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. (Bot.)
Phrases & Compounds
Pear blight
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.
Pear family
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
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
any marine gastropod shell of the genus Pyrula, native of tropical seas; -- so called from the shape.
Pear slug
the larva of a sawfly which is very injurious to the foliage of the pear tree.