bear fruit

present singular third person bears fruit · participle present bearing fruit · past bore fruit · participle past borne fruit

1. idiomaticintransitiveOf an effort, endeavor, etc., to produce good results; to yield benefits; to succeed.

   Many people had looked but it was unusual to see these searches bearing fruit.

   3 more examples

   The House should, I think, take formal cognisance of the liberation of Rome[…]. This is a memorable and glorious event, which rewards the intense fighting of the last five months in Italy. The original landing, made on January 22nd at Anzio, has, in the end, borne good fruit.

   1944 June 7, Winston Churchill, speech to House of Commons

   Although the trains are still far from becoming overcrowded, it is understood that the efforts to make the services more widely known have borne fruit.

   1946 November and December, “Notes and News: Additional London-Dartford Services”, in Railway Magazine, page 386

   Maguire, outstanding once more, broke the deadlock on the half-hour when another England set-piece bore fruit - Leicester City's powerful defender flashing a header past Sweden keeper Robin Olsen from Ashley Young's corner.

   2018 July 7, Phil McNulty, “Sweden 0-2 England”, in BBC Sport

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see bear, fruit.

   After several barren years it was good to see the trees bearing fruit.