fig

Pluralfigs

Formsfigs, figging, figged

1. 1
   nouncountable

   The pear-shaped fruit of the fig tree, filled with many small seeds.

   She sliced a ripe fig and served it with goat cheese and honey.

   A bag of dried figs makes a good snack on a long hike.

   Note

   The fruit's name traveled a long road: Latin fīcus, the fig tree, passed through Old Occitan figa and Old French figue into Middle English fige. Latin itself took the word from a language spoken before Indo-European, perhaps Phoenician, where pg meant a ripe fig. Botanists still use the Latin, and the tree belongs to the genus Ficus.

2. 2
   treenouncountable

   A fruit-bearing tree or shrub of the genus Ficus, native mainly to tropical regions.

   A fig grew against the sunny wall of the garden, heavy with fruit by late summer.

   She wrapped the fish in broad fig leaves before grilling it.

3. 3
   diagramnounabbreviation

   Abbreviation of figure, used for a diagram or illustration.

   The results of the second trial are shown in fig. 3.

   As fig. 2 makes clear, the bridge rests on four main supports.

   Note

   Of all the things figure can mean, from a number to a person's shape, the abbreviation keeps only the numbered drawing or chart in a text. It is written with a period and stands right beside its number, as in fig. 3, which is what stops a reader from thinking of the fruit. Captions and cross-references are its whole territory.

4. 4
   least bitnouncountable

   Something worth practically nothing; the least bit, as in not caring a fig about something.

   She didn't care a fig what the neighbors thought of her garden.

   The coach doesn't give a fig for the new rules, and he says so at every meeting.

   Similarhoot, jot, bit

   Note

   Indifference is measured in figs, nearly always in the negative: Thackeray's Vanity Fair has a man who did not care a fig, and David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas (2004) has someone who doesn't like it one fig. The older, defiant form is a fig for, as in Shakespeare's I'll pledge you all; and a fig for Peter!

5. 5
   rude hand signnouncountable

   A gesture made to show contempt, known also as a fico.

   The jester turned and made a fig at the king's guards before running off.

   In the painting, a drunken soldier gives the passing priest a scornful fig.

6. 6
   nouncountable

   The Lady Finger banana, a cultivated variety of Musa acuminata also known as the fig banana.

   The market stall sold hands of figs beside the plantains and the larger bananas.

   He peeled a fig, much shorter than an ordinary banana, and finished it in three bites.

7. 7
   tobacconouncountable

   A small piece or portion of tobacco.

   He traded the stranger a fig of tobacco for a mug of hot tea.

   The old miner cut a fig of tobacco from the block and pressed it into his pipe.

   Similarplug

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