What does "greengage" mean?
A plum cultivar with greenish-yellow flesh and skin, Prunus domestica subsp. italica var. claudiana.
Greengage
/ˈɡɹiːnɡeɪd͡ʒ/ noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A plum cultivar with greenish-yellow flesh and skin, Prunus domestica subsp. italica var. claudiana.
- Grammar: greengage is listed as noun.
- Nearest alternatives: greengage plum, green plum, green yellow shade, greengage color.
- Useful contrasts: non greengage, purple, red.
- Usage evidence: The apricot rarely produces any fruit, except in a few places, and then very scantily. The greengage plum is nearly equally unproductive.
How to use "greengage"
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Meaning check
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Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "greengage" in a final draft.
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Before you rely on this definition
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Compare nearby meanings
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Definition decision workflow
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Check whether "greengage" is acting as noun in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
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Final meaning check
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Definitions
Noun
- 1 A plum cultivar with greenish-yellow flesh and skin, Prunus domestica subsp. italica var. claudiana.
"The apricot rarely produces any fruit, except in a few places, and then very scantily. The greengage plum is nearly equally unproductive."
- 2 sweet green or greenish-yellow variety of plum wordnet
Synonyms
All synonyms greengage plumgreen plumgreen yellow shadegreengage colorgreenish yellowplum cultivar
Example
"The apricot rarely produces any fruit, except in a few places, and then very scantily. The greengage plum is nearly equally unproductive."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "greengage"?
Common synonyms include: greengage plum, green plum, green yellow shade, greengage color, greenish yellow, plum cultivar.
How do you use "greengage" in a sentence?
The apricot rarely produces any fruit, except in a few places, and then very scantily. The greengage plum is nearly equally unproductive.
How do you pronounce "greengage"?
Pronounced /ˈɡɹiːnɡeɪd͡ʒ/.
Etymology
By surface analysis, green + gage. See alternative etymology below, as this is incorrect: the etymology for gage is a back-formation from greengage. alternative etymology The legend goes that Sir William Gage, 2nd Baronet of Hengrave, (c. 1656–1727), had a shipment of plums from France, in which the labels of the reine-claude got lost, by which reason his gardener called it after his master. Horticulturist Peter Collinson reports in his notes edited by L. W. Dillwyn in 1843, page 60: I was on a visit to Sir William Gage, at Hengrave, near Bury; he was then near 70; he told me that he first brought over, from France, the Grosse reine Claude, and introduced it into England, and in compliment to him the Plum was called the Green Gage; this was about the year 1725. Contrary to the common story however here the French name is known to the baronet, and it could consequentially completely be a running joke, in that he exploited a coincidental likeness of his name to a plant name to become part of history. An older term denoting the very same plum cultivar, which ultimately derives from the Near East, via the Sublime Porte under Kanuni Süleyman, is found in Persian گوجه سبز (gowje sabz)