firstfruit

firstfruit

English

Alternative forms

• first fruit
• first-fruit

Noun

firstfruit (plural firstfruits)

1. An offering of the first of the harvest; firstfruits.
2. The first growth, allegory for the first people to receive the message.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Romans 11:16:

     For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.

3. Ceremony in Southern Africa, notably among the Zulu and Swazi peoples, in which the paramount chief is the first to eat from the new harvest.

Translations

An offering of the first of a harvest

Maori: tūāpora

Spanish: primicia (es) f, primicias (es) f pl

See also

• forefruit