Forms: α. 6 abrecok, -cox, aprecox, 6–7 -cok, abrecock(e, apricok(e, 6–8 -cock, 7 aprecock. β. 6–8 abricot(e, 6 abbrycot, 7 abricoct, 6–7 apricote, 7 aprecott, 6– apricot. [orig. ad. Pg. albricoque or Sp. albaricoque, but subseq. assimilated to the cognate F. abricot (t mute). Cf. also It. albercocca, albicocca, OSp. albarcoque, a. Sp. Arab. al-borcoq(ue (P. de Alcala) for Arab. al-burqūq, -birqūq, i.e., al the + birqūq, ad. Gr. πραικόκἰον (Dioscorides, c. 100; later Gr. πρεκόκκια and βερικόκκια pl.), prob. ad. L. præcoquum, variant of præcox, pl. præcocia, ‘early-ripe, ripe in summer,’ an epithet and, in later writers, appellation of this fruit, orig. called prūnum or mālum Armeniacum. Thus Pallad. (c. 350): ‘armenia vel præcoqua.’ The change in Eng. from abr- to apr- was perhaps due to false etymol.; Minsheu, 1617, explained the name, quasi, ‘in aprīco coctus’ ripened in a sunny place: cf. the spelling abricoct.]
1. A stone-fruit allied to the plum, of an orange color, roundish-oval shape, and delicious flavor.
1551. Turner, Herbal, II. 48. Abrecockes … are less than the other peches.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, VI. xl. 709. There be two kindes of peaches … The other kindes are soner ripe, wherefore they be called abrecox or aprecox.
1580. Hollyband, Treas. Fr. Tong., Abricot, a fruit called Apricot.
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., III. iv. 29. Yond dangling Apricocks.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 436. Abricocts are ready to be eaten in Summer.
1736. Bailey, Houshold Dict., s.v., To make Marmalade of Apricocks.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., I. II. 559. And apricots hung on the wall.
2. The tree that bears this fruit (Prūnus Armeniaca); said to have been introduced into Greece from Armenia, and now cultivated in almost all temperate and sub-tropical climates.
1573–80. Tusser, Husb., xxxiv. Of trees or fruites to be set or remooued: 1. Apple-trees … 2. Apricockes.
1718. J. Chamberlayne, Relig. Philos., II. xxiii. § 32. If an Abricot be grafted upon a Plumb.
1861. Delamer, Kitchen Gard., 144. In England … in a few favoured southern localities, standard apricots are a possibility.
3. attrib., as in apricot-ale, -apple, -tree.
1551. Turner, Herbal, II. 48. Of the Abrecok Tre.
1617. J. Rider, Dict., An abricot apple, Malum armenium.
1657. Austen, Fruit Trees, I. 51. Aprecok buds.
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 454, ¶ 4. I landed with Ten Sail of Apricock Boats.
1713. Lond. & Country Brew., III. (1743), 193. To make an Ale that will taste like Apricot-Ale.
1748. Anson, Voy., II. 118. Plumb, apricock, and peach stones.
1859. Lang, Wand. India, 303. Encamped beneath a clump of apricot and walnut trees.
