n. B. 5; (b) a disease of pear-trees caused by a beetle (Xyleborus) which bores into the bark (pear-blight beetle, also called pin-borer); pear-drop, (a) a pear-shaped sweet-meat, usually flavoured with jargonelle-pear essence; (b) a pear-shaped jewel used as a pendant: see drop n. 10 e, a; (c) used attrib. of parts of furniture, etc., shaped like pears; pear-encrinite († -encrinus), an encrinite of the genus Apiocrinus, from its shape; pear-gauge, a gauge invented by Smeaton, consisting of a pear-shaped glass vessel and a hermetically closed tube, for measuring the degree of exhaustion of air in an air-pump (see quot. 1822); pear-haw = pear-thorn; † pear-jonet, -jenet, an early-ripening kind of pear (cf. jenneting); pear-louse, a kind of plant-louse (Psylla pyri or pyrisuga) which infests the leaves and young shoots of the pear-tree; pear midge, a small gall midge, Contarinia pyrivora, whose larvae damage the fruit of pear trees; pear oyster scale, a scale-insect (Aspidiotus ostreæformis) infesting the pear-tree; pear-plum, name of several varieties of plum (? somewhat pear-shaped); pear-quince, a kind of quince with pear-shaped fruit; pear-shell (see quot.); pear-slug, the slug-like larva of a saw-fly, Selandria cerasi (Eriocampa limacina), which infests the leaves of the pear and other fruit-trees; also called plum-slug, slug-worm, etc.; pear-sucker = pear-louse; pear-thorn, an American species of hawthorn (Cratægus tomentosa); † pear-warden, a kind of pear: see warden; pear-wise adv., in the form of a pear; pear-withe, a West Indian and South American climbing shrub, Tanæcium jaroba. pear-wood, (a) the wood of the pear tree; (b) the wood of one of several West African trees, esp. Guarea cedrata. Also pear-monger, -tree.

c 1440 Promp. Parv. 394/1 *Peere apple, pirumpomum. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) II. 293 The Pear Apple is a curious pleasant Apple of a rough Coat. 1898 H. S. Canfield Maid of Frontier 205 He knew..which of the ‘pear apples’ were good to eat.

1607 Markham Caval. ii. (1617) 57 That bytt which is called the *peare bytt.

1854 E. Emmons Agric. N.Y. V. 165 Atmospheric Blight..proves itself to be independent of the cause that sometimes produces the *pear blight. 1881 E. A. Ormerod Man. Injur. Insects (1890) 330 In America this species of beetle,..known..under the name of Xyleborus pyri, popularly as the ‘Pear Blight’ is..injurious both to Pear and Apple. 1924 Phytopathology XIV. 478 (title) Experiments in the control of cankers of pear blight. 1961 A. Schoenfeld tr. Stapp's Bacterial Plant Pathogens ii. 134 This disease, variously called ‘fire blight’, ‘blossom blight’, ‘fruit blight’, ‘twig blight’, ‘apple blight’, or ‘pear blight’, according to the place affected, is one of the most dangerous and dreaded tree diseases of North America. 1978 A. Huxley Illustr. Hist. Gardening v. 176 Pear blight was specifically described as ‘a vegetable apoplexy’.

1914 Eberlein & McClure Pract. Bk. Period Furnit. i. 27 It is necessary for us to know whether a chest or cupboard ought to have knobs, *pear drop or bail handles. 1925 Penderel-Brodhurst & Layton Gloss. Eng. Furnit. 121 Pear-drop-handle, a small pendent brass handle in pear-shape form, which came into use in England in the Restoration period. Ibid. 122 Pear-drop ornament, an ornament usually decorating the upper portion of a plain frieze,..consisting of a series of Gothic arches in relief with drops at the lower points suggesting capitals. 1960 H. Hayward Antique Coll. 213/1 Pear-drop moulding, a moulding, found below a plain cornice on late 18th cent. bookcases, carved in a repetitive design of inverted pear-shaped forms.

1658 J. Rowland Moufet's Theat. Ins. 1034 Such [caterpillars] as have sayl-yards, such as are called Neustriæ, *Pear-eaters.

1816 W. Smith Strata Ident. 30 That extraordinary fossil zoophite the *pear encrinus. 1843 W. Humble Dict. Geol. & Min. s.v., The pear encrinite is confined to the middle oolite.

1783 Phil. Trans. LXXIII. 436 The degree of rarefaction shewed by what is called the *pear-gage. 1822 J. Imison Sc. & Art I. 155 The pear-gage..shows the true quantity of atmospheric air left in the receiver.

14.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 603/10 Piracium, a *Perehorde.

1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xiii. 221 Pees-coddes and *pere-Ionettes. c 1475 Songs & Carols 15th C. (Warton Cl.) 35 It wele non pere bern but a pere jenet.

a 1822 Shelley Pr. Wks. (1888) I. 408 Her pointed and *pear-like person.

1884 E. A. Ormerod Rep. Observations Injurious Insects 1883 53 The *Pear Midge is a very small two-winged gnat fly. 1920 P. J. Fryer Insect Pests & Fungus Dis. xvi. 234 The pear midge..is a destructive pest on fruit. 1956 Peairs & Davidson Insect Pests (ed. 5) xvii. 442 The pear midge is an introduced insect, present in the northeastern states for over 50 years. 1973 H. Martin Sci. Princ. Crop Protection (ed. 6) xv. 358 He [sc. F. V. Theobald] observed the extermination of the pear midge..by fowls penned under the attacked trees.

1881 E. A. Ormerod Man. Injur. Insects iii. 288 *Pear Oyster Scale..of the same nature as the Mussel Scale of the Apple.

1647 R. Stapylton Juvenal vi. 96 Those mighty *peare-pearles that waigh-down her eares.

1600 Surflet Countrie Farme iii. iii. 427 The stone of the *peare-plum-tree must be set in a cold place. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) II. 265 Plumbs are..commonly cleft-grafted..one of the best sorts to graft them on is the Pear-Plumb.

1601 Holland Pliny I. 436 A smaller sort..called Struthea (i. *Peare-quince) and these do cast a more odoriferous smell. 1766 Compl. Farmer s.v. Quince-tree, Several kinds, as the pear-quince, the apple-quince, and the Portugal quince.

1758 Ellis in Phil. Trans. L. 446 This Toxicodendron, with the *pear-shaped fruit. 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art II. 7 A pear-shaped glass Vessel. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. IV. 227 It [gall⁓bladder] will have a smooth pear-shaped outline.

1884 Stand. Nat. Hist. (1888) I. 352 The species of Ficula are known from their shape as fig or *pear shells.

1887 G. Nicholson Dict. Gard. III. 57 *Pear Slug, the larva of Eriocampa limacina.

1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) II. 251 *Pear-stocks may also be raised of Suckers,..but those that are raised of Seeds or Stones are esteemed much better.

1881 E. A. Ormerod Man. Injur. Insects iii. 286 Jumping Plant-louse. *Pear-sucker. 1882 Garden 28 Jan. 61/2 As soon as the buds begin to burst in the spring, the Pear suckers leave their winter quarters.

1884 Miller Plant-n., Cratægus tomentosa. American Black-thorn or *Pear-thorn.

c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. 12 Take *Pere Wardonys, an sethe hem in Wyne. 1620 Venner Via Recta vii. 111 Peare-Wardons..are of all sorts of Peares the best and wholsomest.

1866 Treas. Bot. 855/1 *Pear-withe, a West Indian name for Tanæcium Jaroba.

1862 H. Marryat Year in Sweden II. 81 The pulpit of black *pear-wood. 1879 Baring-Gould Germany II. 359 Most of the carving was done in pearwood, which readily attracts the worm. 1915 J. H. Holland Useful Plants Nigeria III. 419 One of the finest timber trees in W. Africa [is Mimusops Djave], sold in Europe as ‘African Pear Wood’. 1922 W. Schlich Man. Forestry (ed. 4) I. ii. 320 The most prominent species [in Sierra Leone] are given as:—..red ironwood, very common. A species of Mimusops known as pearwood [etc.]. 1937 J. M. Dalziel Useful Plants W. Trop. Afr. 357 M[anilkara] lacera... African pearwood. Ibid., M[imusops] djave... African pearwood. 1950 C. W. Bond Colonial Timbers 77 Guarea (Nigerian pearwood). 1961 F. R. Irvine Woody Plants of Ghana 519 Guarea cedrata... The names ‘Nigerian Pearwood’, ‘Nigerian Cedar’, and ‘Cedar Mahogany’, formerly given for this tree, are dropped as likely to cause confusion. 1971 F. H. Titmuss Commerc. Timbers of World (ed. 4) 134 Two species of Guarea..may be included in consignments of this timber, which has occasionally been sold as Nigerian Pearwood.

▪ II. pear, v. Obs. exc. dial.
    Forms: 4–6 pere, 5 Sc. per, peir, peyr, 5–7 peere, 6 peer, 6–7 peare, 7 'pear.
    Aphetic form of appear.

c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxx. (Theodera) 440 Þane god..Gert til hyme ane angele pere. c 1450 Coventry Myst. xiv. (Shaks. Soc.) 131 Loke ȝe fayl, for no dowte, at the court to pere. c 1470 Henry Wallace xi. 438 And sternys wp peyr began in to thair sycht. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon lix. 204 There was not so hardy a paynym that durst pere before the castell. 1568 T. Howell Newe Sonets (1879) 153 When Primrose gan to peare, on Medows bancke so green. 1599 Minsheu Sp. Dict., Assomar, to peere vp, to appeere, to looke vp. 1623 Althorp MS. in Simpkinson The Washingtons (1860) App. p. xlviii, To the shepard at Elkington for moying, making, and ining all the hay..as peares by his bill 17 03 08. 1642 H. More Song of Soul i. ii. ii, They 'pear and then are hid. [1900 in Eng. Dial. Dict. from Scotl., Cumberland, s.w. of Engl., U.S.]

    ¶ See also peer v., which in some uses continues this.
    Hence † ˈpearand (perand) ppl. a., appearing, apparent; perand are, heir apparent: cf. parent a.¹; † ˈpearandly (peirandlie) adv., appearingly, apparently; also † ˈpearance (perans), appearance.

c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xlv. (Cristine) 7 Scho ves his perand are. 1382 Wyclif Job xxx. 8 In the lond not fulli perende [1388 apperynge]. a 1578 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 273 Ane..quhome they thocht maist peirandlie to haue bene the King. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxx. (Theodera) 132 For þu..in þis toun has rentis fare, And til haf mare has perans of are. c 1470 Henry Wallace v. 1004 Off mwne nor stern gret perans was thar nayne.

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