Library / English Dictionary

FRUIT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

An amount of a product

Synonyms:

fruit; yield

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("fruit" is a kind of...):

product; production (an artifact that has been created by someone or some process)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The consequence of some effort or action

Example:

he lived long enough to see the fruit of his policies

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("fruit" is a kind of...):

aftermath; consequence (the outcome of an event especially as relative to an individual)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The ripened reproductive body of a seed plant

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("fruit" is a kind of...):

reproductive structure (the parts of a plant involved in its reproduction)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "fruit"):

schizocarp (a dry dehiscent fruit that at maturity splits into two or more parts each with a single seed)

cubeb (spicy fruit of the cubeb vine; when dried and crushed is used medicinally or in perfumery and sometimes smoked in cigarettes)

buckthorn berry; yellow berry (fruit of various buckthorns yielding dyes or pigments)

accessory fruit; pseudocarp (fruit containing much fleshy tissue besides that of the ripened ovary; as apple or strawberry)

pyxidium; pyxis (fruit of such plants as the plantain; a capsule whose upper part falls off when the seeds are released)

pod; seedpod (a several-seeded dehiscent fruit as e.g. of a leguminous plant)

false fruit; pome (a fleshy fruit (apple or pear or related fruits) having seed chambers and an outer fleshy part)

drupe; stone fruit (fleshy indehiscent fruit with a single seed: e.g. almond; peach; plum; cherry; elderberry; olive; jujube)

aggregate fruit; multiple fruit; syncarp (fruit consisting of many individual small fruits or drupes derived from separate ovaries within a common receptacle: e.g. blackberry; raspberry; pineapple)

berry (a small fruit having any of various structures, e.g., simple (grape or blueberry) or aggregate (blackberry or raspberry))

seed (a small hard fruit)

fruitlet (a diminutive fruit, especially one that is part of a multiple fruit)

capitulum; ear; spike (fruiting spike of a cereal plant especially corn)

buffalo nut; elk nut; oil nut (oily drupaceous fruit of rabbitwood)

rowanberry (decorative red berrylike fruit of a rowan tree)

chokecherry (the fruit of the chokecherry tree)

hagberry (small cherry much liked by birds)

marasca (small bitter fruit of the marasca cherry tree from whose juice maraschino liqueur is made)

wild cherry (the fruit of the wild cherry tree)

hip; rose hip; rosehip (the fruit of a rose plant)

olive (small ovoid fruit of the European olive tree; important food and source of oil)

acorn (fruit of the oak tree: a smooth thin-walled nut in a woody cup-shaped base)

blue fig; quandong (the fruit of the Brisbane quandong tree)

prairie gourd (small hard green-and-white inedible fruit of the prairie gourd plant)

gourd (any of numerous inedible fruits with hard rinds)

achene (small dry indehiscent fruit with the seed distinct from the fruit wall)

May apple (edible but insipid fruit of the May apple plant)

juniper berry (berrylike fruit of a plant of the genus Juniperus especially the berrylike cone of the common juniper)

edible fruit (edible reproductive body of a seed plant especially one having sweet flesh)

Derivation:

fructify (bear fruit)

fructify (become productive or fruitful)

fruit (bear fruit)

fruit (cause to bear fruit)

fruiterer (a person who sells fruit)

fruitlet (a diminutive fruit, especially one that is part of a multiple fruit)

fruity (tasting or smelling richly of or as of fruit)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Bear fruit

Example:

the trees fruited early this year

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "fruit" is one way to...):

bear; turn out (bring forth)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

fruit (the ripened reproductive body of a seed plant)

fruitage (the yield of fruit)

fruition (the condition of bearing fruit)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cause to bear fruit

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Cause:

fruit (bear fruit)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

fruit (the ripened reproductive body of a seed plant)

fruitage (the yield of fruit)

Credits

 Context examples: 

John quietly set apart a little sum, that he might enjoy the pleasure of keeping the invalid supplied with the fruit she loved and longed for.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Other important factors for fish diversity are climate stability and the availability of nutrients from fruits, branches and leaves that fall from nearby trees.

(Amazon fish ‘face new threats’, SciDev.Net)

Not every species of fruiting tree is an attractive meal to all herbivores.

(Thai Elephants Help Spread Jungle Fruit's Seeds, Sadie Witkowski/VOA)

An experiment using the technique of merging two plants, known as grafting, resulted in higher fruit yield during periods of less rain.

(Grafting helps pepper plants deal with drought, SciDev.Net)

This pleased Dorothy, who had eaten nothing but nuts all day, and she made a hearty meal of the ripe fruit.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

In a study of fruit flies, National Institutes of Health scientists suggested that the body’s immune system may play a critical role in the damage caused by aging brain disorders.

(New study implicates hyperactive immune system in aging brain disorders, National Institutes of Health)

Seeds you may have planted at the end of last month will eventually bear great fruit.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

One of a group of substances that are found in several types of fruit and in milk.

(AHA, NCI Dictionary)

Also called AHA and fruit acid.

(Alpha hydroxyl acid, NCI Dictionary)

The last purchase from the fruit store had been a sack of potatoes, and for a week he had potatoes, and nothing but potatoes, three times a day.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)