Adjacent Words

Pear definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PEAR, n. [L. pyrum.] The fruit of the Pyrus communis, of many varieties, some of which are delicious to the taste.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: sweet juicy gritty-textured fruit available in many varieties
2: Old World tree having sweet gritty-textured juicy fruit; widely cultivated in many varieties [syn: pear, pear tree, Pyrus communis]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English pere, from Old English peru, from Vulgar Latin *pira, from Latin, plural of pirum Date: before 12th century 1. a pome fruit of a tree (genus Pyrus, especially P. communis) of the rose family that typically has a pale green or brownish skin, a firm juicy flesh, and an oblong shape in which a broad base end tapers upward to a narrow stem end 2. a tree bearing pears

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a yellowish or brownish-green fleshy fruit, tapering towards the stalk. 2 any of various trees of the genus Pyrus bearing it, esp. P. communis. Phrases and idioms: pear-drop a small sweet with the shape of a pear. Etymology: OE pere, peru ult. f. L pirum

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pear Pear (p[^a]r), n. [OE. pere, AS. peru, L. pirum: cf. F. poire. Cf. Perry.] (Bot.) The fleshy pome, or fruit, of a rosaceous tree (Pyrus communis), cultivated in many varieties in temperate climates; also, the tree which bears this fruit. See Pear family, below. Pear blight. (a) (Bot.) A name of two distinct diseases of pear trees, both causing a destruction of the branches, viz., that caused by a minute insect (Xyleborus pyri), and that caused by the freezing of the sap in winter. --A. J. Downing. (b) (Zo["o]l.) A very small beetle (Xyleborus pyri) whose larv[ae] bore in the twigs of pear trees and cause them to wither. Pear family (Bot.), a suborder of rosaceous plants (Pome[ae]), characterized by the calyx tube becoming fleshy in fruit, and, combined with the ovaries, forming a pome. It includes the apple, pear, quince, service berry, and hawthorn. Pear gauge (Physics), a kind of gauge for measuring the exhaustion of an air-pump receiver; -- so called because consisting in part of a pear-shaped glass vessel. Pear shell (Zo["o]l.), any marine gastropod shell of the genus Pyrula, native of tropical seas; -- so called from the shape. Pear slug (Zo["o]l.), the larva of a sawfly which is very injurious to the foliage of the pear tree.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(pears) A pear is a sweet, juicy fruit which is narrow near its stalk, and wider and rounded at the bottom. Pears have white flesh and thin green or yellow skin. N-COUNT