Meaning of Idiom ‘Bear Fruit’
To bear fruit means to produce results; to have a satisfactory outcome or favorable outcome. 1Kirkpatrick, Elizabeth M. The Wordsworth Dictionary of Idioms. Ware: Wordsworth, 1995. 2Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013.
Usage Examples
“If this effort is going to bear fruit we all need to give it our best.”
“He’s had a lot of ideas, but this is the first one to bear fruit.”
“The investigation into his alleged ties to organized crime never bore fruit.”
Origin
This idiom alludes figuratively to a tree producing fruit. The metaphor appears many times in the Bible, especially in regards to “bearing spiritual fruit.”
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- Turn the Other Cheek
- Take As Gospel
- Skin and Bones (nothing but)
- See Eye to Eye
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Sources
| 1. | ↲ | Kirkpatrick, Elizabeth M. The Wordsworth Dictionary of Idioms. Ware: Wordsworth, 1995. |
| 2. | ↲ | Ammer, Christine. American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013. |