1. [n]  fruit with red or yellow or green skin and sweet to tart crisp whitish flesh
2. [n]  native Eurasian tree widely cultivated in many varieties for its firm rounded edible fruits

Apple
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1. \Ap"ple\ ([a^]p"p'l), n. [OE. appel, eppel, AS. [ae]ppel,
   [ae]pl; akin to Fries. & D. appel, OHG, aphul, aphol, G.
   apfel, Icel. epli, Sw. ["a]ple, Dan. [ae]ble, Gael. ubhall,
   W. afal, Arm. aval, Lith. ob[*u]lys, Russ. iabloko; of
   unknown origin.]
   1. The fleshy pome or fruit of a rosaceous tree ({Pyrus
      malus}) cultivated in numberless varieties in the
      temperate zones.
   Note: The European crab apple is supposed to be the original
         kind, from which all others have sprung.
   2. (bot.) Any tree genus {Pyrus} which has the stalk sunken
      into the base of the fruit; an apple tree.
   3. Any fruit or other vegetable production resembling, or
      supposed to resemble, the apple; as, apple of love, or
      love apple (a tomato), balsam apple, egg apple, oak apple.
   4. Anything round like an apple; as, an apple of gold.
   Note: Apple is used either adjectively or in combination; as,
         apple paper or apple-paper, apple-shaped, apple
         blossom, apple dumpling, apple pudding.
   {Apple blight}, an aphid which injures apple trees. See
      {Blight}, n.
   {Apple borer} (Zo["o]l.), a coleopterous insect ({Saperda
      candida or bivittata}), the larva of which bores into the
      trunk of the apple tree and pear tree.
   {Apple brandy}, brandy made from apples.
   {Apple butter}, a sauce made of apples stewed down in cider.
      --Bartlett.
   {Apple corer}, an instrument for removing the cores from
      apples.
   {Apple fly} (Zo["o]l.), any dipterous insect, the larva of
      which burrows in apples. Apple flies belong to the genera
      {Drosophila} and {Trypeta}.
   {Apple midge} (Zo["o]l.) a small dipterous insect ({Sciara
      mali}), the larva of which bores in apples.
   {Apple of the eye}, the pupil.
   {Apple of discord}, a subject of contention and envy, so
      called from the mythological golden apple, inscribed ``For
      the fairest,'' which was thrown into an assembly of the
      gods by Eris, the goddess of discord. It was contended for
      by Juno, Minerva, and Venus, and was adjudged to the
      latter.
   {Apple of love}, or {Love apple}, the tomato ({Lycopersicum
      esculentum}).
   {Apple of Peru}, a large coarse herb ({Nicandra physaloides})
      bearing pale blue flowers, and a bladderlike fruit
      inclosing a dry berry.
   {Apples of Sodom}, a fruit described by ancient writers as
      externally of fair appearance but dissolving into smoke
      and ashes when plucked; Dead Sea apples. The name is often
      given to the fruit of {Solanum Sodom[ae]um}, a prickly
      shrub with fruit not unlike a small yellow tomato.
   {Apple sauce}, stewed apples. [U. S.]
   {Apple snail} or {Apple shell} (Zo["o]l.), a fresh-water,
      operculated, spiral shell of the genus {Ampullaria}.
   {Apple tart}, a tart containing apples.
   {Apple tree}, a tree which naturally bears apples. See
      {Apple, 2.}
   {Apple wine}, cider.
   {Apple worm} (Zo["o]l.), the larva of a small moth
      ({Carpocapsa pomonella}) which burrows in the interior of
      apples. See {Codling moth}.
   {Dead Sea Apple}.
      (a) pl. Apples of Sodom. Also Fig. ``To seek the Dead Sea
          apples of politics.'' --S. B. Griffin.
      (b) A kind of gallnut coming from Arabia. See {Gallnut}.
   

2. \Ap"ple\ ([a^]p"p'l), v. i.
   To grow like an apple; to bear apples. --Holland.
   

A revision of APL for the Illiac IV.

(Heb. tappuah, meaning "fragrance"). Probably the apricot or quince is intended by the word, as Palestine was too hot for the growth of apples proper. It is enumerated among the most valuable trees of Palestine (Joel 1:12), and frequently referred to in Canticles, and noted for its beauty (2:3, 5; 8:5). There is nothing to show that it was the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Dr. Tristram has suggested that the apricot has better claims than any other fruit-tree to be the apple of Scripture. It grows to a height of 30 feet, has a roundish mass of glossy leaves, and bears an orange coloured fruit that gives out a delicious perfume. The "apple of the eye" is the Heb. _ishon_, meaning manikin, i.e., the pupil of the eye (Prov. 7:2). (Comp. the promise, Zech. 2:8; the prayer, Ps. 17:8; and its fulfilment, Deut. 32:10.)

The so-called "apple of Sodom" some have supposed to be the Solanum sanctum (Heb. hedek), rendered "brier" (q.v.) in Micah 7:4, a thorny plant bearing fruit like the potato-apple. This shrub abounds in the Jordan valley. (See ENGEDI.)