apple blight

6.3

A disease that makes apple tree leaves and fruit rot and can kill trees

noun
/ˈæpəl blaɪt/

Specialized

: muerte de manzano

The gardener noticed signs of apple blight on several trees in the orchard, with dark spots appearing on the leaves.

And so if you have something like, I mean this, for instance, so we have some, we have some, some apple blight here on one of our apple trees.

Examples

To prevent apple blight, farmers often spray their apple trees with fungicides during the growing season.
And so if you have something like, I mean this, for instance, so we have some, we have some, some apple blight here on one of our apple trees.

MIgardener
After a harsh winter, the old apple tree succumbed to apple blight and stopped producing fruit.

Synonyms

blight

vsapple blight

Specialized

7 7.3

A plant disease that makes leaves and stems die without rotting

affects only certain fruit trees rather than plants in general

Surface Forms

apple blight singular

apple blights plural

Morphology

apple + blight

The meaning 'a disease affecting apple trees' is directly and compositionally derived from combining 'apple' (the fruit/tree) with 'blight' (a plant disease). This noun–noun compounding pattern transparently denotes the blight that affects apples, a predictable construction that a B1 learner who knows both words would infer.

Etymology

Apple blight is a simple farming name: imagine an apple farm where a plant 'disease' makes leaves and fruit turn brown and rot, so the apple trees look ruined by blight. That's why apple blight means a disease that damages apple trees.