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Webster 1913 Edition


Pear

Pear

(pâr)
,
Noun.
[OE.
pere
, AS.
peru
, L.
pirum
: cf. F.
poire
. Cf.
Perry
.]
(Bot.)
The fleshy pome, or fruit, of a rosaceous tree (
Pyrus communis
), cultivated in many varieties in temperate climates; also, the tree which bears this fruit. See
Pear family
, below.
Pear blight
.
(a)
(Bot.)
A name of two distinct diseases of pear trees, both causing a destruction of the branches, viz., that caused by a minute insect (
Xyleborus pyri
), and that caused by the freezing of the sap in winter.
A. J. Downing.
(b)
(Zool.)
A very small beetle (
Xyleborus pyri
) whose larvæ bore in the twigs of pear trees and cause them to wither.
Pear family
(Bot.)
,
a suborder of rosaceous plants (
Pomeæ
), characterized by the calyx tube becoming fleshy in fruit, and, combined with the ovaries, forming a pome. It includes the apple, pear, quince, service berry, and hawthorn.
Pear gauge
(Physics)
,
a kind of gauge for measuring the exhaustion of an air-pump receiver; – so called because consisting in part of a pear-shaped glass vessel.
Pear shell
(Zool.)
,
any marine gastropod shell of the genus
Pyrula
, native of tropical seas; – so called from the shape.
Pear slug
(Zool.)
,
the larva of a sawfly which is very injurious to the foliage of the pear tree.

Webster 1828 Edition


Pear

PEAR

,
Noun.
[L. pyrum.] The fruit of the Pyrus communis, of many varieties, some of which are delicious to the taste.