apricot
(ˈeɪprɪkɒt)
Forms: α. 6 abrecok, -cox, aprecox, 6–7 -cok, abrecock(e, apricok(e, 6–8 -cock, 7 aprecock. β. 6–8 abricot(e, 6 abbrycot, 7 abricoct, 6–7 apricote, 7 aprecott, 6– apricot.
[orig. ad. Pg. albricoque or Sp. albaricoque, but subseq. assimilated to the cognate F. abricot (t mute). Cf. also It. albercocca, albicocca, OSp. albarcoque, a. Sp. Arab. al-borcoq(ue (P. de Alcala) for Arab. al-burqūq, -birqūq, i.e. al the + birqūq, ad. Gr. πραικόκιον (Dioscorides, c 100; later Gr. πρεκόκκια and βερικόκκια pl.), prob. ad. L. præcoquum, variant of præcox, pl. præcocia, ‘early-ripe, ripe in summer,’ an epithet and, in later writers, appellation of this fruit, orig. called prūnum or mālum Armeniacum. Thus Pallad. (c 350): ‘armenia vel præcoqua.’ The change in Eng. from abr- to apr- was perhaps due to false etymol.; Minsheu 1617 explained the name, quasi, ‘in aprīco coctus’ ripened in a sunny place: cf. the spelling abricoct.]
1. a. A stone-fruit allied to the plum, of an orange colour, roundish-oval shape, and delicious flavour.
| 1551 Turner Herbal ii. 48 Abrecockes..are less than the other peches. 1578 Lyte Dodoens vi. xl. 709 There be two kindes of peaches..The other kindes are soner ripe, wherefore they be called abrecox or aprecox. 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong., Abricot, a fruit called Apricot. 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, iii. iv. 29 Yond dangling Apricocks. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 436 Abricocts are ready to be eaten in Summer. 1736 Bailey Housh. Dict. s.v., To make Marmalade of Apricocks. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. I. ii. 559 And apricots hung on the wall. |
b. transf. The pinkish yellow colour of an apricot. Also Comb., as apricot-coloured, apricot-tinted adjs.
| 1906 Daily Chron. 19 Apr. 6/1 ‘Juliet’, a large apricot-tinted rose. 1907 Galsworthy Country House ii. ii. 119 The moon, tinted apricot and figured like a coin, hung above the cedar-trees. 1907 Westm. Gaz. 24 June 3/1 A portrait of a little girl in an apricot-coloured frock and pink ribbons. 1923 Daily Mail 28 Feb. 1 The newest Paris shades of Coral, Lilac,..Apricot. 1933 D. Parker After such Pleasures (1934) 12 Her apricot satin chaise-longue. |
2. The tree which bears this fruit (Prūnus Armeniaca); said to have been introduced into Greece from Armenia, and now cultivated in almost all temperate and sub-tropical climates.
| 1573–80 Tusser Husb. xxxiv, Of trees or fruites to be set or remooued: 1. Apple-trees..2. Apricockes. 1718 J. Chamberlayne Relig. Philos. II. xxiii. §32 If an Abricot be grafted upon a Plumb. 1861 Delamer Kitchen Gard. 144 In England..in a few favoured southern localities, standard apricots are a possibility. |
3. attrib., as in apricot-ale, apricot-apple, apricot-tree. apricot sickness S. Afr. [lit. tr. Afrikaans Appelkoossiekte, so named because it often appears at the beginning of summer when apricots ripen], a form of dysentery, said to be caused by a bacillus.
| 1551 Turner Herbal ii. 48 Of the Abrecok Tre. 1617 J. Rider Dict., An abricot apple, Malum armenium. 1657 Austen Fruit Trees i. 51 Aprecok buds. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 454 §4, I landed with Ten Sail of Apricock Boats. 1713 Lond. & Countr. Brew. iii. (1743) 193 To make an Ale that will taste like Apricot-Ale. 1748 Anson Voy. ii. 118 Plumb, apricock, and peach stones. 1859 Lang Wand. India 303 Encamped beneath a clump of apricot and walnut trees. 1945 Cape Times 27 Jan. 11/3 Apricot sickness is most troublesome when the entire gastro-intestinal tract is affected; that is to say, when there is vomiting as well as diarrhoea. |
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Add: [3.] apricot plum, (a) an old table variety of the domestic plum, large and pale yellow; (b) a Chinese tree, Prunus simonii, of the plum family that is grown in parts of the U.S. and bears white flowers and an edible yellow fleshy stone-fruit; the fruit itself.
| 1707 J. Mortimer Husbandry xix. 547 The Apricot Plum, a delicate Plum that parts clean from the Stone. 1731 P. Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Prunus, Prune d'Abricot, i.e. The Apricock Plum. This is a large round Fruit of a yellow Colour on the Out-side, powder'd over with a white Bloom; the Flesh is firm and dry, of a sweet Taste, and comes clean from the Stone. 1824 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Gardening (ed. 2) iii. 724 The table fruit in the Dalkeith garden are as under..Blue gage, Blue perdrigron, Apricot plum, [etc.]. 1845 A. J. Downing Fruit-Trees Amer. xx. 272 Apricot Plum of Tours... This is the true old Apricot plum of Duhamel. The Apricot Plum of Thomson is..fit only for cooking. 1893 Bull. Cornell Univ. Agric. Exper. Station No. 51. 34 Simon or apricot plum.—Prunus simonii... The flesh is yellow, hard, and clings..to the somewhat apricot-like pit. 1957 Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 84/1 The Simon or apricot plum..a native of China... Varieties of P. cerasifera and P. simoni [sic] are noted for their ornamental foliage. |