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brown rot
noun
: a disease of stone fruits (such as peaches) caused by a fungus (genus Monilinia and especially M. fructicola)
Examples of brown rot in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The brown rot could be a fungus rotting out the oak’s heartwood.
—oregonlive, 26 Mar. 2023
Western Oregon: Spray stone fruits, such as cherries, plums, peaches and apricots, for brown rot blossom blight, if necessary.
—oregonlive, 1 Apr. 2022
Control all insect and disease problems, such as brown rot of stone fruits, even in the first few nonbearing years.
—oregonlive, 8 Jan. 2022
Abnormally hot, wet summers also require peach growers to be more vigilant against brown rot and fruit cracking.
—Washington Post, 7 July 2021
Among the decaying lot is an apricot showing signs of brown rot caused by a fungus, a strawberry covered in mold, and a bruised pear, all in great detail.
—Washington Post, 22 Oct. 2019
The 20 or so specimens featured in the Harvard Museum of Natural History’s upcoming Fruits in Decay exhibition suffer from an array of ailments: among others, peach leaf curl, pear scab, gray mold, brown rot, blue mold and fire blight.
—Meilan Solly, Smithsonian, 29 Aug. 2019
In the early 1900s large quantities of fruit were condemned and discarded when market inspectors found entire car lots infected with brown rot, a fungal disease that can devastate stone fruit crops.
—William Thomas Okie, Smithsonian, 14 Aug. 2017
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'brown rot.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
1835, in the meaning defined above
Dictionary Entries Near brown rot
Cite this Entry
“Brown rot.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/brown%20rot. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.
More from Merriam-Webster on brown rot
Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about brown rot
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