ripe

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ɹaɪp/, /ɹaːɪp/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -aɪp

From Old English rīpe (“ripe, mature”), from Proto-Germanic *rīpijaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rep- ‘to snatch’. Cognate with West Frisian ryp (“ripe”), Dutch rijp (“ripe”), German reif (“ripe”). Related to reap.

ripe (comparative riper, superlative ripest)

1. (of fruits, vegetables, seeds etc.) Ready for reaping or gathering; having attained perfection; mature

   ripe grain

   ripe apples

   • (Can we date this quote?) Milton

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

   • 2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:

     Plant breeding is always a numbers game. […] The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, […]. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better. These rarities may be new mutations, or they can be existing ones that are neutral—or are even selected against—in a wild population. A good example is mutations that disrupt seed dispersal, leaving the seeds on the heads long after they are ripe.

2. (of foods) Advanced to the state of fitness for use; mellow

   ripe cheese

   ripe wine

3. (figuratively) Having attained its full development; mature; perfected

   Synonym: consummate

   • 1895, Henry James, The Altar of the Dead

     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.

   • 1623, William Shakespeare, The Life of King Henry the Eighth

     He was a scholar, and a ripe and good one.

4. (archaic) Maturated or suppurated; ready to discharge; -- said of sores, tumors, etc.
5. Ready for action or effect; prepared.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Addison

     while things were just ripe for a war

   • (Can we date this quote?) Burke

     I am not ripe to pass sentence on the gravest public bodies.

   • 1910, Theodore C. Williams, The Aeneid, translation of 'Aeneis' by Virgil, Book IV Chapter 28:

     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.

6. Like ripened fruit in ruddiness and plumpness.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Shakespeare

     Those happy smilets, / That played on her ripe lip.

   • 1981, Daniel Curzon, Human Warmth & Other Stories‎, →ISBN, page 18:

     He looked back once at the waving hands, the mother's glowing, ripe cheeks.

7. (obsolete) Intoxicated.
   • 1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act V, Scene 1,

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

8. (law) Of a conflict between parties, having developed to a stage where the conflict may be reviewed by a court of law.
   • 2004, Kenneth F. Warren, Administrative Law in the Political System‎, →ISBN, page 427:

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

9. Smelly: having a disagreeable odor.
   • 2004, Colum McCann, Fishing the Sloe-Black River‎, →ISBN, page 141:

     Dolores, giving her a bath yesterday, said she was a bit ripe under the armpits.

• (intoxicated): See Thesaurus:drunk
• (having a disagreeable odor): See also Thesaurus:malodorous

• unripe

• overripe
• ripeness
• underripe

• ripen

ripe (plural ripes)

1. (agriculture) A fruit or vegetable which has ripened.
   • 1993, Paul J. Dosal, Doing Business with the Dictators‎, →ISBN, page 76:

     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.

ripe (third-person singular simple present ripes, present participle riping, simple past and past participle riped)

1. To ripen or mature
   • 1596-97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act II Scene 8

     [...] he [Antonio] answer'd, "Do not so;

     Slubber not business for my sake, Bassanio,

     But stay the very riping of the time;

     [...]

Latin ripa.

ripe (plural ripes)

1. The bank of a river.

• riparian

ripe (third-person singular simple present ripes, present participle riping, simple past and past participle riped)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To search; to rummage.

• rip

• Peri, peri, peri-, pier, prie

ripe

1. (chiefly in the plural) the leftovers, remains

• peri, peri-, repi

ripe

1. first-person singular present indicative of riper
2. third-person singular present indicative of riper
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of riper
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of riper
5. second-person singular imperative of riper

• péri, pire, prie, prié

ripe f

1. plural of ripa

• peri, perì

ripe

1. first-person singular present subjunctive of ripar
2. third-person singular present subjunctive of ripar
3. first-person singular imperative of ripar
4. third-person singular imperative of ripar