Category:Pear

Pear, n. Etym: [oe. pere, as. peru, l. pirum: cf. F. poire. Cf. Perry.] (bot.)

Defn: 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) (zoöl.) 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 hewthorn. -- 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 (zoöl.), any marine Gastropod shell of the genus pyrula, native of tropical seas; -- so Called from the shape. -- pear slug (zoöl.), the larva of a sawfly which is very injurious To the foliage of the pear tree.