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pearmain

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Pearmain

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
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Etymology

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From Anglo-Norman parmain, peremain et al., Middle French parmain, permain (type of pear or apple), of uncertain origin.

Pronunciation

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  • (UK) IPA(key): /ˈpɛːmeɪn/, /ˈpəːmaɪn/, /pəˈmeɪn/

Noun

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pearmain (plural pearmains)

  1. (obsolete) A type of pear.
  2. Any of various types of apple, having an elongated shape and often with streaky skin.
    • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: [], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: [] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC:
      , II.ii.1.1:
      Sweet fruits are best, as sweet cherries, plums, sweet apples, pearmains, and pippins, which Laurentius extols as having a peculiar property against this disease […].
    • 1826 June 30, Thomas Greene Fessenden (editor), The New England Farmer, Volume 4 [July 1825—July 1826], page 385,
      If it were not so, why, for instance, has not the pearmain — a better apple than the Baldwin or any other Massachusetts winter apple now known to me — been propagated as extensively, and brought in plenty to our markets?
    • 1833, John Claudius Loudon, editor, Art. VII: London Horticutural Society and Garden: Gardener's Magazine and Register of Rural and Domestic Improvement, volume IX, page 727:
      Apples: Drap d'or, Barcelona pearmain; [] .

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Anagrams

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