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peach 1 (pēch)
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n.
1.
a. A small Chinese tree (Prunus persica) in the rose family, widely cultivated throughout temperate regions, having pink flowers and edible fruit.
b. The soft juicy fruit of this tree, having yellow or white flesh, downy reddish-yellow skin, and a deeply ridged stone containing a single seed.
2. A light moderate to strong yellowish pink to light orange.
3. Informal A particularly admirable or pleasing person or thing.

[Middle English peche, from Old French, a peach, from Latin persica, peach tree, from Greek persikē, from feminine of Persikos, Persian; see PERSE.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 
peach 2 (pēch)
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v. peached, peach·ing, peach·es
v.intr.
To inform on someone; turn informer: "Middle-level bureaucrats cravenly peach on their bosses [when] one of them does something the tiniest bit illegal" (National Observer).
v.tr.
To inform against: "He has peached me and all the others, to save his life" (Daniel Defoe).

[Middle English pechen, from apechen, to accuse (probably from Anglo-Norman *anpecher, from Late Latin impedicāre, to entangle; see IMPEACH) and from empechen, to accuse; see IMPEACH.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.