Dictionary

groundapple en · NOUN

Etymology

From ground + apple. Compare earthapple.

Meanings

1. An apple that has fallen to the ground.
   • It's a change of scenery, at least." He picked up a ground apple. "What else do you have in there?" 2018, Jessica Marting, Haven:
   • It was a chesol deer, tawny as the Plains grasses when they flowered. A number of other wolves – five, six – followed them; these carried groundapples in their mouths. 2017, Gill Alderman, Lilith’s Castle:
2. (rare, regional) An edible root or tuber, particularly, a potato or turnip.
   • "Let's to around back 'til I get them groundapples out of their suits or we'll have to open a can of chowder." 1983, Clarissa M. Silitch, Little Book of Yankee Humor, page 201:
   • So we listened and hoped for some bread, perhaps a ground apple. 2000, L. E. Modesitt, Jr., Timegods' World, page 69:
   • Drayvon raised an eyebrow, then continued peeling the root in his hand. "A body that accidentally slipped down the ravine would be damaged, scraped on all sides like this ground apple." 2015, J. D. Vaughn, The Second Guard:
   • If the child had formerly lived in a country where apples grew, but potatoes did not, the first time he saw a potato he would probably call it a ground-apple. 1900, Edwin Herbert Lewis, A Second Manual of Composition:
   • "Why, it is a ground-apple," and taking it from her he cut off a piece and put it in his mouth. In an instant, he cried: "You vixen! you knew that was Indian turnip - the most infernal thing that ever grew in a civilized country." 1892, Mrs. S. E. Henderson, Jelard, page 252:
   • Seven days later the naked Colter, thin from existing on "groundapple," an edible root, his feet bloody, arrived at the fort 220 miles away. 1961, Lew Larkin, Vanguard of Empire, page 18:

Forms