 2 definitions found
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
pear
noun
1: sweet juicy gritty-textured fruit available in many
varieties
2: Old World tree having sweet gritty-textured juicy fruit;
widely cultivated in many varieties [syn: {pear tree}, {Pyrus
communis}]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Pear \Pear\ (p[^a]r), noun [OE. pere, AS. peru, L. pirum: cf. F.
poire. Cf. {Perry}.] (Bot.)
The fleshy pome, or fruit, of a rosaceous tree ({Pyrus
communis}), cultivated in many varieties in temperate
climates; also, the tree which bears this fruit. See {Pear
family}, below.
{Pear blight}.
(a) (Bot.) A name of two distinct diseases of pear trees,
both causing a destruction of the branches, viz., that
caused by a minute insect ({Xyleborus pyri}), and that
caused by the freezing of the sap in winter. --A. J.
Downing.
(b) (Zo["o]l.) A very small beetle ({Xyleborus pyri}) whose
larv[ae] bore in the twigs of pear trees and cause them
to wither.
{Pear family} (Bot.), a suborder of rosaceous plants
({Pome[ae]}), characterized by the calyx tube becoming
fleshy in fruit, and, combined with the ovaries, forming a
pome. It includes the apple, pear, quince, service berry,
and hawthorn.
{Pear gauge} (Physics), a kind of gauge for measuring the
exhaustion of an air-pump receiver; -- so called because
consisting in part of a pear-shaped glass vessel.
{Pear shell} (Zo["o]l.), any marine gastropod shell of the
genus {Pyrula}, native of tropical seas; -- so called from
the shape.
{Pear slug} (Zo["o]l.), the larva of a sawfly which is very
injurious to the foliage of the pear tree.
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