# pear

Pronunciation: say "PAIR" US /pɛɚ/, UK /pɛə/, AUS /peː/

## Noun

1. The edible fruit of the pear tree, resembling an apple but usually narrowing toward the stem end.
   - Simple: A sweet, juicy fruit that is round at the bottom and narrower near the stem.
   - _He sliced a ripe pear over the salad._
   - _Local orchards harvest pears in late September._
2. A tree of the genus Pyrus in the rose family, grown for its edible fruit or for its flowers.
   - Simple: A tree that grows pears and has white flowers in spring.
   - _The old pear at the edge of the orchard is the tallest tree on the property._
   - _A late frost damaged several pears just as their blossoms were opening._
3. The wood of the pear tree, also known as pearwood or pear wood.
   - Simple: The wood that comes from a pear tree, used as a material for making things.
   - _The recorder's body is turned from pear, which gives the instrument a warm, mellow tone._
   - _Cabinetmakers sometimes stain pear black to imitate ebony._
4. The avocado; a green-skinned fruit also known as the alligator pear. *(Jamaica)*
   - Simple: An avocado, a fruit with dark green skin and soft, creamy green flesh.
   - _He cut a pear in half, removed the big round seed, and scooped out the green flesh._
   - _With pears in season, the cook serves every plate of callaloo and fried dumplings with a slice of buttery green pear._
5. A desaturated chartreuse yellow, like the color of a ripe pear.
   - Simple: A soft yellow-green color, like the skin of a ripe pear.
   - _The designer chose pear for the accent wall, a muted shade between yellow and green._
   - _Her scarf was a soft pear that looked almost gold in the lamplight._
6. A pear-shaped metal device whose segments spread apart when a screw is turned, said to have been used as a gag or for torture; a choke pear.
   - Simple: A metal tool shaped like a pear that opens up, said to have been used long ago to hurt or silence people.
   - _The museum label calls the iron pear a torture device, though historians doubt it was ever used that way._
   - _Among the museum's grimmer displays was a pear with hinged segments that spread when its screw was turned._

## Other meanings

- (noun) A gem, most often a diamond, given a teardrop cut with one rounded end and one pointed end.

## Origin

Pear comes from Middle English "pere" and Old English "pere," going back through Proto-West Germanic *peru to Vulgar Latin "pira": originally the plural of Latin "pirum" but later treated as a feminine singular. The word was probably ultimately a loanword from an unknown Mediterranean substrate source, and it is related to Dutch "peer," German "Birne," and French "poire."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/pear (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).