| 释义 |
▪ I. fruit, n.|fruːt|
Forms: α. 2–6 frut, 3–6 fruyt(e, 4–5 froyte, (4 frot(t, fryt(e), 4–6 frute, -tt(e, north. and Sc. froit(e, (4 freut, frou(i)t, fruȝt, 5 fret, fruth), 4–7 fruite, (4 fruyȝte, 6 frught, Sc. frw(i)t), 3– fruit. β. 4–6 fruct(e, 6 fruict.
[a. OFr. fruit (later often spelt fruict):— L. frūctus (u-stem), f. *frugv- root of fruī to enjoy.
The form fruct(e in 14–15th c. English use, and still later in Sc. writers, appears to be merely a variety of spelling (of course after the L.); but it is possible that in the few English 16th c. uses of this form, which seem to be confined to immaterial senses, the writers intended the word to be taken as a direct adaptation of the Latin, with the c pronounced.]
1. Vegetable products in general, that are fit to be used as food by men and animals. Now usually in pl. Also fruits of the earth or the ground.
αc1175Lamb Hom. 135 Me saweð sed on ane time and gedereð þet frut on oðer time. c1300Cursor M. 28833 (Cott. Galba) Þe pouer man es like þe felde, Þat mekill fruit es wont to yelde. c1375Lay Folks Mass Bk. (MS. B.) 392 Þo froytes of þo erthe make plentuus. 1389in Eng. Gilds (1870) 111 We schal beseke for y⊇ frutte yt is on y⊇ herthe. 1486Bk. St. Albans E v, Booth in wodys and feldis corne and oder frute. 1538Starkey England i. iii. 73 Yf hyt were dylygently laburyd hyt wold bryng forth frute for the nuryschyng of man. 1549Bk. Com. Prayer, Litany, That it may please thee to give and preserve to our use the kindly fruits of the earth. 1648Gage West Ind. xii. 43 The answer of our Queene Elizabeth..to some that presented unto her of the fruits of America. 1665Ord. Mayor Lond. in De Foe Plague (1840) 46 That no..musty corn, or other corrupt fruits..be suffered to be sold. 1725Watts Logic i. vi. §3 If the husk or seeds are eaten, they are called the fruits of the ground. 1791T. Newte Tour Eng. & Scot. 196 At Aberdeen, turnips, carrots, and potatoes, pass, among the common people, by the name of fruit. 1859Jephson Brittany ii. 20 The Breton peasant can turn all the fruits of the earth to account.
βc1374Chaucer Former Age 3 They helde hem paied of the fructes þat þey ete. 1500–20Dunbar Poems xiv. 63 Quhilk slayis the corne and fruct that growis grene.
fig.c1374Chaucer Boeth. i. pr. i. 3 (Camb. MS.) Thise ben tho that..destroyen the corn plentyuos of fruites of resone. 1559Mirr. Mag., Hen. VI, xxxix, See here the pleasaunt fruytes that many princes reape. 1707Watts Hymn, ‘Come, we that love the Lord’ viii, Celestial Fruits on earthly Ground From Faith and Hope may grow. 1783Watson Philip III (1793) I. ii. 233 The only fruit which he could reap from a victory.
2. The edible product of a plant or tree, consisting of the seed and its envelope, esp. the latter when it is of a juicy pulpy nature, as in the apple, orange, plum, etc. † tree of fruit = fruit-tree.
As denoting an article of food, the word is popularly extended to include certain vegetable products that resemble ‘fruits’ in their qualities, e.g. the stalks of rhubarb.
a. collect. in sing.
a1225Ancr. R. 150 Figer is ones kunnes treou þet bereð swete frut, þet me clepeð figes. 13..E.E. Allit. P. B. 1044 Þe fayrest fryt þat may in folde growe, As orenge & oþer fryt. c1380Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 69 Al oþer trees of fruyte. c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 75, I ne apreve nouȝt almaundis ne noon oþer vaperous fruyt: as notis eiþir walnotis eiþer avellanes. c1483Caxton Vocab. 6 b, Of fruyt shall ye here named Peres, apples, plommes. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. (1586) 62 The berries, which is the fruite, are redde. 1626Bacon Sylva §432 The lowness of the Bough, where the Fruit cometh, maketh the Fruit greater. 1677Grew Anat. Fruits v. §1 (1682) 186 The Fruit, strictly so called, is, A Fleshy Uterus, which grows more moist and Pulpy, as the Seed ripens. 1706Pope Let. to Wycherley 10 Apr. Lett. (1735) 26 We take Branches from a Tree, to add to the Fruit. 1837Penny Cycl. VII. 27 [Bats] devouring indiscriminately every kind of fruit.
fig.a1225Ancr. R. 276 Mon, þi flesch, hwat frut bereð hit? 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 57 Heroes, whose Etherial Root Is Jove himself, and Cæsar is the Fruit. 1771Junius Lett. lix. 304 [He] sees the fruit of his honest industry ripen beyond his hopes.
b. with a and pl., as denoting a kind of fruit.
αc1250Gen. & Ex. 216 Ðat he sulde him ðer loken fro A fruit, ðe kenned wel and wo. a1300Cursor M. 11667 (Gött.) Scho..sau a frout..Men clepes palmes in þat land. 1375Barbour Bruce x. 191 The treis..Chargit vith froytis on syndri viss. c1400Lanfranc's Cirurg. 261 Þou schalt purge colre wiþ a decoccioun of fretis. c1460J. Russell Bk. Nurture 667 Speke..For frutes a-fore mete to ete þem fastyngely. 1527R. Thorne in Hakluyt Voy. (1589) 252 Our fruites and graines be Apples, Nuts, and Corne. 1650Fuller Pisgah i. iv. 11 Dates, Almonds..Nuts..Pomegranates and other severall fruits. 1795Gentl. Mag. 540/1 The glow of ripe fruits and declining leaves mark the autumn. 1842Tennyson Gardener's Dau. 190 Fruits and cream served in the weeping elm. 1858Homans Cycl. Commerce 886 This fruit [currants] is of a violet colour, and hangs in long loose bunches.
β1475Bk. Noblesse 70 Planted withe treis of verdure of divers fructis. 1585Jas. I Ess. Poesie (Arb.) 14 To taste, and smell..Delicious fruictis, whilks in that tyme abound. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 6 Excepte spice and Vine, and sum fructes.
c. An individual product of a tree. rare.
1873C. Robinson N.S. Wales 26 The Mandarin has borne 4,200 fruits in the year.
d. Proverbs.
αa1300Cursor M. 38 (Gött.) Wers tre wer frouit it beris. c1530R. Hilles Common-pl. Bk. (1858) 140 Often tymys provyth the frught affore The stok that hyt cometh off. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. iv. i. 115 The weakest kinde of fruite Drops earliest to the ground. 1640J. Dyke Worthy Commun. 176 No roote no fruite.
β1535Stewart Cron. Scot. (1858) I. 165 Sindrie tymes we se That rycht gude fruct cumis of ane gude tre.
e. old (tin of) fruit: a term of familiar address. (Cf. old bean.) slang.
1923Daily Mail 8 Feb. 6 Was she simply bursting to address him Gaily as her ‘dear old tin of fruit’? 1928Ibid. 25 July 10/6 Then their politeness. No slapping a friend on the back with a ‘What cheer, old fruit?’ 1951T. Rattigan Who is Sylvia? i. 212 You don't mind me asking, did you, old fruit? 1968K. Bird Smash Glass Image xiii. 162 Adiós, old fruit. Hasta luego. Go and jump in the nearest lake.
†3. A fruit-tree; also a food-plant. Obs. rare.
a1300Cursor M. 8239 All frutes he plantede in þat place. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. (1586) 84 b, About the tenth of June, both the Vine, and Wheate, the two noble fruites, do flowre. 1767A. Young Farmer's Lett. People 313 Many of our fruits and most useful plants are the natural inhabitants of much warmer countries.
†4. A course of fruit; the dessert. to be in one's fruits: to be at dessert. Obs.
1577–87Holinshed Chron. III. 915/2 The officers being at dinner, and the cardinall not fullie dined, being then in his fruits. 1602Shakes. Ham. ii. ii. 52 My Newes shall be the fruit to that great Feast.
5. The seed of a plant or tree, regarded as the means of reproduction, together with its envelope; spec. in Bot. ‘the ripe pistil containing the ovules, arrived at the state of seeds’ (Lindley); also, the spores of cryptogams.
1794Martyn Rousseau's Bot. i. 21 In Botany, by fruit, in herbs as well as in trees, we understand the whole fabric of the seed. 1796Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 194 Its flower is that of Plantago, but..its fruit distinguish[es] it from that genus. 1813Sir H. Davy Agric. Chem. (1814) 140 Fruits..contain a certain quantity of nourishment laid up in their cells for the use of the Embryon plant. 1870Hooker Stud. Flora 210 Hypochæris..Fruits striate, scabrous. 1886A. Winchell Walks & Talks Geol. Field 174 The low rank of these plants [in the coal-formation] is evinced also by the absence of flowers and fruit.
6. Offspring, progeny. Also, an embryo, fœtus. Orig. a Hebraism. Now rare, exc. in Biblical phraseology. More fully fruit of the body, loins, womb.
a1300Cursor M. 5445 Þi frut i se bi-for mi nei. a1340Hampole Psalter cxxxi. 11 Of þe froite of þi wambe i sall sett on þi seat. 1382Wyclif Acts ii. 30 God hadde sworn to him, of the fruyt of his leende for to sitte on his seete. 1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. lxxiv. (1495) 647 We speke vnproperly somtyme and call the brode of the beestys frute. c1425Found. St. Bartholomew's (E.E.T.S.) 42 Stondyng neyr the tyme that the fruyt shulde be proferid forth. c1500Melusine xxx. 218 Duchesse, take good heede of your fruyte that groweth in your blood. 1533Gau Richt Vay (1888) 12 Thay quhilk takis avay the frwtis of thair nichtburs beistis. 1535Coverdale Deut. xxviii. 4 Blessed shalbe the frute of thy body. 1578Lyte Dodoens ii. lxxvii. 252 It closeth the Matrice, causeth the fruite to live. 1593Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, iv. iv. 24 Least with my sighes or teares I blast or drowne King Edwards Fruite. 1607Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 463 There is..another excellent medicine..whereby the fruit in a womans womb may be brought forth either dead or putrified. 1611Bible Exod. xxi. 22 If men striue, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her. 1641Hinde J. Bruen i. 2 The Lord with-held the fruit of the womb..so that by her he had no issue. 1822–34Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) IV. 128 Risking the loss of the uterine fruit.
7. Anything accruing, produced, or resulting from an action or effort, the operation of a cause, etc.
a. Material produce, outgrowth, increase; pl. products, revenues.
αc1440Jacob's Well (E.E.T.S.) 202 Þe fruyte & þe profyȝte of þat lande & of beeste in þi tyme. 1523Fitzherb. Surv. 36 S. B. occupyeth the sayd personage him selfe, withall the glebe landes, medowes, tythes, and all other frutes. 1611Bible 2 Esdras viii. 10 Milke..which is the fruit of the breasts. 1715–20Pope Iliad xvii. 6 Round her new-fallen young the heifer moves, Fruit of her throes. 1726G. Shelvocke Voy. round World 86 A dozen of hams..the fruit of this country. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 311 The produce of the soil far exceeded the value of all the other fruits of human industry.
βa1500Colkelbie Sow iii. 763 Quhilk for þe tyme no fruct nor proffeit did. 1563Abp. Parker Articles, Ani patron that..taketh the tythes and other fructes to him selfe.
b. An immaterial product, a result, issue, consequence. sing. and pl.
αa1300Cursor M. 19230 Was neuer þe fruit o suilk bot ill. c1375Sc. Leg. Saints, Baptista 268 Dois worthy froite of pennance ay. c1386Chaucer Knt.'s T. 424 Of al oure strif, God woot, the fruyt is thin. 1413Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton) v. xiv. (1859) 80 Alle the wyde world is fulfylled with the fruyte of theyr good labour. c1460Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. iii. (1885) 116 Sumwhat now I haue shewid the frutes of both lawes. 1548–9(Mar.) Bk. Com. Prayer Post-Communion, The fruite of good liuing. 1601Shakes. Twel. N. ii. v. 216 If you will then see the fruites of the sport, mark his first approach before my lady. 1659Hammond On Ps. 1 All these Psalms are not the fruit or product of one inspired brain. 1668Temple Let. to Ld. Arlington Wks. 1731 II. 108 The Fruits of our Conferences your Lordship will find in the Enclosed. 1712Addison Spect. No. 287 ⁋ 6 Riches and Plenty are the natural Fruits of Liberty. 1786Cowper Let. to Churchey Wks. 1837 XV. 189 The most effectual spur to industry in all such exertions, is to lay the fruit of them before the public. 1853J. H. Newman Hist. Sk. (1873) II. i. ii. 64 Zingis swept round the sea of Aral, and destroyed the fruits of a long civilization. 1858Carlyle Fredk. Gt. ii. vi. (1865) I. 85 His going on the Crusade..was partly the fruit of the life she led him.
βa1568R. Ascham Scholem. (Arb.) 23, I wishe..that yong M. Rob. Sackuille, may take that fructe of this labor. 1585M. W. Commend. Verses to Jas. I's Ess. Poesie (Arb.) 10 Lo, heir the fructis, Nymphe, of thy foster faire.
c. Advantage, benefit, enjoyment, profit.
αc1230Hali Meid. 7 Þus hauen godes freond al þe fruit of þis world þat ha forsaken habbeð. 1484Caxton Curiall 3 Thou shalt haue labour wythoute fruyt and shalt vse thy lyf in perylle. 1559Mirr. Mag., Worcester v, The fruite Of reading stories, standeth in the suite. 1588J. Udall Diotrephes (Arb.) 17 You shold preach foure times euery weeke, with more fruit than you can doe now foure times euery yeere. 1602Shakes. Ham. ii. ii. 145 She tooke the Fruites of my Aduice. 1630R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 384 The greatest fruit which the Emperour reapeth by the Crowne of Hungarland, ariseth by the benefit of Mines. 1698J. Howe in H. Rogers Life x. (1863) 219, I read thy lines with fruit and delight. 1858F. Hall in Jrnl. Amer. Orient. Soc. (1862) VII. 31 Whosesoever..at any time, has been the soil, his, at that time, has been the fruit of even the previous bestowment thereof.
β1500–20Dunbar Poems xxiv. 22 Off warldis gud and grit richess, Quhat fruct hes man but miriness?
8. a. A dupe, an ‘easy mark’. b. A male homosexual. slang (orig. U.S.).
1895W. C. Gore in Inlander Dec. 111 Fruit, one who can be easily deceived. 1913Punch 22 Jan. 72/2 It was a flaw in the new play that its mugs were such ‘easy fruit’. 1931G. Irwin Amer. Tramp & Underworld Slang 81 Fruit, an ‘easy mark’. A girl or woman willing to oblige. Probably..from the fact that they are ‘easy picking’. 1935N. Ersine Underworld & Prison Slang 38 Fruit, a sexual pervert. 1957K. Martin Aubade v. 79 The way I'm acting anyone would think I was a fruit. Gary probably is. He looks like one. 1970Guardian 13 Feb. 9/5 He is a fruit, which means..that he is a queer. 1971Rolling Stone 24 June 3/2 John Mendelsohn did an excellent job acting like a fruit.
9. attrib. and Comb.
a. simple attrib., as fruit-barrow, fruit-basket, fruit-branch, fruit-broker, fruit-close, fruit-dealer, fruit-dish, fruit-farm, fruit-garden, fruit-grove, fruit-industry, fruit-juice, fruit-loft, fruit-lot, fruit-pulp, fruit-shop, fruit-sort, fruit-stall, fruit-stand, fruit-stone, fruit-tart, fruit-time, fruit-year; also fruitwise adv.
1801Spirit Publ. Jrnls. (1802) V. 187 *Fruit-barrows and the hunger-giving cries Of vegetable venders fill the air.
1803Gentl. Mag. Ibid. (1804) VII. 44 Look at..the fillagree tea-caddies, the *fruit-baskets, &c., &c.
1719London & Wise Compl. Gard. xv. 123 If a *Fruit Branch should chance to be join'd with the two Wood Branches it may be preserv'd.
1844Dickens Mart. Chuz. ix, Several *fruit-brokers had their marts near Todger's.
1882Shorthouse J. Inglesant II. xxvi. 317 Inheritance of *fruit-closes, and olive-grounds.
1810Sporting Mag. XXXV. 39 The defendant is a *fruit-dealer.
1603Shakes. Meas. for M. ii. i. 95 We had but two in the house, which..stood, as it were in a *fruit dish.
1872Trans. Dep. Agric. Illinois IX. 65 The first consideration in the establishment of a *fruit farm is accessibility to market. 1911E. M. Clowes On Wallaby iv. 92 Some neighbouring station, dairy, or fruit-farm.
1712J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 3 Kitchen and *Fruit-Gardens.
1725Pope Odyss. iv. 974 The faithful slave Whom to my nuptial train Icarius gave, To tend the *fruit-groves.
1894Daily News 5 Apr. 5/5 Will the *fruit industry of this country find another {pstlg}100 towards it?
1880Jrnl. Chem. Soc. XXXVIII. 354 Behaviour of *fruit-juices of different ages with reagents. 1951Auden Nones (1952) 64 The unamerican survivor Hears angels drinking fruit-juice with their wives.
1552Huloet, *Fruite loft, or place to lay fruite in, or to kepe fruite, oporotheca. 1604Office B.V.M. 277 Ps. lxxviii. 1 They haue made Hierusalem a frute loft.
1912Chambers's Jrnl. Mar. 173/2 It is very beautiful up behind the *fruit-lot among the rocks and the pine-trees.
1887Colon. & Indian Exhib., Rep. Col. Sect. 131 Importing a large quantity of fresh fruit, and what is called ‘*fruit-pulp’ from Tasmania. 1887C. A. Moloney Sk. Forestry W. Afr. 339 The fruit-pulp is eaten and also prepared into a pleasant beverage. 1906Westm. Gaz. 28 Aug. 6/1 To avail themselves of any cheap and defective fruit-pulp for the making of jam.
1650Howell Giraffi's Rev. Naples i. (1664) 10 He went up and down the *fruit-shops that were in that quarter.
1842Browning Soliloquy Sp. Cloister vi, How go your flowers? None double? Not one *fruit-sort can you spy?
1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Fruit stall, a stand on the pavement where fruit is sold in the streets.
1800Morn. Chron. in Spirit Publ. Jrnls. (1801) IV. 40 Nor do we ever see him..riding backwards over *fruit-stands.
1845–6G. E. Day tr. Simon's Anim. Chem. II. 465 Their nucleus is usually a foreign body, a *fruit-stone, a splinter of bone, a needle, or woody fibre.
1568North Gueuara's Diall Pr. iv. (1619) 624/1 Hee coulde make..twelue sorts of sawces and ten of *fruit tartes.
1552Huloet, *Fruite tyme, when fruite is ripe, vindemia. 1712Addison Spect. No. 477 ⁋1, I do not suffer any one..to drive them [the birds] from their usual haunts in fruit-time.
1864Swinburne Atalanta 214 *Fruit-wise upon the old flower of tears.
1742W. Ellis Timber-Tree (ed. 3) ii. ii. xl. 192 When they sell well, as they do in plentiful *Fruit-years. 1811R. Sutcliff Trav. N. Amer. ii. 27 This was likely to be a very abundant fruit year.
b. objective, as fruit-bearer, fruit-culture, fruit-eater, fruit-evaporation, fruit-farmer, fruit-giver, fruit-grower, fruit-keeper, fruit-monger, fruit-picker, fruit-seller, fruit-vendor; fruit-bearing, fruit-candying, fruit-farming, fruit-growing, fruit-packing, fruit-raising vbl. ns.; fruit-bearing, fruit-bringing, fruit-eating, fruit-growing, fruit-producing ppl. adjs.
1726Leoni Alberti's Archit. I. 24/2 Trees..especially *Fruit-bearers.
1883H. Drummond Nat. Law in Spir. W. (ed. 2) 271 *Fruit-bearing without Christ is not an improbability, but an impossibility.
1629Parkinson Paradisi Title-p., An Orchard of all sorte of *fruit-bearing Trees. 1863Berkeley Brit. Mosses i. 4 We have the fruit-bearing branches more distinct.
1853Hickie tr. Aristoph. (1872) II. 546 Ceres, the *fruit-bringing queen.
1889Daily News 31 May 5/4 *Fruit-candying establishments.
1483Cath. Angl. 144 A *Frute eter, xirofagus. 1848Craig, Ampelidæ, Chatterers or fruit-eaters. 1883G. Allen in Knowl. 25 May 304/1 The blackcap..is a confirmed fruit-eater.
1884Littell's Living Age 688 The shambling, *fruit-eating, bear.
1895Daily News 13 Dec. 5/4 *Fruit evaporation would pay British fruit-growers.
1872Trans. Dep. Agric. Illinois IX. 66 The *fruit farmer can raise cheap pork in his apple and peach orchards.
1890W. Booth In Darkest Eng. ii. iii. 133 *Fruit farming affords a great opening for female labour.
1888Epictetus ii. x. 74 He will be Raingiver and *Fruitgiver.
1825G. Bliss (title) The *fruit grower's instructor. 1854Trans. Illinois Agric. Soc. I. 70 The fruit and fruit growers of seven states were represented. 1884Harper's Mag. Mar. 602/2 The..fruit-grower may..be made independent of the weather.
1850Rep. U.S. Comm. Patents Agric. 1849 106 This perhaps is the best *fruit-growing district of the State. 1854Trans. Illinois Agric. Soc. I. 135 Fruit growing..has not increased any faster than the growing of other agricultural produce. 1872Trans. Dep. Agric. Illinois IX. 66 A soil adapted to the growth of forest trees is..the best for fruit growing.
1894Pop. Sci. Monthly XLIV. 487 Our neighbors of northern Europe are..removed from fruit-growing regions. 1905J. F. Fraser Canada iii. 32 This jut of land is as rich for fruit growing as Kent itself.
1623Cockeram ii, A *fruit keeper, epicarpean.
1721Bradley Virtue Coffee 28 As our *Fruit-mongers do for Cherries.
1894Daily News 22 Jan. 6/3, I am not going to reply in ‘The Daily News’ to the three letters on *fruit-packing.
1880Libr. Univ. Knowl. I. 164 For harvesting, we have mowing, reaping and binding machines, shellers, *fruit-pickers, etc.
1895Daily News 27 Sept. 2/3 Great Britain has to be seriously reckoned with as a *fruit-producing country.
1854Trans. Illinois Agric. Soc. I. 500 The fact that *fruit raising here is attended by drawbacks. 1891Harper's Mag. Jan. 168/2 California has much to learn about fruit-raising.
1552Huloet, *Fruite seller, fructuarius.
1887Spectator 25 Mar. 412/2 The Italian *fruit-vendor or organ-grinder is often a retired workman.
10. Special comb.: fruit bark beetle = fruit tree (bark) beetle; fruit bat, a member of the sub-order Megachiroptera, which includes the flying-foxes (Pteropus) and other fruit-eating bats; fruit-body, the part of a fungus that bears the spores and spore-producing organs; fruit-bud, a bud containing a fruit germ, in opposition to leaf-bud; fruit-button = fruit-bud; fruit-cake, (a) a cake containing fruit; (b) (see quot.); (c) slang (orig. U.S.), a crazy or eccentric person; one who is insane; cf. nutty as a fruit-cake s.v. nutty a. 3 b; fruit-clipper, a fast-sailing ship, built for the conveyance of fruit; fruit cocktail, a preparation of fruit used as an appetizer or refreshment; fruit-crow (see quot.); fruit cup, a preparation of fruit used as an appetizer or dessert; fruit-dot, Bot., the sorus of ferns; fruit drop [drop n. 10 e], a fruit-flavoured sweet; fruit-fly (see quot.); fruit-frame (see quot.); fruit-gatherer, an implement for gathering fruit from tall trees; fruit-girl, a girl who sells fruit; fruit gum [gum n. 1 h], a fruit-flavoured gum; fruit-house, a house for storing fruit; fruit-jelly, a fruit-flavoured table-jelly; fruit-knife, a knife for cutting fruit, with a blade of silver or other material not affected by the acids of the fruit; fruit machine, a coin- or token-operated gaming machine which pays out according to the combination of symbols (often representations of fruit) appearing on the edges of wheels spun by the operation of a lever; also transf. in various slang uses; fruit-meter, a person officially appointed to examine all fruit brought into a market (Cassell); fruit-mill (see quot.); † fruits-paying, the payment of annates or ‘first-fruits’; fruit-piece, ‘a pictured or sculptured representation of fruit’ (Cent. Dict.); fruit-pigeon, a general name given to the pigeons of the genera Carpophaga and Treron; fruit-press, an apparatus for extracting the juice from fruit by pressure; fruit salad, (a) fruits, usually uncooked, cut up and mixed together, often served with sugar, cream, etc.; (b) an array of service ribbons and decorations (Services' slang); fruit salts, effervescent health salts (also formerly in sing.); fruit-spur, a small branch whose growth is stopped to ensure the development of fruit-buds; fruit-stalk, a stalk that bears fruit; spec. = peduncle; also occas. = carpophore; fruit-sugar = glucose or levulose; fruit-tree, a tree cultivated for its fruit; fruit tree (bark) beetle, Scolytus rugulosus, which burrows beneath the bark of fruit-trees; † fruit-trencher, a wooden tray, formerly used as a dessert-plate; † fruit-user = usufructuary n.; fruit-wall, a wall against which fruit-trees are trained; fruit-wife, fruit-woman, a woman who sells fruit; also, † a bawd; fruitwood, the wood of fruit-trees, esp. pear, used to make furniture; † fruit-yard, an orchard.
1892Insect Life IV. 293 The topics treated are the *Fruit Bark-beetle (Scolytus rugulosus); [etc.]. 1951Dict. Gardening (R. Hort. Soc.) II. 843/1 Fruit-bark Beetle, Scolytus rugulosus, attacks a number of fruit trees, especially Apple and Plum.
1877W. S. Dallas in Cassell's Nat. Hist. I. 269 The young African *Fruit Bats born in the Zoological Gardens were covered with short, smooth hair. 1883Chamb. Jrnl. 22 Dec. 810/1 That curious species of bats known as the fruit-bat or flying-fox. 1905Westm. Gaz. 8 Nov. 10/2 The Indian fruit bat..is not a novelty in the menagerie. 1936Discovery Oct. 307/1 Before the advent of the white man and his cultivated fruits, these great fruit bats lived on scrub figs, berries, ti-tree and gum blossoms for the honey they contained. 1966V. Serventy Continent in Danger iv. 86 Some of the ‘batteries’ or camps of the fruit bats..number hundreds of thousands of individuals.
1912C. Thom in C. E. Marshall Microbiol. i. 13 The systems of classification used are largely based upon the types of sexual *fruit bodies produced. 1927Gwynne-Vaughan & Barnes Struct. & Developm. Fungi 1 In relation to the fruit bodies of higher forms, they [sc. the hyphae] become woven into a dense mass. 1968Gloss. Terms Timber Preservation (B.S.I.) 10 Fruit(ing) body, in wood-destroying fungi, a structure that bears the spore-producing organs and spores, commonly a conspicuous bracket, toadstool or compacted sheet, with pores, gills, spines, etc., bearing the spores. 1969New Scientist 27 Nov. 451/1 Only when fruitbodies are formed does the maximum conversion of compost nutrients into edible food take place.
1664Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1729) 190 [When] the Sap begins to stir..one then best discerns the *Fruit-buds.
1707Curios. in Husb. & Gard. 147 The Graft very seldom fails..provided it..have *Fruit-Buttons.
1854E. Ruskin Let. 27 Feb. in M. Lutyens Millais & Ruskins (1967) 143 At night Old Anne gets out wine and *fruit cake and they sit and gossip. 1885Lankester in Encycl. Brit. XIX. 841/2 The cysts [of the Endosporeæ] may be united side by side in larger or smaller groups..These composite bodies are termed ‘fruit-cakes’ or ‘æthalia’, in view of the fact that the spore-cysts of Fuligo, also called æthalium—the well-known ‘flowers of tan’—form a cake of this description. 1960Wentworth & Flexner Dict. Amer. Slang 203/2 Fruitcake [citing 1952 film]. 1967‘T. Wells’ Dead by Light of Moon iii. 39 Everett Johns is part fruitcake. Goes around in thong sandals when it's warm enough, practices Yoga. 1967J. Potter Foul Play xiii. 153 Through a mouthful of fruit cake he congratulated her crumbily. 1977Rolling Stone 19 May 69/3 There is some fear that he has made ‘talking to the president a viable goal for every fruitcake in the country’. 1982Observer 29 Aug. 7/3 To be considered as a candidate you must first get onto the Panel, which is a sort of index designed mainly to exclude fruitcakes.
1864Blackmore C. Vaughan lxxi, The ‘Lily⁓flower’..could exhibit her taffrail to the smartest *fruit⁓clipper.
1922N.Y. Hotel Rev. 18 Mar. 62 *Fruit cocktail. 1928Sat. Even. Post 12 May 107/1 Mr. Montgomery had taken a morsel of fruit cocktail. c1938Fortnum & Mason Catal. 32/1 Fruits in syrup..Fruit Cocktail..per tin 1/8. 1968C. Drummond Death & Leaping Ladies i. 22, I ended up with eighteen fruit cocktails and..was left with eleven sure-fire hits.
1856W. S. Dallas Nat. Hist. Anim. Kingd. 552 The Gymnoderinæ, or *Fruit Crows.
1931N. & Q. 4 Apr. 241/2 Where *fruit-cup, ices and wonderful cakes were served. 1959N. Mailer Advts. for Myself (1961) 358 You Americans always eat the last course first... Fruit cup with sherbet, if you please.
1880Gray Struct. Bot. 433/2 The clustered *fruit-dots of ferns.
1907Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 50 Acidulated *fruit drops. 1935G. Greene Basement Room 40 A sticky fruit drop in his hand. 1959I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolch. ix. 166 ‘Lollies’ is becoming a general term..for..humbugs, large aniseed balls, and fruit drops. 1971Guardian 18 Aug. 4/3 Fruit-drops, lollipops, a stick of chewing-gum.
1753Chambers Cycl. Supp., *Fruit-flies, a name given by gardeners, and others, to a sort of small black flies, found in vast numbers among fruit trees, in the spring season.
1874Knight Dict. Mech., *Fruit-frame, Hort. a trellis or espalier.
1847Rep. U.S. Comm. Patents 1846 19 A *fruit-gatherer, of very ingenious and simple construction, has been patented. 1910Daily Chron. 10 Feb. 1/5 A fruit-gatherer attached to a pole and armed with cutting teeth.
1750H. Walpole Let. to G. Montagu 23 July (1857) II. 213 She had brought Betty, the *fruit-girl, with hampers of strawberries and cherries. 1812Combe Picturesque xxiii, A fruit-girl's barrow strikes his shin.
1938G. Greene Brighton Rock vii. vii. 328 The packets of *fruit gums came dropping out. 1960E. W. Hildick Boy at Window xiv. 108, I asked him for a box and he simply tipped the rolls of fruit gum out of this. 1971Times Educ. Suppl. 25 June 20/3 A skyver..offered the teacher a fruit gum.
1794Ld. Spencer in Ld. Auckland's Corr. (1862) III. 255, I am going with Caroline to the *fruit-house.
1846A. Soyer Gastronomic Regenerator p. xxi, All *fruit jellies [should be] as near as possible to the colour of the fruit. 1875Encycl. Brit. I. 172/1 Jams, marmalades, and fruit jellies.
1855H. Clarke Dict., *Fruit-knife.
1933Times 7 Apr. 4/2 Committed to trial..on a charge of receiving 20 automatic ‘*fruit’ machines..knowing them to be stolen. 1943Hunt & Pringle Service Slang 33 Fruit machine, an anti-aircraft predictor. 1957Economist 30 Nov. 781/2 Permission to install the minor gambling devices known as ‘fruit machines’..is by county option. 1959G. Jenkins Twist of Sand vii. 110 The ‘fruit machine’ fed by information from two officers, gave the course and speed of the warships. 1965Listener 2 Sept. 342/3 There are three juke boxes; pin tables; fruit machines.
1881Daily News 5 Aug. 2/7 In long past days the Corporation *fruitmeters claimed a sample of fruit from each package entering the Port of London.
1874Knight Dict. Mech., *Fruit-Mill, a mill for grinding grapes for must or apples for cider.
1709Strype Ann. Ref. I. vi. 97 To pray the Queen..to be discharged of their own subsidies the first year of their *fruits-paying.
1865Athenæum No. 1954. 494/3 A rare *fruit-pigeon from the Seychelles.
1861Mrs. Beeton Bk. Househ. Managem. 798 *Fruit salads are made by stripping the fruit from the stalks, piling it on a dish, and sprinkling over it finely-pounded sugar. 1943Hunt & Pringle Service Slang 33 Fruit salad, a large collection of medal ribbons which runs to three or more rows. 1955‘N. Shute’ Requiem for Wren iii. 74 A red-faced old gentleman with..a fruit salad of medal ribbons on his chest. 1961Times 19 Apr. 13/3 The ribbons worn on the chest and colloquially called ‘fruit salad’. 1964B. Falk Peacock Cookery Bk. 136 A fruit salad can be made from any mixture of fresh fruit in season together with some tinned fruit, or from fresh fruit alone.
1889Illustr. London News 31 July 33 (Advt.), For health and longevity, use Eno's ‘*Fruit Salt’. 1892E. Lytton Let. 18 Nov. in E. Lutyens Blessed Girl (1953) ix. 179 When he comes down cured..Sir Augustus puts it down to Eno's Fruit Salts. 1939D. L. Sayers In Teeth of Evidence 64 Mr. Loveday had gone in to borrow a dose of fruit salts from Mr. Turnbull.
1823in Cobbett Rur. Rides (1885) I. 325 [A] great number of these shoots have *fruit-spurs, which will have blossom, if not fruit, next year.
1796Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 17 Leaf-stalks, shorter than the *fruit-stalks. 1846J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) II. 301 [Strawberries] Every runner is, in its incipient state of formation, capable of becoming a fruit-stalk. 1898E. A. Ormerod Handbk. Insects Injur. Fruits 197 (heading) *Fruit-tree Bark Beetle. 1921T. W. Sanders Fruit Foes i. 30 Fruit Tree Beetle (Scolytus rugulosus).—Both the beetle and the larvæ are injurious to fruit trees.
1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. (1586) 72 *Fruite trees and Vines. 1667Milton P.L. v. 213 Where any row Of Fruit-trees..reached too farr Thir pamperd boughes. 1846J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) II. 379 Three modes of pruning..first, the fruit-tree method.
1642Milton Apol. Smect. 28 He greets us with a quantity of thum-ring posies. He has a fortune therefore good, because he is content with it. This is a piece of sapience not worth the brain of a *fruit-trencher. 1883Oxf. Guide-book [The picture-gallery of the Bodleian contains] Queen Elizabeth's fruit-trenchers.
c1449Pecock Repr. 411 But thei ben *Fruyte Users of the godis.
1699(title) *Fruit Walls improved by inclining them to the Horizon. 1773A. Grant Lett. fr. Mount. (1807) I. x. 78 She has built a fruit wall, a thing before unheard of here.
1611Cotgr., Fruictiere, a *Fruit-wife; or woman that selleth fruits.
1672Dryden Assignation iii. i. Wks. 1883 IV. 416 She's as arrant a *fruit-woman as any is about Rome. 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 358 Fruit women screamed.
1927MacQuoid & Edwards Dict. Eng. Furnit. III. 29 In common with other *fruit woods, it [sc. pear wood] has been used from a very early period. 1939E. Wenham Old Furnit. for Mod. Rooms i. 7 Bobbin-turned chairs of oak, or of some fruitwood. 1947J. C. S. Brough Timbers for Woodwork xvi. 134 One of several ‘fruitwoods’ it [sc. apple wood] was in former days employed largely for domestic commodities. 1964J. Gloag Englishman's Chair ix. 194 Elm seats, ash or yew bows, with arms and turned work in fruit wood or yew. 1971Times 19 June 12/5 The marquetry of flowers, birds and grotesque masks is in ivory and fruitwood.
1555W. Watreman Fardle Facions ii. ix. 205 The Gelonites, occupienge tilthe: liue by corne, and haue their *frute yardes.
▪ II. fruit, v.|fruːt|
Also α. 4–5 frute, -yn; β. 5 fruct. pa. pple. 4 y-fruited.
[f. prec. n.]
1. intr. To bear fruit.
α1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xvi. 39, I saue it til I se it..somdel y-fruited. c1440Promp. Parv. 182/1 Frutyn, or brynge forþe frute, fructifico. 1712J. Petiver in Phil. Trans. XXVII. 424 It Fruits yearly in Chelsey Garden. 1793Trans. Soc. Arts (ed. 2) IV. 220 They have fruited, and are now propagated in almost all the West-India islands. 1854Hooker Himal. Jrnls. II. xxvii. 253 But few of them fruit. 1882Mrs. J. H. Riddell Daisies & B. I. 114 The scarlet-runners fruiting and blooming at the same time.
βa1500Colkelbie Sow iii. 766 How suld a penny fruct contrair nature.
fig.c1440Jacob's Well (E.E.T.S.) 259 Mysgouernaunce..frutyth noȝt in goodnesse to þe soule. 1851Beddoes' Poems Mem. 113 Interchanging knowledge, as it..fruited daily in every branch of science. 1883Baldw. Brown Home iii. 50 We can see the passions and the forces working, which fruit in bane or blessing.
2. trans. (causatively) To make bear fruit; to cultivate to the point of bearing fruit. lit. and fig.
1640J. Dyke Worthy Commun. 177 He is rooted in Christ, and therefore fruited by Christ. 1851Beck's Florist Jan. 8, I have not fruited those sorts [of Strawberries]. 1862Thoreau Excurs., On Wild Apples (1863) 291 Their ‘Favorites’ [apples]..when I have fruited them turn out very tame. 1882W. B. Weeden Soc. Law Labor 25 For Capital is Labor fruited, saved and preserved.
†3. In various obsolete uses:
a. To produce as fruit.
b. To flavour with fruit-juice. Obs.
1382Wyclif Ecclus. xxiv. 23, I as a vyne frutede [Vulg. fructificavi] swotnesse of smel. 1736Bailey Househ. Dict. 359 Fill tin iceing pots with any sorts of cream you please, either plain or sweetened, or you may fruit it. |