Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A small Chinese tree (Prunus persica) in the rose family, widely cultivated throughout temperate regions, having pink flowers and edible fruit.
  • noun The soft juicy fruit of this tree, having yellow or white flesh, downy reddish-yellow skin, and a deeply ridged stone containing a single seed.
  • noun A light moderate to strong yellowish pink to light orange.
  • noun Informal A particularly admirable or pleasing person or thing.
  • intransitive verb To inform on someone; turn informer.
  • intransitive verb To inform against.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A stove.
  • noun The fleshy drupaceous fruit of the tree Prunus Persica.
  • noun A garden and orchard tree, Prunus (Amygdalus) Persica.
  • To impeach; also, to inform against, as an accomplice.
  • To betray one's accomplices; turn informer.
  • noun In mining, any greenish-colored soft or decomposed rock, usually chloritic schist.
  • noun A person or thing of a very high order; one who or that which is very nice.
  • noun In Sierra Leone, the Guinea peach, Sarcocephalus sambucinus. See Sarcocephalus.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb Obs. or Colloq. To turn informer; to betray one's accomplice.
  • noun (Bot.) A well-known high-flavored juicy fruit, containing one or two seeds in a hard almond-like endocarp or stone. In the wild stock the fruit is hard and inedible.
  • noun The tree (Prunus Persica syn. Amygdalus Persica) which bears the peach fruit.
  • noun The pale red color of the peach blossom, or the light pinkish yellow of the peach fruit.
  • noun the large edible berry of the Sarcocephalus esculentus, a rubiaceous climbing shrub of west tropical Africa.
  • noun the fruit of a Venezuelan palm tree (Bactris speciosa).
  • noun the pale red color of the peach blossom.
  • noun (Zoöl.) the larva of a clearwing moth (Ægeria exitiosa, or Sannina, exitiosa) of the family Ægeriidæ, which is very destructive to peach trees by boring in the wood, usually near the ground; also, the moth itself. See Illust. under Borer.
  • transitive verb obsolete To accuse of crime; to inform against.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb intransitive, obsolete To inform on someone; turn informer.
  • verb transitive, obsolete To inform against.
  • noun A tree (Prunus persica), native to China and now widely cultivated throughout temperate regions, having pink flowers and edible fruit.
  • noun ​ The soft juicy stone fruit of the peach tree, having yellow flesh, downy, red-tinted yellow skin, and a deeply sculptured pit or stone containing a single seed.
  • noun A light moderate to strong yellowish pink to light orange color.
  • noun informal A particularly admirable or pleasing person or thing.
  • noun The large, edible berry of the Sarcocephalus esculentus, a rubiaceous climbing shrub of west tropical Africa.
  • adjective colour Of the color peach.
  • adjective Particularly pleasing or agreeable.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb divulge confidential information or secrets
  • noun downy juicy fruit with sweet yellowish or whitish flesh
  • noun a shade of pink tinged with yellow
  • noun cultivated in temperate regions
  • noun a very attractive or seductive looking woman

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English peche, from Old French, a peach, from Latin persica, peach tree, from Greek persikē, from feminine of Persikos, Persian; see perse.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English pechen, from apechen, to accuse (probably from Anglo-Norman *anpecher, from Late Latin impedicāre, to entangle; see impeach) and from empechen, to accuse; see impeach.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English pechen, from apechen ("to accuse") and empechen ("to accuse"), possibly from Anglo-Norman anpecher, from Late Latin impedicō ("entangle"). See impeach.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English peche, from Old French pesche (French: pêche) from Medieval Latin pesca, from Vulgar Latin pessica from Classical Latin persica, from malum persicum ("Persian apple"), from Ancient Greek μῆλον περσικόν. See Perse.

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Examples

  • When a peach is at its most sublime, it needs a plate to catch the juice, though I often forget.

    Tender delights Nigel Slater 2010

  • To me the peach is the queen, the Koh-i-noor, the Cotopaxi, the Angkor Wat, the Bach unaccompanied cello suites of fruit.

    The Peach 2009

  • To me the peach is the queen, the Koh-i-noor, the Cotopaxi, the Angkor Wat, the Bach unaccompanied cello suites of fruit.

    Archive 2009-08-01 2009

  • I just had a fresh peach for the first time last summer and holy god, the peach is an earthly delight.

    dear clusterflock | clusterflock 2009

  • The delicious and versatile peach is a natural for preserves and baked goods, and they are available in abundance to be sampled at this fair.

    Calendar of Mexican food festivals 2010

  • The delicious and versatile peach is a natural for preserves and baked goods, and they are available in abundance to be sampled at this fair.

    Calendar of Mexican food festivals 2010

  • The delicious and versatile peach is a natural for preserves and baked goods, and they are available in abundance to be sampled at this fair.

    Calendar of Mexican food festivals 2010

  • I love making homemade ice cream - peach is great!

    Fresh Peach Ice Cream 2008

  • A figure in peach chiffon moves in front of the band, her black hair pomaded and held with rhinestone combs in an up-do, red painted lips taking up space in a broad, coffee-colored face.

    Junction « A Fly in Amber 2008

  • The peach is a little overwhelming actually, with only a little berry scent beneath that is barely recognizable as raspberry.

    LENNDEVOURS: 2007

Comments

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  • "Peach" is a good word as a fruit, but I like it far better as a verb meaning "to squeal."

    "Ikey has peached, and the game is up."

    Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone"

    December 29, 2006

  • "Gardeners often fight shy of growing peaches, probably because they have seen the infinite patience and care expended on them under glass, with rabbit's tail and knife, pollinating and deshooting, to tying in and cutting out. "Grow Your Own Peaches", by one Jeffrey M. Boatfield, Kent, in The Countryman, August 1955, p.132.

    November 6, 2009

  • Today I heard a neat play in an exchange on Desert Island Discs (BBC Radio 4) between Sir David Attenborough and Miss Kirsty Young. KY suggested that DA was unimpeachable: DA countered by saying that he was very peachable if you knew how. Both individuals are peaches, of course.

    February 3, 2012