love apple
1
9.9
- noun
- /ˈlʌv ˈæpəl/
- Archaic
:
tomate
- Have you ever tried a love apple?
Examples
-
In Victorian times, the love apple was thought to have aphrodisiac properties.
-
In the past, explorers brought the love apple from South America to Europe.
-
She prefers adding a chopped love apple to her salads for a touch of old-world flavor.
-
I enjoy eating a love apple in my salad.
-
In France, we call tomatoes love apples.
-
Even in winter, you can find good cherry tomatoes—once known as love apples.
-
Whether or not the love apple has aphrodisiac properties is open to conjecture.
Synonyms
428
1.0
A juicy round fruit usually red, sometimes yellow, eaten raw or cooked
Surface Forms
Morphology
love + apple
The compound 'love apple' refers historically to a tomato, a specific fruit that a learner cannot reliably infer from the literal words 'love' and 'apple'. This is an archaic/literary name (a lexicalized, partly loaned idiomatic label) rather than a compositional description, so knowing the constituents would not lead a B1 learner to the modern meaning.
Etymology
The noun love apple may come from the old French phrase 'pomme d'amour', meaning 'apple of love', because early Europeans thought the bright red fruit made people feel romantic. They also compared new fruits to familiar 'apples', so the name love apple stuck and today it means 'tomato'.