¹peach

noun \ˈpēch\

: a round, sweet fruit that has white or yellow flesh, soft yellow or pink skin, and a large, hard seed at the center

: a yellowish-pink color

: a person or thing that is liked or admired very much

Full Definition of PEACH

a : a low spreading freely branching Chinese tree (Prunus persica) of the rose family that has lanceolate leaves and sessile usually pink flowers and is widely cultivated in temperate areas for its edible fruit which is a single-seeded drupe with a hard central stone, a pulpy white or yellow flesh, and a thin fuzzy skin

b : the edible fruit of the peach

: a moderate yellowish pink

: one resembling a peach (as in sweetness, beauty, or excellence)

See peach defined for English-language learners

See peach defined for kids

Origin of PEACH

Middle English peche, from Anglo-French pesche, peche (the fruit), from Late Latin persica, from Latin (malum) persicum, literally, Persian fruit

First Known Use: 14th century

Related to PEACH

Synonyms: beaut, beauty, bee's knees, cat's meow, corker, crackerjack (also crackajack), daisy, dandy, dilly, doozy (or doozie also doozer), dream, honey, hot stuff, humdinger, hummer, knockout, lollapalooza, lulu [slang], nifty, jim–dandy, pip, pippin, ripper, ripsnorter, snorter, sockdolager (or sockdologer), standout, sweetheart

Rhymes with PEACH

beach, beech, bleach, breach, breech, each, leach, leech, pleach, preach, reach, screech, speech, teach

²peach

verb

Definition of PEACH

transitive verb

: to inform against : betray

intransitive verb

: to turn informer : blab

Origin of PEACH

Middle English pechen, short for apechen to accuse, from Anglo-French apecher, empecher to ensnare — more at impeach

First Known Use: 1560

PEACH Defined for Kids

peach

noun \ˈpēch\

Definition of PEACH for Kids

: a fruit that is related to the plum and has a sweet juicy yellow or whitish pulp, hairy skin, and a large rough pit

: a pale yellowish pink color

Word History of PEACH

When the peach, which is native to China, was introduced to the Roman Empire, it was known in Greek as mēlon Persikon and in Latin as malum Persicum. Both names literally meant “Persian apple.” (Persia is a traditional name for the Asian country now known as “Iran.”) The fruit may not have reached the Mediterranean region directly from Persia, and “Persian” in the name may just mean that people felt it came from somewhere in the east. Latin malum Persicum was shortened to persicum, which later became persica. Latin persica developed into pesche in Old French, and this word became the source of English peach.