Also John-Apple. [‘so called because it is ripe about S. John’s Day.’ Britten and Holl.] A kind of apple said to keep two years, and to be in perfection when shrivelled and withered.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., I. iv. 5. A Dish of Apple-Iohns [see context].
1623. Mabbe, trans. Aleman’s Guzman d’Alf., II. 310. Her face (like an old Apple-John) all shrivelled.
1708. J. Philips, Cyder, I. (N.).
| Nor John-Apple, whose wither’d Rind, entrencht | |
| With many a Furrow, aptly represents | |
| Decrepid Age. |
c. 1811. W. Irving, in Warner, Life (1882), 77. Poor Jemmy—he is but a withered little apple-john.
