fruit

  • noun 1 the sweet and fleshy product of a tree or other plant that contains seed and can be eaten as food. 2 Botany the seed-bearing structure of a plant, e.g. an acorn. 3 the result or reward of work or activity. 4 informal, derogatory, chiefly N. Amer. a male homosexual.

  • verb produce fruit.

  — PHRASES bear fruit have good results.

  — ORIGIN Latin fructus ‘enjoyment of produce, harvest’, from frui ‘enjoy’.

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