Word Direct Answers

What does "ripe" mean?

Ripe: Ready for reaping or gathering; having attained perfection; mature; -- said of fruits, seeds, etc.; as, ripe grain. So mayst thou live, till, like ripe fruit, thou drop Into thy mother's lap. Milton.

Additional senses

  1. 2.Advanced to the state of fitness for use; mellow; as, ripe cheese; ripe wine.
  2. 3.Having attained its full development; mature; perfected; consummate. "Ripe courage." Chaucer. He was a scholar, and a ripe and good one. Shak.
  3. 4.Maturated or suppurated; ready to discharge; -- said of sores, tumors, etc.
  4. 5.Ready for action or effect; prepared. While things were just ripe for a war. Addison. I am not ripe to pass sentence on the gravest public bodies. Burke.
  5. 6.Like ripened fruit in ruddiness and plumpness. Those happy smilets, That played on her ripe lip. Shak.
  6. 7.Intoxicated. [Obs.] "Reeling ripe." Shak. See Mature.
  7. 8.To ripen; to grow ripe. [Obs.]
  8. 9.To mature; to ripen. [Obs.] Shak.

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