love-apple

A gardener picks a ripe love-apple from the vine.

Definition

1. Noun (archaic):
   • The tomato: "love-apple" is an old English term for the tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), originally derived from the French pomme d'amour (love apple), due to a mistaken belief that the fruit was an aphrodisiac.

Usage Examples

• (The tomato was thought to be dangerous.)
• (The gardener cultivated different types of tomatoes.)

Advanced Usage

• Historical context: The term "love-apple" was used in English from the 16th to the 19th centuries, before "tomato" became the standard name.
  • The love-apple was introduced to Europe from the Americas. (The tomato was brought to Europe from the New World.)

Variants and Related Words

• Love-apple (n): a direct synonym for "tomato" in historical texts.
• Pomme d'amour (French phrase): the original source of the English term.

Synonyms

• Tomato: the modern standard term for the fruit.
• Wolf peach (archaic): another historical name for the tomato.

Related Idioms

• No idioms: "love-apple" is not used in modern idioms, as it is an archaic term.