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 noun 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. Cognates Cognate with Scots aipple (“apple”), North Frisian aapel, Oapel, ååpel (“apple”), Saterland Frisian Apel, Appel (“apple”), West Frisian apel, appel (“apple”), Alemannic German effél, epfel, epfil, öpfil (“apple”), Bavarian eipfele, epfl, Åpfe (“apple”), Cimbrian oupfal, öpfel, öpfl (“apple”), Dutch appel (“apple”), German Apfel (“apple”), German Low German Appel (“apple”), Limburgish Ape̩l, appel (“apple”), Luxembourgish Apel (“apple”), Mòcheno epfl (“apple”), Vilamovian epuł (“apple”), Yiddish עפּל (epl, “apple”), Danish æble (“apple”), Faroese epl, epli (“apple; potato”), Icelandic epli (“apple”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk eple (“apple”), Swedish äpple (“apple”), Crimean Gothic apel (“apple”), Irish úll (“apple”), Lithuanian óbuolỹs (“apple”), Russian я́блоко (jábloko, “apple”), Welsh afal (“apple”), possibly Ancient Greek ἄμπελος (ámpelos, “vine”).
The fruit of the tree Malus domestica, chiefly with a green, red, or yellow skin, cultivated in temperate climates for cidermaking, cooking, and eating.
All apples eaten ſoone after yͭ they be gathered, are cold, hard to digeſt, and do make ill and corrupted bloud, but being wel kept vntill yͤ next winter, or the year folowing, eatẽ [eaten] after meales, they are right holeſome, & doe confyrme the ſtomacke, & make good digeſtion, ſpecially if they be roſted or baked, […]153[9], Thomas Elyot, “Of Apples”, in The Castel of Helth […], London: […] Thomæ Bertheleti […], →OCLC, book II, folio 21, recto:
[T]hey [i.e., writers] aſſigne and lay to India, the countrey of the Aſpagores, ſo plentifull in vines, laurels, and box, and generally of all ſorts of apple trees and other fruitfull trees that grovv vvithin Greece.1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book VI.] The Arij, and Other Nations Depending unto Them.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 1st tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 128:
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VVhat of my droſs thou findeſt there, be bold / To throvv avvay, but yet preserve the Gold. / VVhat if my Gold be vvrapped up in Ore? / None throvvs avvay the Apple for the Core.1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC, page 233:
Instead of the assembly of honourable merchants, substantial tradesmen, and knowing masters of ships; the mumpers, the halt, the blind, and the lame; your venders of trash, apples, plums; your ragamuffins, rakeshames, and wenches; have justled the greater number of the former out of that place.1712 October 24 (Gregorian calendar), [Richard Steele], “MONDAY, October 14, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 509; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume V, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 501:
I have so often heard Mr. Woodhouse recommend a baked apple. I believe it is the only way that Mr. Woodhouse thinks the fruit thoroughly wholesome. We have apple dumplings, however, very often. Patty makes an excellent apple-dumpling.1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter IX, in Emma: […], volume I, London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC, pages 184–185:
This red seems to me the perfect premonition of summer—like the red on the outside of apple blossom—and later, the red of the apple. It is the premonition in redness of summer and of autumn.a. 1931 (date written), D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “[Nature and Poetical Pieces.] Flowery Tuscany.”, in Edward D[avid] McDonald, editor, Phoenix: The Posthumous Papers of D. H. Lawrence, London: William Heinemann, published 1936, →OCLC, section III, page 52:
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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 (noun sense 1.1).
custard apple rose apple thorn apple
The apples wherewith the Indian Canibales inueneme theyr arrowes, growe on certeyne trees couered with many braunches and leaues beinge very greene and growyng thicke. They are laden with abundaunce of theſe euyll frutes, […]1555, Gonzalus Ferdinandus Ouiedus [i.e., Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés], “[The Historie of the Weste Indies]. Of Venemous Apples wherwith They Poyson Theyr Arrowes.”, in Peter Martyr of Angleria [i.e., Peter Martyr d’Anghiera], translated by Rycharde Eden [i.e., Richard Eden], The Decades of the Newe Worlde or West India, […], London: […] [Rycharde Jug for] Guilhelmi Powell, →OCLC, decade, folio 198, verso:
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This apple is called in high Dutch, Zyꝛbel [Zyrbel]: in low Dutch, Pijn appel: in Engliſh, Pine apple, Clogge, and Cone. […] The vvhole Cone or apple being boiled vvith freſh Horehound, ſaith Galen, and aftervvards boyled againe vvith a little hony till the decoction be come to the thicknes of hony, maketh an excellent medicine for the clenſing of the cheſt and lungs.1597, John Gerarde [i.e., John Gerard], “Of the Pine Tree”, in The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes. […], London: […] Edm[und] Bollifant, for Bonham and Iohn Norton, →OCLC, book III, page 1174:
As touching Arabia, vvhich lyeth neere and bordereth upon theſe Iſlands, the ſpices and odoriferous fruits that be therein, are to be treated of vvith diſtinction: for their merchandiſe doth conſiſt of roots, braunches, barke, juice or liquor, gums and roſins, vvood, tvvigs, flovvers, leaves, and apple.1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XI.] The Trees of the Iland Tyles within the Persian Sea. Moreover, of Those Trees that Beare Woll or Cotton..”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 1st tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 364:
The fruite or Apples of Palme-trees (eſpecially ſuch as grovv in ſalt grounds neare the Sea ſides, as in Cyrene of Affrica, and Indea, and not in Egypt, Cyprus, Syria, Helvetia, and Aſsiria do fatten and feed Hogges.1607, Conradus Gesnerus [i.e., Conrad Gessner]; Edward Topsell, chapter IX, in The Historie of Foure-footed Beastes. […], London: […] William Iaggard, →OCLC, page 666:
In Perſia there grovvs a deadly tree, vvhoſe apples are poiſon, and preſent death: therefore there it is uſed for a puniſhment: but being brought over to the Kings into Egypt, they become vvholeſome apples to eat, and loſe their harmfulneſſe, as Columella vvrites.1658, John Baptista Porta [i.e., Giambattista della Porta], “That the Countries and Places where Simples Grow, are Chiefly to be Considered”, in [anonymous], transl., Natural Magick […] Wherein are Set Forth All the Riches and Delights of the Natural Sciences, London: […] John Wright, […], published 1669, →OCLC, 1st book (Wherein are Searched Out the Causes of Things which Produce Wonderful Effects), page 21:
3
Something which resembles the fruit of Malus domestica (noun sense 1.1) in shape (such as a ball, breast, or globe) or colour.
[H]old a round ball or hollovv apple of glaſſe full of vvater againſt the Sunne, it vvill be ſo hot, that it is ready to burne any cloth that it toucheth.1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XXXVI.] The First Invention of Glasse, and the Manner of Making It. Of a Kind of Glasse, Called Obsidianum. Also of Sundrie Kinds of Glasse, and Those of Manie Formes..”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 2nd tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 598:
[S]hrugging up her Shoulders, to ſhevv the tempting Apples of her vvhite Breaſts, ſhe ſuddainly lets them ſink again, to hide them, bluſhing, as if this had been done by chance, […]1705, J. S., “The Ways and Artifices of a Town-jilt, &c.”, in City and Country Recreation: Or, Wit and Merriment Rightly Calculated, for the Pleasure and Advantage of Either Sex. […], London: […] W. O. for P. Parker, […], →OCLC, 2nd part, page 104:
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[T]he ſaid elector of Saxony ſhall have on his right the count-palatine of the Rhine, vvho ſhall carry the globe or imperial apple; and, on his left, the marquis of Brandenburg carrying the ſcepter.1761, “Of the Order of the Procession of the Electoral Princes, and of Those who are to Carry the Honorary Ensigns”, in The Modern Part of an Universal History, from the Earliest Account of Time. […], volume XXX, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson, […], →OCLC, page 508:
The arms of Upland were a golden apple, or globe, surrounded with a belt, in allusion to the monarchy.1807, Sharon Turner, “The Political State of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark, in the Eighth Century”, in The History of the Anglo-Saxons. […], 2nd edition, volume I, London: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, & Orme, […], →OCLC, book III, footnote 20, page 200, column 2:
Andy picked up his two grenades and followed the line into the pits. The apples felt strangely heavy in his hands, and when he looked at them one was as ugly and lethal-looking as the other.1956, Marion Hargrove, The Girl He Left Behind: Or, All Quiet in the Third Platoon, New York, N.Y.: Viking Books, →OCLC, page 129:
A peasant blouse that showed the tops of those lovely little apples.1975, C[harles] W[illiam] Smith, chapter IX, in Country Music, New York, N.Y.: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN, page 256:
› A common, firm, round fruit produced by a… › Something which resembles the fruit of Malus…
4
Abbreviation, Ellipsis Ellipsis of Adam's apple (“the lump in the throat, usually more noticeable in men than in women; the laryngeal prominence”).
The sweat of fear and exertion was streaming down his face and chest, and his breath came in short, tearing, hard-drawn gasps and gulps, while the apple in his throat leaped up and down ceaselessly like a ball balanced on a dancing jet of water.1898, Hugh [Charles] Clifford, “In Arcadia”, in Studies in Brown Humanity: Being Scrawls and Smudges in Sepia, White, and Yellow, London: Grant Richards […], →OCLC, page 99:
Elsie went away with her parents to Belgium and the convent-school on the twelfth, and as they left The Firs in the battered station cab surrounded by boxes and trunks, Willie could not speak. The apple in his throat rose and remained there.1920 December – 1921 September (date written), Henry Williamson, “Formation of the Owl Club”, in Dandelion Days, London; Glasgow: W[illiam] Collins Sons & Co., published 1922, →OCLC, pages 113–114:
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He looked with vague hope up and down the quay, a big apple bulging in his neck.1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 10: Wandering Rocks]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 234:
The apple in his neck was hitting against his collar every time he drew breath and he tore at his collar nervously.a. 1985 (date written), Liam O’Flaherty, “Josephine”, in A[ngeline] A. Kelly, editor, The Collected Stories, volume 1, New York, N.Y.: Palgrave Macmillan, published 1999, →ISBN, page 131:
If the Hound had not been moving, the knife might have cored the apple of his throat; instead it only grazed his ribs, and wound up quivering in the wall near the door. He laughed then, a laugh as cold and hollow as if it had come from the bottom of a deep well.2000 August 8, George R[aymond] R[ichard] Martin, “”, in A Storm of Swords (A Song of Ice and Fire; 3), London: Voyager, →ISBN, page 846:
The apple in his neck bobbles as he gulps. “You've got to be kidding.” / “No, I'm not. Your inheritance amounts to maybe three hundred thousand dollars."2003, Sandra Benítez, Night of the Radishes, New York, N.Y.: Hyperion, →ISBN, page 223:
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Abbreviation, Ellipsis Ellipsis of apple-green (“a bright green colour with a light tint of yellow, like that of a Granny Smith apple”).
6
Abbreviation, Ellipsis, Historical Ellipsis of apple of the eye (“the pupil, or pupil and iris, of the eye, originally believed to be spherical; also, the eyeball”).
None have their eies all of one colour: for the ball or apple in the middeſt is ordinarily of another colour than the vvhite about it.1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XI.] A Discourse Anatomicall, of the Nature of Living Creatures, Part by Part, according to Their Particular Members.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 1st tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 334:
The dart did vndergore / His eye-lid, by his eyes deare rootes; and out the apple fell, / The eye pierc'd through: […][1611?], Homer, “The XIV. Booke of Homers Iliads”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer Prince of Poets. […], London: […] Nathaniell Butter, →OCLC, pages 197–198:
7
Informal The round, fleshy part of a cheek between the eye and the corner of the mouth when a person is smiling.
8
Geometry, Mathematics, Sciences 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.
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Lifestyle, Smoking In full apple bowl: a round bowl of a tobacco pipe; also, a tobacco pipe with such a bowl.
Hey Dad! What do you say we toss the old apple around, huh? Sound like fun?1990 February 25, Matt Groening, Al Jean, Mike Reiss, Sam Simon, “The Telltale Head”, in The Simpsons, season 1, episode 8:
› A common, firm, round fruit produced by a…
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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.
Him [man] by fraud I [Satan] have ſeduc'd / From his Creator, and the more to increaſe / Your vvonder, vvith an Apple; […]1667, John Milton, “Book IX”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC, signature [Ll4], recto, lines 485–487:
I read and re-read her letter, and some softened feelings stole into my heart, and dared to whisper paradisiacal dreams of love and joy; but the apple was already eaten, and the angel's arm bared to drive me from all hope.1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter V, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume III, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC, page 102:
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Yes, of all human follies, love, / Methinks, hath served me best. / The Apple had done but little for me / If Eve had not done the rest.1829, Robert Southey, “All for Love, or A Sinner Well Saved. Canto II.”, in All for Love; and The Pilgrim to Compostela, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 20:
Yes, fair Eve, just as Adam ate the apple, so beware!1871, Harriet Beecher Stowe, “Congratulations, etc.”, in My Wife and I: Or, Harry Henderson’s History, New York, N.Y.: J. B. Ford and Company, →OCLC, page 399:
Yes mam. Woman ate the apple, and discovered sex, and lost all shame, and lift^([sic]) up her fig-leaf, and she must suffer the pains of hell. Monthly.1975 (date written), Barry Reckord, “White Witch”, in For the Reckord: A Collection of Three Plays, London: Oberon Books, published 2010, →ISBN:
Sharon you've got a husband / And a family and a farm / I've got the apple of temptation / And a diamond snake around my arm1976, Joni Mitchell, “Song for Sharon”, in Hejira, Los Angeles, Calif.: Asylum Records, →OCLC:
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Biology, Botany, Natural sciencesObsolete 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”).
A tree of the genus Malus; especially Malus domestica which is cultivated for its edible fruit; the apple tree.
Trees that beare Maſt, and Nuts, are commonly more laſting, than thoſe that beare Fruits; Eſpecially the Moiſter Fruits: As Oakes, Beeches, Cheſ-nuts, VVall-nuts, Almonds, Pine-Trees, &c. laſt longer than Apples, Peares, Plums, &c.1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “VI. Century. [Experiments in Consort, Touching the Lasting of Herbs and Trees.]”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC, paragraph 584, page 146:
If the grafted portion of an Apple or other tree were examined after one hundred years, the old cut surfaces would still be present, for mature or ripened wood, being dead, never unites.1913, “The Science of Plant Growing”, in John Weathers, editor, Commercial Gardening […], volume I, London: The Gresham Publishing Company […], →OCLC, §4 (The Root and Its Work), page 38:
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This allows a weak plant to benefit from the strong roots of another, or a vigorous tree (such as an apple) to be kept small by growing on 'dwarfing rootstock'.2000, Peter Thomas, “The Next Generation: New Trees from Old”, in Trees: Their Natural History, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, published 2001, →ISBN, page 227:
Used to be apple orchards, used to be the river and irrigation ditches that watered the apples, used to be mining towns.2009, Sid Gardner, The Faults of the Owens Valley, Bloomington, Ind.: iUniverse, →ISBN, page 34:
Some fruit trees, like plums, do well in damp soil conditions. Other fruit trees, like apples, need well-drained soil.2012, Terri Reid, “Starting an Orchard”, in The Everything Guide to Living Off the Grid: A Back-to-basics Manual for Independent Living (Everything Series), Avon, Mass.: Adams Media, F+W Media, →ISBN, page 77:
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Synonym of applewood (“the wood of the apple tree”).
16
A fruit of any kind.
Otherwise obsolete
17
Broadly, Often, Slang, With qualifying word A person.
“I saw a little guy with a can opener fooling around that gum machine,” was the reply. “And then?” asked McGonigle. “I can’t say,” replied the poor apple.1928, S.J. Perelman, “Phantoms of the Dawn”, in That Old gang o' Mine: The Early and Essential S.J. Perelman, published 1984, page 43:
“Take it easy with Thompson, Eddie,” he said lazily. “He’s a good apple but he’s mighty tough to go pushing around. He’s had a lot of bad luck lately.”1948 April, John C. Ropke, “You Can’t Stay On Top”, in Masked Rider Western, page 64:
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Pop delighted in calling his grandson Blenheim; it was such a nice round apple of a name. ‘Well, how’s Charley boy? And how’s my little apple?’1963, H.E. Bates, Oh! To Be in England, page 20:
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Broadly, Slang Synonym of CBer (“a CB radio enthusiast”).
Because of overcrowding, many a CB enthusiast (called an "apple") is strapping an illegal linear amplifier ("boots") on to his transceiver ("ears") which is limited by the Federal Communications Commission ("Big Daddy" in the US) to an output power of no more than five watts.1977, Bernard Dixon, editor, New Scientist, volume 74, London: IPC Magazines, page 764, column 1:
US, Broadly, Derogatory, Ethnic, Slang, Slur A Native American or redskinned person who acts or thinks like a white (Caucasian) person.
My ancestors five generations removed were "apples" who were "White" on the inside and "Red" on the outside. […] We need a new breed of "apples."1996, Joel Spring, “From Thomas Jefferson to Henry Ford: The End of the Choctaw Republic”, in The Cultural Transformation of A Native American Family and Its Tribe 1763–1995: A Basket of Apples, Abingdon, Oxfordshire; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, published 2011, →DOI, →ISBN, part II (The Choctaw Republic and Its People):
The presenter, close to tears, told the audience that she's really an apple—white on the inside and red on the outside—Native American.1998, Opal J. Moore, “‘From the Back of the Bus to the Back of the National Priority List’: The Civil Rights Movement, Integration, and beyond [Git that Gal a Red Dress: A Conversation Between Female Faculty at a State School in Virginia]”, in Daryl Cumber Dance, editor, Honey, Hush! An Anthology of African American Women’s Humor, New York, N.Y.: W[illiam] W[arder] Norton & Company, →ISBN, page 537:
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 noun 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. Cognates Cognate with Scots aipple (“apple”), North Frisian aapel, Oapel, ååpel (“apple”), Saterland Frisian Apel, Appel (“apple”), West Frisian apel, appel (“apple”), Alemannic German effél, epfel, epfil, öpfil (“apple”), Bavarian eipfele, epfl, Åpfe (“apple”), Cimbrian oupfal, öpfel, öpfl (“apple”), Dutch appel (“apple”), German Apfel (“apple”), German Low German Appel (“apple”), Limburgish Ape̩l, appel (“apple”), Luxembourgish Apel (“apple”), Mòcheno epfl (“apple”), Vilamovian epuł (“apple”), Yiddish עפּל (epl, “apple”), Danish æble (“apple”), Faroese epl, epli (“apple; potato”), Icelandic epli (“apple”), Norwegian Bokmål and Norwegian Nynorsk eple (“apple”), Swedish äpple (“apple”), Crimean Gothic apel (“apple”), Irish úll (“apple”), Lithuanian óbuolỹs (“apple”), Russian я́блоко (jábloko, “apple”), Welsh afal (“apple”), possibly Ancient Greek ἄμπελος (ámpelos, “vine”).
1
To make (something) appear like an apple (noun sense 1.1).
To choose responsibly, our active citizen must know what is being offered, much of this knowledge being filtered through appearance: things must look what they are supposed to be. Apples must look like applies. One might say they have to be appled-up; varieties are selected for marketing which have the most apple-like qualities.1992, Marilyn Strathern, “Enterprising Kinship: Consumer Choice and the New Reproductive Technologies”, in Reproducing the Future: Essays on Anthropology, Kinship and the New Reproductive Technologies, Manchester: Manchester University Press, →ISBN, part I, page 38:
A large smile appled his full cheeks as the four sprytes eagerly served themselves from the seeds and thinly sliced fruits.2007, Claudia D. Newcorn, chapter 4, in Crossover (Chronicles of Feyree; scroll 1), [United States]: Theogony Books, published 2021, →ISBN, page 35:
2
To become like an apple.
He glanced at me, his cheeks appled in the impish grin I was learning to recognise as the clever under-side of his broad and gentle smile.2003, Gregory David Roberts, chapter 1, in Shantaram, London: Hachette Digital, published 2012, →ISBN, part 1:
She smiled, and her cheeks appled up and her teeth were big and flat and her mouth was wide and spacious like an open invitation.2011, Cynthia Robinson, chapter 10, in The Barbary Dogs (A Thomas Dunne Book), New York, N.Y.: Minotaur Books, St. Martin’s Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 57:
Dialectal Of a flower bud or vegetable (especially a root vegetable): to grow into the shape of an apple.
Obsolete except UK
As for Scolymus [possibly type of artichoke?], it differeth from the reſt of theſe Thiſtles herein, That the root, if it be ſodden, it is good to be eaten: beſides, it hath a ſtraunge nature, for all the ſort of them during the Summer throughout, never reſt and give over, but either they floure, or they apple, or els be readie to bring foorth fruit: […]1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XXI.] Of Carduus, and Ixine: Of Tribulus and Anchusa.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 2nd tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 98:
To Pome or Apple, is ſaid of the Heads of Artichokes vvhen they grovv round, and full ſhaped as an Apple. It is ſaid alſo of Lettuce, &c.[1693, John Evelyn, “The Dictionary. An Explication of the Terms of Gard’ning, in an Alphabetical Order. To Pome or Apple.”, in De La Quintinye [i.e., Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie], translated by John Evelyn, The Compleat Gard’ner; or, Directions for Cultivating and Right Ordering of Fruit-gardens; […], London: […] Matthew Gillyflower, […], and James Partridge, […], →OCLC, column 1:
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You may novv ſovv upon moderate hot-beds, a fevv of the ſmall ſalad ſeeds, ſuch as VVhite Muſtard, Rape, Creſſes, and Cabbage Lettuces, and you may also ſovv upon other hot-beds, not to be drawn until they are pretty large and vvell appled, Radiſhes and Turnips, obſerving to ſovv them very thin, that the plants may have room to ſvvell and grovv; […]1759, James Justice, “November”, in The British Gardener’s Calendar, […], Edinburgh: […] R. Fleming, →OCLC, page 307:
The cabbage turnep is of tvvo kinds; one apples above ground, and the other in it.1798, Charles Marshall, “Section XV. Of Esculents.”, in An Introduction to the Knowledge and Practice of Gardening, […], 2nd edition, London: […] John Rider, for F[rancis] and C[harles] Rivington, […], →OCLC, page 251:
Some, however, recommend that the seed collected from a few turnips thus transplanted, should be preserved and sown in drills, in order to raise plants for see for the general crop, drawing out all such as are weak and improper, leaving only those that are strong and which take the lead; and that when these have appled or formed bulbs, to again take out such as do not appear good and perfect, as by this means turnip seed may be procured, not only of a more vigorous nature, but which is capable of vegetating with less moisture and which produces stronger and more hardy plants.1807, Thomas Potts, “TURNIPS”, in The British Farmer’s Cyclopædia; or, Complete Agricultural Dictionary; […], London: […] W. Flint, […], for Scatcherd and Letterman, […], and M. Jones, […], →OCLC, column 2:
Derived terms
appleing, appling
Apple
noun
/ˈæp.əl/
Etymology From apple. As a surname, also an Americanized form of Appel or Apfel.
1
A computer produced by the company Apple Inc.
Arthur bought the Apple anyway. Over a few days he also acquired some astronomical software, plotted the movements of stars, drew rough little diagrams of how he seemed to remember the stars to have been […]1984, Douglas Adams, chapter 17, in So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), page 93: