Meanings
plural Johnny Appleseeds
- idiomaticA person, usually a male, who is generous, nurturing, and dedicated to positivity and helping others.
Seeger, the Johnny Appleseed of folk music, who has always wanted the whole world to sing and shunned celebrity, was a lifelong radical who serenaded the civil rights movement, popularized "We Shall Overcome", and marched and sang for peace in the antiwar movement.
2012, John W. Kirshon, An American Century, page 478
Origin
After the American pioneer nurseryman Johnny Appleseed (1774–1845).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Johnny Appleseed. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Johnny%20Appleseed
“Johnny Appleseed.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Johnny%20Appleseed. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Johnny Appleseed,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Johnny%20Appleseed.
Source: Johnny Appleseed on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.