ripen

Everyday

1. To ripen means to become ready to eat, soft and sweet, as fruit and crops do. tree →
2. To ripen something means to make it ripe. tree →
3. A plan or a situation ripens when it becomes ready or right for action. tree →

In the lessons

In science, fruits ripen as they change colour and their starch turns to sugar; bananas give off a gas (ethylene) that ripens other fruit. In farming, wheat ripens before harvest. «Ripen» uses «-en» to mean «become»: ripe → ripen, wide → widen.

Examples

• The tomatoes ripened in the sun. tree →
• Put the avocado in a bag with a banana to ripen it. tree →
• The wheat ripens in late summer. tree →
• Green bananas ripen in a few days. tree →
• The apples are ripening on the tree. tree →
• Cheese ripens slowly in a cave. tree →

Note

Past: ripened. Adjective: ripe. Opposite: unripe; too ripe = overripe.

In Jewish tradition

Here it describes how the wheat and spelt were not harmed by the plague of hail because they ripen late.

Interpretation. Tradition notes that the late crops were spared as a sign of God's careful control over the plagues.

Examples

• But the wheat and the spelt were not smitten; for they ripen late. — (Torah EXO.9.32, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Past: ripened. Adjective: ripe. Opposite: unripe; too ripe = overripe.