ripe

Everyday

1. Ripe fruit or grain is ready to eat or pick; it is soft, sweet and has its full colour. tree →
2. Ripe can mean ready for something: «The time is ripe». tree →
3. «A ripe old age» means a very old age. tree →

In the lessons

In maths: sorts fruit into ripe and not ripe; ripe and unripe add up to the total; fractions of the fruit that are ripe. In science: fruit ripens as starch turns to sugar; bananas give off a gas that ripens other fruit. In everyday life: picking ripe fruit, checking if an avocado is ripe. In stories: «ripe golden wheat».

Examples

• Of 30 bananas, 18 are ripe. tree →
• How many tomatoes are not ripe? tree →
• 3/4 of the apples are ripe. tree →
• She picked only the ripe strawberries. tree →
• A ripe banana is yellow with brown spots. tree →
• Green tomatoes are not ripe yet. tree →
• Put the pears in a paper bag to help them ripen. tree →
• My great-grandpa lived to a ripe old age. tree →
• The time was ripe for a change. tree →
• ‘Oh! shake me, shake me, my apples are all quite ripe.’ tree →

Note

Ripe + not ripe = all; a fraction ripe means the rest is not ripe. Trap: the question may ask about the unripe ones. Opposite: unripe. «Ripen» is the verb. Overripe means too ripe, starting to go bad. Safety: some unripe fruit can upset your stomach.

In Jewish tradition

In the Torah ripe fruit is linked with the first fruits that Israel brought to God. In Job "ripe age" means full old age, and Nahum speaks of first-ripe figs that fall at a shake.

Interpretation. Tradition says the first ripe fruits, called bikkurim, were brought to the Temple and given to the priests as a thank-you offering. A "ripe age" is seen as a blessing of a long and full life, like grain gathered in its season.

Examples

• and in the vine were three branches; and as it was budding, its blossoms shot forth, and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes, (Torah GEN.40.10, JPS 1917) tree →
• And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land.' — Now the time was the time of the first-ripe grapes. — (Torah NUM.13.20, JPS 1917) tree →
• The first-ripe fruits of all that is in their land, which they bring unto the LORD, shall be thine; every one that is clean in thy house may eat thereof. (Torah NUM.18.13, JPS 1917) tree →
• Yea, the strength of their hands, whereto should it profit me? men in whom ripe age is perished. (Writings JOB.30.2, JPS 1917) tree →
• Thou shalt come to thy grave in a ripe age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in its season. (Writings JOB.5.26, JPS 1917) tree →
• All thy fortresses shall be like fig-trees with the first-ripe figs: if they be shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater. (Prophets NAM.3.12, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Ripe + not ripe = all; a fraction ripe means the rest is not ripe. Trap: the question may ask about the unripe ones. Opposite: unripe. «Ripen» is the verb. Overripe means too ripe, starting to go bad. Safety: some unripe fruit can upset your stomach.