ripe

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   Of a fruit, vegetable, seed, etc., ready for reaping or gathering

   Of a fruit, vegetable, seed, etc., ready for reaping or gathering; having attained perfection; mature.

   • ripe grain
   • ripe apples
   • So mayst thou live, till, like ripe fruit, thou drop / Into thy mother's lap.
2. 2

   Of a food, advanced to the state of fitness for use

   Of a food, advanced to the state of fitness for use; mellow.

   • ripe cheese
   • ripe wine
3. 3

   Having attained its full development

   Having attained its full development; mature; perfected.

   • He was a scholar, and a ripe and good one.
   • And so may Place retain us still, ⁠And he the much-beloved again, ⁠A lord of large experience, train To riper growth the mind and will: […]
   • She was a feature of that piety, but even at the ripe stage of acquaintance in which they occasionally arranged to meet at a concert or to go together to an exhibition she was not a feature of anything else.
4. ›+ 14 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      Of a sore, tumor, etc., maturated or suppurated

      Of a sore, tumor, etc., maturated or suppurated; ready to discharge.

   2. 5

      Ready for action or effect

      Ready for action or effect; prepared.

      • while things were just ripe for a war
      • I am not ripe to pass sentence on the gravest public bodies.
      • 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.
   3. 6

      Of a person, ready, willing, eager.

      • I'm starting somethin' myself. I'm ripe to fight. It's this country air!
   4. 7

      Like ripened fruit in ruddiness and plumpness.

      • Those happy smilets, / That played on her ripe lip.
      • He looked back once at the waving hands, the mother's glowing, ripe cheeks.
   5. 8

      Intoxicated.

      • Alonso: And Trinculo is reeling-ripe: where should they / Find this grand liquor that hath gilded them? / How cam'st thou in this pickle?
   6. 9

      Of a conflict between parties, having developed to a stage where the conflict may be…

      Of a conflict between parties, having developed to a stage where the conflict may be reviewed by a court of law.

      • Problems emerge in judging whether a case is ripe, however, when contested general agency directives are issued that are not aimed at specific parties.
   7. 10

      Smelly

      Smelly: having a disagreeable odor.

      • His Majesty [a purple emperor butterfly] has rather peculiar tastes for so elegant a being. You just hang a piece of decidedly ripe meat anywhere near.
      • Dolores, giving her a bath yesterday, said she was a bit ripe under the armpits.
   8. 11

      A fruit or vegetable which has ripened.

      • 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.
   9. 12

      To ripen or mature.

      • […] he answer'd, "Do not so; / Slubber not business for my sake, Bassanio, / But stay the very riping of the time; / […]
   10. 13

       The bank of a river.

   11. 14

       To search

       To search; to rummage.

   12. 15

       Rife

       • The current state of the tech industry is ripe with danger and poses an existential threat, he believes.
   13. 16

       A tuberculosis treatment regimen consisting of rifampicin (R), isoniazid (I),…

       A tuberculosis treatment regimen consisting of rifampicin (R), isoniazid (I), pyrazinamide (P), and ethambutol (E).

   14. 17

       A village in Chalvington with Ripe parish, Wealden district, East Sussex, England (OS…

       A village in Chalvington with Ripe parish, Wealden district, East Sussex, England (OS grid ref TQ5110).

The neighborhood

• antonymunripe