Definition of medlar Medlar

/mɛˈdlɚ/ - [medler] - med•lar

We found 10 definitions of medlar from 6 different sources.

What does medlar mean?

Noun Plural: medlars
medlar - small deciduous Eurasian tree cultivated for its fruit that resemble crab apples
		medlar tree, Mespilus germanica
		fruit tree tree bearing edible fruit
		genus mespilus, mespilus medlars
medlar - crabapple-like fruit used for preserves
		edible fruit edible reproductive body of a seed plant especially one having sweet flesh
medlar - a South African globular fruit with brown leathery skin and pithy flesh having a sweet-acid taste
		edible fruit edible reproductive body of a seed plant especially one having sweet flesh
medlar - small deciduous tree of southern Africa having edible fruit
		wild medlar, wild medlar tree, Vangueria infausta
		tree English actor and theatrical producer noted for his lavish productions of Shakespeare (1853-1917)
		genus vangueria, vangueria tropical African and Asiatic trees and shrubs having one-seeded fruit

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medlar (Noun)
A tree of the genus.
medlar (Noun)
The fruit of the tree. The fruit is something like a small apple, and it is not eaten until it has begun to decay, or more properly, to blet.

medlar (n.)
A tree of the genus Mespilus (M. Germanica); also, the fruit of the tree. The fruit is something like a small apple, but has a bony endocarp. When first gathered the flesh is hard and austere, and it is not eaten until it has begun to decay.

medlar
A fruit, vulgarly called an open a-se; of which it is more truly than delicately said, that it is never ripe till it is as rotten as a t--d, and then it is not worth a f--t.

The medlar is a tree and the name of the fruit of this tree. Its Latin name is "Mespilus germanicus", or "German medlar", but it is not from Germany. It grows in the Near East and South-Eastern Europe, and the Romans took it to Germany. Near the Caspian Sea, people grew the medlar about three thousand years ago. It came to Greece in about 700 BC and to Rome in about 200 BC. It was an important fruit plant in Roman and medieval times. But by 1600-1700, people started eating other fruits and not the medlar. Today people do not grow it very often.

The medlar needs warm summers and mild (not too cold) winters and likes to grow in sunny, dry places. In the best places, the plant can grow up to eight metres tall. The medlar is "deciduous": it is not green all year. Usually, it is shorter than a tree. It lives thirty to fifty years, quite a short time. Medlar leaves are dark green, maximum fifteen centimetres long and three centimetres wide. The plant has flowers in May and June. The flowers are white. The red-brown medlar fruits are similar to apples and grow to two to three centimetres. They are very hard and acidic, and we can only eat them after the cold weather makes them soft.