This week’s theme
Words derived from food

This week’s words
appanage
cake eater
grubstake
applesauce
interlard

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(AP-uhl-saws)

MEANING:

noun: Nonsense; lies.

ETYMOLOGY:

From applesauce, made from puréed apples, often sweetened and spiced. Earliest documented use: 1672, metaphorically from 1920s.

NOTES:

It’s not known what the humble applesauce did to deserve to become associated with balderdash. If it’s any consolation, other food-related terms are often used as synonyms for nonsense, such as baloney and banana oil. Some other terms made with apple as an ingredient are apple-polish, apple knocker, and apple of one’s eye.

USAGE:

“The foreshadowing, as it were -- comes true, or turns out to be pure applesauce.”
Cam Cole; Cujo Puts the Fear Into the Sens; National Post (Don Mills, Canada); Apr 3, 2000.

See more usage examples of applesauce in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: