Dictionary entry

Peach (3)

Webster's Dictionary 1913

Peach (pēch), n. [OE. peche, peshe, OF. pesche, F. pêche, fr. LL. persia, L. Persicum (sc. malum) a Persian apple, a peach. Cf. Persian, and Parsee.] (Bot.) A well-known high-flavored juicy fruit, containing one or two seeds in a hard almond-like endocarp or stone; also, the tree which bears it (Prunus, orAmygdalus Persica). In the wild stock the fruit is hard and inedible.

Guinea, orSierra Leone, peach, the large edible berry of the Sarcocephalus esculentus, a rubiaceous climbing shrub of west tropical Africa. — Palm peach, the fruit of a Venezuelan palm tree (Bactris speciosa). — Peach color, the pale red color of the peach blossom. — Peach-tree borer(Zoöl.), the larva of a clearwing moth (Ægeria, orSannina, 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.