ripenv.

c1450 [implied in: J. Capgrave Life St. Augustine (1910) 2 For Augustus is þat month in heruest whech is þe hattest month and moost ripening of frutes. (at ripening adj. 1)].

1565 T. Cooper Thesaurus at Maturo The yere quickly ripeneth grapes in sunnie hilles.

1587 Sir P. Sidney & A. Golding tr. P. de Mornay Trewnesse Christian Relig. iv. 50 The Sunne..rypeneth things, he withereth things & so forth.

1600 W. Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing iii. i. 8 The pleached bowere Where hony-suckles ripened by the sunne, Forbid the sunne to enter. View more context for this quotation

1687 A. Lovell tr. C. de Bergerac Comical Hist. i. 13 As if it were likely that the Sun..had only been kindled to ripen their Medlars, and plumpen [Fr. pommer] their Cabbage.

1759 P. Miller Gardeners Dict. (ed. 7) at Abutilon With proper care they will ripen their seeds in autumn.

1785 T. Jefferson Let. 28 Oct. in Papers (1953) VIII. 683 They [sc. the French] have nothing which deserves the name of a peach; there being not sun enough to ripen the plumbpeach.

1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 667 In a frame of this kind, Knight ripened grapes.

1878 H. B. Stowe Poganuc People xx. 179 For the frost ripened the shag-bark walnuts.

1939 E. D. Laborde tr. E. de Martonne Shorter Physical Geogr. (rev. ed.) v. 82 At the end of autumn the Föhn ripens the grapes in the canton of Grisons.

1960 C. Day Lewis Buried Day ii. 29 But if it rained, it must have been timely showers to ripen the fruit.

2000 A. Bourdain Kitchen Confid. (2001) 92 He knows where to get the best avocados cheapest, how to ripen them, store them, sell them, merchandize them.

1573 J. Daus tr. H. Bullinger Hundred Serm. vpon Apocalipse (rev. ed.) f. 95 But the figges ripened [1561 ripe] not, & therefore they remayned greene or vnripe figges.

1611 Bible (King James) Isa. xviii. 5 When the bud is perfect, and the sowre grape is ripening in the flowre. View more context for this quotation

a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry V (1623) i. i. 62 Holesome Berryes thriue and ripen best, Neighbour'd by Fruit of baser qualitie. View more context for this quotation

1654 Earl of Monmouth tr. G. Bentivoglio Compl. Hist. Warrs Flanders 170 By destroying the corn upon the ground, which was then a ripening.

1712 M. Henry Serm. in Wks. (1853) II. 366/2 The choicest fruits ripen slowly.

1796 W. Withering Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 3) III. 608 Calyx awned, the angles more evident as the seeds ripen.

1832 Ld. Tennyson Lotos-eaters: Choric Song iii, in Poems (new ed.) 113 All its allotted length of days, The flower ripens in its place.

1894 H. Drummond Lowell Lect. Ascent of Man 382 The dormouse thus brings forth its young in August, when the nuts begin to ripen.

1922 Times 12 Oct. 21/3 The past season was so unfavourable that a considerable portion of the replant has not ripened for this year.

1988 D. Madden Birds of Innocent Wood v. 82 All the apples in the orchard ripened and grew big.

2006 M. Pollan Omnivore's Dilemma xx. 397 None..had quite ripened yet, with the exception of a Santa Rosa plum on Parker Street.

1549 T. Chaloner tr. Erasmus Praise of Folie sig. Biii ^v I hate the childe, whose witte ripeneth before the tyme.

1602 J. Marston Antonios Reuenge iii. ii. sig. F^v His mature age..ripens onely to corrupt and rot The budding hopes of infant modestie.

1620 T. Middleton & W. Rowley World Tost sig. D4^v Now my hope ripens fairely.

1696 J. Banks Cyrus Great i. i. 9 When my full Joys had ripen'd for Enjoyment.

1742 E. Young Complaint: Night the First 8 What golden Joys ambrosial clust'ring glow, In His full beam, and ripen for the Just?

1759 W. Robertson Hist. Scotl. I. i. 68 His genius was of that kind which ripens slowly.

1798 G. Colman Blue-beard i. i. 8 Our hopes and joys were ripening daily.

1840 R. H. Barham Life Henry Harris in Ingoldsby Legends 1st Ser. 196 It was not till our acquaintance had ripened..that these particulars were elicited.

1878 J. P. Hopps Life Jesus iii. 12 The time had come, when all that he had..thought, and desired, had ripened in his soul.

1904 H. H. Peerless Diary 20 June in Brief Jolly Change (2003) 75 Our intimacy with Mr and Mrs Dawson is rapidly ripening.

1921 A. Huxley Crome Yellow ix. 88 It must inevitably take a long time for Armageddon to ripen, to yeast itself up.

1968 Harvard Theol. Rev. 61 438 All these hopes for an actual visit never ripened.

1982 A. S. Dale Outline of Sanity v. 46 Since he stayed on at Oxford for several years, his friendship with Bentley and Oldershaw had time to ripen.

2002 Mandala Mar.–May 26/1 Troubles ripen so fast sometimes, and when they do I try to maintain a correct state of mind.

1611 J. Speed Hist. Great Brit. vii. xxvii. 360 The Danish warres continuing in a successiue maner, fell as it were hereditaryly from the Father vnto the Sonne, and ripened dayly towards their wished haruest.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Antony & Cleopatra (1623) ii. vii. 92 Pom. This is not yet an Alexandrian Feast. Ant. It ripen's towards it. View more context for this quotation

a1657 G. Daniel Trinarchodia in Poems (1878) III. To Rdr. 133 From some Trees Byll-twisted Barnacles, ripen to Geese.

1668 C. Sedley Mulberry-garden v. i. 63 Nought else could destroy Your hopes, which then were ripening into joy.

1709 J. Strype Ann. Reformation i. 47 These Bills ripened into Acts, before the Parliament ended.

1776 W. J. Mickle in tr. L. de Camoens Lusiad Introd. p. xxiv The mathematical genius of Don Henry..received every encouragement..to ripen into perfection and public utility.

1833 H. Martineau French Wines & Politics i. 1 The acquaintance had ripened into friendship.

1853 C. Kingsley Hypatia II. xiv. 326 He tried to laugh away his own fears. And yet they ripened..into certainty.

1882 Cent. Mag. Jan. 370/2 The follies that seemed to amusing and resultless in their time had ripened to this bitter effect.

1923 U.S. Court of Claims Rep. (Lexis) 59 1 In a certain sense an option is a mere pollicitation, a promise without mutuality, not yet ripened into a perfect agreement.

1946 E. R. Curtis Lady Sarah Lennox iv. 51 The young Prince's admiration was ripening into an attachment.

2002 C. M. Brown et al. Evidence Boundary Location (ed. 4) xii. 342 Determining when possession on the ground..has ripened into an ownership right is complex and may often depend on parol testimony.

?1560 T. Norton Orations of Arsanes sig. Miii Our owne politike & worldly wise subiectes & frendes, which are the greatest numbers, flee daily from vs, make their peace vnder hand with our aduersaries, and still ripen the mischiefes till our state fall rotten to ruine.

1594 W. Shakespeare Titus Andronicus i. i. 227 Whose vertues will I hope, Reflect on Rome..And ripen iustice in this Common weale. View more context for this quotation

1607 B. Jonson Volpone ii. vi. sig. F2^v I haue something, else To ripen, for your good. View more context for this quotation

1659 R. Boyle Some Motives & Incentives to Love of God 133 When Age and Study shall have ripen'd and instructed his Intellectualls.

1721 E. Young Revenge iii. i This conduct ripen'd all for me, and ruin.

1781 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall (1787) III. xxxviii. 631 Prosperity ripened the principle of decay.

1821 C. Lamb in London Mag. June 614/1 His amelioration-plans must be ripened in a day.

1856 R. W. Emerson Eng. Traits xiii. 223 The action of the university..ripens a bishop, and extrudes a philosopher.

1869 A. J. Evans Vashti i. 10 Sixteen years had ripened and rounded the girlish form.

1944 Times 3 Jan. 10/6 Plans were ripened in many instances by personal talks between the respective presidents.

1995 P. Conroy Beach Music (1996) xxxix. 758 Her bloodstream ripened its betrayal of her and grew dangerous as pitchblende to her health.

1641 G. Wither Halelviah i. xcv. 187 But, since that Grace from thee proceeds, Which doth renew our Will; Lord, ripen it, into those Deeds, Which thy Commands fulfill.

a1721 J. Sheffield Wks. (1753) I. 15 Love ripens all that dross into the purest gold.

1748 S. Richardson Clarissa III. xii. 85 Ripening into execution my plots upon Themselves.

1843 J. S. Robb Streaks of Squatter Life (1847) 53 I would fain ripen those feelings into a strong bond of friendship.

1887 Pop. Sci. Monthly July 382 At a very early period there was evolved another theory, which, having been ripened into a doctrine, cost the earth dear indeed.

1902 Strand Mag. Aug. 161 A community of taste in tobacco and other matters, had in the course of seven years ripened the acquaintance into a close friendship.

1953 C. E. Raven Nat. Relig. & Christian Theol. iii. 29 As we turn from the Old Testament to the New we shall discover how this affinity was ripened into an intimate and fruitful union by the events of the three hundred years before Christ.

2007 J. B. Morris Establishing Justice Middle Amer. iv. 181 It was the informer's information that Spinelli was accepting wagers that ripened suspicion into probable cause.

1590 W. Clever Flower of Phisicke 32 Some meete framed medicine, to ripen the disease.

1599 A. M. tr. O. Gaebelkhover Bk. Physicke 95/1 (heading) A potione to mature, or ripen, an Apostematione [Ger. Ein Tranck, die Apostem zuerweichen].

1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 361 Then renew it, till such time that it ripen and break the sore.

a1617 P. Baynes Entire Comm. Epist. Paul to Ephesians (1643) 140 Physitians by ripning diseases make way to heal them.

1737 H. Bracken Farriery Improved xxxv. 494 A Poultis to ripen any Tumour.

1883 L. A. Bernays Cultural Industries Queensland 23 The pulp roasted and applied to a boil soon ripens it.

1903 Med. Age 21 16 The latter operation [sc. extraction of the lens] is..decidedly preferable to any of the procedures sometimes employed for the purpose of artificially ripening the cataract.

1912 M. R. Trumbower in Special Rep. Dis. Cattle (U.S. Dept. Agric.) (rev. ed.) 341 Treatment.—Poulticing to ripen the abscess.

1995 P. Sensarma & A. K. Ghosh in R. E. Schultes & S. von Reis Ethnobotany 70 Santals apply a paste of the flowers to ripen boils.

1653 R. Pemell De Morbis Puerorum 19 If the spots..flash abroad not ripening speedily, and if hoarsenesse follow, these are very bad signs.

1702 J. Floyer Anc. Ψυχρολουσία Revived iv. 163 Cold Water hinders any Pain from ripening.

1705 F. Fuller Medicina Gymnastica 61 A Cancerous Humour is some Years ripening.

1722 D. Defoe Jrnl. Plague Year 187 The violent Motion..caused them [sc. swellings] to ripen and break.

1894 G. W. Carey Biochemic Syst. Med. 138 Silicea greatly assists suppuration, causes the boil to ripen and often break without surgical interference.

1909 Amer. Jrnl. Clin. Med. 16 411/2 The unfortunate waits patiently till the abscess ripens, when the pus exudes and the wound heals.

1955 Lancet 17 Sept. 592/1 It has been said that a prostate, like a cataract, must ripen before it is fit to be removed.

2001 M. Grossman & V. McCabe Greater Vision 52 And these patients are told, ‘Let's wait until the cataract ripens [gets worse], and then we can remove it surgically.’