fruit Definition

fruit
noun

1. The fully ripened ovary of a flowering plant, containing one or more seeds that have developed from fertilized ovules, and sometimes including associated structures such as the receptacle.
2. An edible part of a plant that is generally sweet and juicy, especially the ovary containing one or more seeds, but sometimes extended to include other parts, eg the leaf stalk in rhubarb. See also berry, soft fruit.

Thesaurus: berry, vegetable, grain, nut, root, tuber.
3. Plant products generally.

Example: the fruits of the land
Thesaurus: crop, harvest, produce, product, yield.
4. Whatever is gained as a result of hard work, etc.

Example: the fruit of his labour
Thesaurus: result, outcome, consequences, aftermath, effect, profits, pay, benefit, return, yield, harvest.
Form: fruits (also)
5. colloq
A gay man.
6. old use, colloq
A person.
Example: old fruit
7. rare
Offspring; young.
Example: the fruit of her womb

verb

intr
fruited, fruiting
1. To produce fruit.

Idiom: bear fruit

To produce fruit.

To produce good results.

Idiom: in fruit

Said of a tree: bearing fruit.

Etymology: 12c: from French fruict, from Latin fructus fruit, enjoyment.