The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs (15 page)

1866
Notes & Queries
3rd Ser. IX. 153
A Pembrokeshire Proverb—‘Eat an apple on going to bed, And you'll keep the doctor from earning his bread.’
1913
Rustic Speech
xiv.
Ait a happle avore gwain to bed, An' you'll make the doctor beg his bread (Dev.); or as the more popular version runs: An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
1972
Tartan Touch
iv.
He gave me a truly wicked look … ‘An apple a day keeps the doctor away!’ he taunted me.
1991
Washington Post
24 Jan. B5
An apple a day keeps the doctor away. But wait! Has the apple been treated with Alar?
doctors
;
health

 
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Apparently of Eastern origin, it is frequently used to assert the continuity of family characteristics. Quot. 1839 implies return to one's original home. Cf. 16th-cent. Ger.
der Apfel fellt nicht gerne weit vom Baume
, the apple does not usually fall far from the tree.
1839
Letter
22 Dec. (1939) II. 243
As men say the apple never falls far from the stem, I shall hope that another year will draw your eyes and steps to this old dear odious haunt of the race.
1939
Body, Boots & Britches
xix.
As a .. farmer remarked, ‘If you breed a pa'tridge, you'll git a pa'tridge.’ Another way of setting that truth forth is ‘An apple never falls far from the tree.’
1981
Women's Journal
Apr. 179
He's a fool, Muffie, as his father was. The apple never falls far from the tree.
1996
Washington Post
14 Jan. C7
Although Forbes has a lively sense of fun (his motorcycling, balloon-riding father, Malcolm, certainly had one, and the apple does not fall far from the tree), his lavishness .. has a civic purpose.
family
;
nature and nurture
;
origins

 
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see also
the ROTTEN apple injures its neighbours
;
SMALL choice in rotten apples
;
STOLEN fruit is sweet
.

 
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1929
Seven Hells
v. 63
Let me advise you to take a bit of cheese with it. They have a good proverb, these folks: ‘Apple pie without the cheese, is like the kiss without a squeeze.’
1989
Courier-Journal
(Louisville, KY) 2 July 4M
There was an old English rhyme popular about 1750 that went: An apple-pie without some cheese Is like a kiss without a squeeze.
food and drink

 
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