Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A variety of peach tree having small aromatic fruit with smooth reddish skin.
  • noun The soft juicy fruit of this tree.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Sweet or delicious as nectar.
  • noun A variety of the common peach, from which its fruit differs only in having a rind devoid of down and a firmer pulp. Both fruits are sometimes found growing on the same tree. See peach.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective rare Nectareous.
  • noun (Bot.) A smooth-skinned variety of peach.
  • noun the plumlike fruit of the West Indian tree Chrysobalanus Icaco; -- also called cocoa plum. It is made into a sweet conserve which is largely exported from Cuba.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A cultivar of the peach distinguished by the absence of peachfuzz on the skin.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun variety or mutation of the peach bearing fruit with smooth skin and (usually) yellow flesh
  • noun a variety or mutation of the peach that has a smooth skin

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From obsolete nectarine, sweet as nectar, from nectar.]

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Examples

  • Today brought heaps of sweetness: A white nectarine from a gracious, fruit-loving colleague and — best of all — the news that a beloved friend does not need a scary and painful medical procedure.

    Archive 2009-08-01 2009

  • Today brought heaps of sweetness: A white nectarine from a gracious, fruit-loving colleague and — best of all — the news that a beloved friend does not need a scary and painful medical procedure.

    Sweet litigants for life 2009

  • -- The tropical fruit called the nectarine is really a variety of peach, but it differs from the common peach in that it has a smooth, waxy skin.

    Woman's Institute Library of Cookery Volume 5: Fruit and Fruit Desserts; Canning and Drying; Jelly Making, Preserving and Pickling; Confections; Beverages; the Planning of Meals

  • Johnson says that nectarine is French, but gives no authority.

    Notes and Queries, Number 56, November 23, 1850 Various

  • The nectarine, which is simply a smooth-skinned peach, does equally well, many varieties bear heavily, and some produce fruit of exceptional merit.

    Fruits of Queensland Albert H. Benson

  • Hence we may confidently accept the common view that the nectarine is a variety of the peach, which may be produced either by bud-variation or from seed.

    The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, Vol. I. Charles Darwin 1845

  • * The nectarine is a species of peach, but produces fuzz-less fruit.

    Blisstree 2009

  • For thousands of years, the Utopia collection Wenrenmoke salty, there are several varieties of peaches, generally peel and hairy, "nectarine" in pericarp smooth; "peach" fruit is a flat discoid; "almond" is a food nucleolus peach, prolific in Central Asia and Xinjiang, China; "Bi-tao" is the watch spent in peach trees, there are many forms of petals, the Beijing Botanical Garden, there are hundreds of different varieties.

    WN.com - Business News 2010

  • For thousands of years, the Utopia collection Wenrenmoke salty, there are several varieties of peaches, generally peel and hairy, "nectarine" in pericarp smooth; "peach" fruit is a flat discoid; "almond" is a food nucleolus peach, prolific in Central Asia and Xinjiang, China; "Bi-tao" is the watch spent in peach trees, there are many forms of petals, the Beijing Botanical Garden, there are hundreds of different varieties.

    WN.com - Business News 2010

  • And that for me is the point of the peach and why I hold its qualities above those of the nectarine – the feel of the peach's soft fuzz on lips, the way the skin puckers as I bite, a teasing prelude to the sweet flesh that will follow.

    Tender delights Nigel Slater 2010

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