Dictionary

pear-shaped en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Meanings

1. Having a shape of a (typical western) pear, or in cross-section, like the cross-section of a pear.
   • Single egg laid directly on ledge, pear-shaped to prevent rolling off[.] 2009, Lars Svensson, Collins Bird Guide, page 210:
2. Having a shape of a (typical western) pear, or in cross-section, like the cross-section of a pear. ▸ Having gynoid fat distribution, not android fat distribution.
   • Even at BMIs above 30, where obesity begins, men and women whose waist-to-hip ratio identified them as more pear-shaped were less likely to die -- of any cause and of cardiovascular causes -- than those with similar BMIs who were apple-shaped. 2015 September 11, Melissa Healy, “Pear-shaped vs. apple trumps body mass index as a measure of risk”, in Los Angeles Times, archived from the original on 11 Nov 2015:
   • pear-shaped obesity
   • Just as one should take sitting-up exercises every day to keep one's figure from going pear-shaped in the hips, one should spend at least a little time, even if it is only very little, sloughing off mental flabbiness by thinking, studying or just reading something that requires an exercising effort of the mind to understand, memorise or digest. 1936 March 21, Glen Innes Examiner, NSW, page 7, column 3:
3. Of a vocal or musical tone, mellow, rich, sonorous
4. (Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, slang) Usually in the phrase go pear-shaped: wrong, awry.

Forms

Coordinates

apple-shaped · android

Deriveds

go pear-shaped · turn pear-shaped · play it pear-shaped

Synonyms

lecythiform · lecythiform · pyriform · piriform · pyriform · gynoid · piriform

Translations (18)

ru грушеобра́зный (having the shape of a pear) · fr en forme de poire (having the shape of a pear) · fr piriforme (having the shape of a pear) · nb pæreformet (having the shape of a pear) · bg крушовиден (having the shape of a pear) · el αχλαδόσχημος (having the shape of a pear) · ru грушеви́дный (having the shape of a pear) · uk грушоподі́бний (having the shape of a pear) · hu körte alakú (having the shape of a pear) · pl gruszkowaty (having the shape of a pear) · mk крушест (having the shape of a pear) · sv päronformad (having the shape of a pear) · nl peervormig (having the shape of a pear) · es piriforme (having the shape of a pear) · es en forma de pera (having the shape of a pear) · be грушападо́бны (having the shape of a pear) · it a forma di pera (having the shape of a pear) · de birnenförmig (having the shape of a pear)