English

Adjective

ripe ‎(comparative riper, superlative ripest)

1. Ready for reaping or gathering; having attained perfection; mature; -- said of fruits, seeds, etc.; as, ripe grain.
   • Milton

     So mayst thou live, till, like ripe fruit, thou drop / Into thy mother's lap.

   • 2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:

     Plant breeding is always a numbers game. […] The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, […]. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better. These rarities may be new mutations, or they can be existing ones that are neutral—or are even selected against—in a wild population. A good example is mutations that disrupt seed dispersal, leaving the seeds on the heads long after they are ripe.

2. Advanced to the state of fitness for use; mellow; as, ripe cheese; ripe wine.
3. (figuratively) Having attained its full development; mature; perfected; consummate.
   • Shakespeare

     He was a scholar, and a ripe and good one.

4. (archaic) Maturated or suppurated; ready to discharge; -- said of sores, tumors, etc.
5. Ready for action or effect; prepared.
   • Addison

     while things were just ripe for a war

   • Burke

     I am not ripe to pass sentence on the gravest public bodies.

   • 1910, Theodore C. Williams, The Aeneid, translation of Aeneis by Virgil, Book IV Chapter 28:

     nor was the doom / of guilty deed, but of a hapless wight / to sudden madness stung, ere ripe to die, / therefore the Queen of Hades had not shorn / the fair tress from her forehead, nor assigned / that soul to Stygian dark.

6. Like ripened fruit in ruddiness and plumpness.
   • Shakespeare

     Those happy smilets, / That played on her ripe lip.

   • 1981, Daniel Curzon, Human Warmth & Other Stories, ISBN 0912516542, page 18:

     He looked back once at the waving hands, the mother's glowing, ripe cheeks.

7. (obsolete) Intoxicated.
   • 1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act V, Scene 1,

     Alonso: And Trinculo is reeling-ripe: where should they / Find this grand liquor that hath gilded them? / How cam'st thou in this pickle?

8. (law) Of a conflict between parties, having developed to a stage where the conflict may be reviewed by a court of law.
   • 2004, Kenneth F. Warren, Administrative Law in the Political System, ISBN 0813341167, page 427:

     Problems emerge in judging whether a case is ripe, however, when contested general agency directives are issued that are not aimed at specific parties.

9. Smelly: having a disagreeable odor.
   • 2004, Colum McCann, Fishing the Sloe-Black River, ISBN 0312423381, page 141:

     Dolores, giving her a bath yesterday, said she was a bit ripe under the armpits.

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:malodorous

Antonyms

• unripe

Derived terms

• ripeness

Related terms

• ripen

Translations

Noun

ripe ‎(plural ripes)

1. (agriculture) A fruit or vegetable which has ripened.
   • 1993, Paul J. Dosal, Doing Business with the Dictators, ISBN 0842024395, page 76:

     When he realized that the ripes would not make it back to Selma, Zemurray offered a free bunch of bananas to any telegraph operator who notified local grocers that he was coming through with a shipment of bananas.

Translations

Verb

ripe ‎(third-person singular simple present ripes, present participle riping, simple past and past participle riped)

1. To ripen or mature
   • 1594, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act II Scene VIII,

     ALONSO: […] Slubber not business for my sake, Bassanio, / But stay the very riping of the time; […]

Translations

Etymology 2

Latin ripa.

Noun

ripe ‎(plural ripes)

1. The bank of a river.

Anagrams

• peri, pier

Finnish

Noun

ripe

1. the leftovers, remains

Declension

Usage notes

The word is seldom used in singular.

French

Verb

ripe

1. first-person singular present indicative of riper
2. third-person singular present indicative of riper
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of riper
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of riper
5. second-person singular imperative of riper

Anagrams

• péri, pire, prie, prié

Italian

Noun

ripe f

1. plural of ripa

Anagrams

• peri, perì

Portuguese

Verb

ripe

1. first-person singular present subjunctive of ripar
2. third-person singular present subjunctive of ripar
3. first-person singular imperative of ripar
4. third-person singular imperative of ripar