cultivated crab apple
- noun
- Specialized
:
manzano silvestre cultivado
- The cultivated crab apple is prized both for its vibrant spring blossoms and for its fruit, which is perfect for making jelly.
Examples
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She harvested a basket of cultivated crab apples to make a batch of homemade preserves.
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Many gardeners plant cultivated crab apples to add color and interest to their landscapes.
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The cultivated crab apple tree blooms beautifully in spring.
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I planted a cultivated crab apple in my backyard.
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Many gardeners plant cultivated crab apples to add color and interest to their landscapes.
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She harvested a basket of cultivated crab apples to make a batch of homemade preserves.
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The cultivated crab apple is prized for its beautiful blossoms and small, tart fruit.
Synonyms
1
4.5
A small sour apple or the tree that grows it often used to make jam
1
6.3
A small sour apple often used to make jelly or jam
Surface Forms
Morphology
cultivated + crab + apple
The adjective 'cultivated' and the noun 'apple' are transparent: a B1 learner will understand this refers to an apple that is grown or tended. However, 'crab apple' is a conventional compound whose specific sense (a small, tart or wild apple used for preserves or ornament) is not predictable from the constituent 'crab' (commonly known as the animal) without prior exposure, so the full meaning is only partially inferable.
Etymology
Cultivated crab apple comes from two simple images: cultivated means 'grown and cared for', and crab apple is a small, tart apple, so the phrase names a crab apple tree people plant for its fruit or pretty flowers.