Meanings
plural bites of the cherry
- idiomaticA chance; an attempt at something, especially something that can or should only be done once.
Synonyms: bite at the cherry, bite at the apple, bite of the apple
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA chance; an attempt at something, especially something that can or should only be done once.
Origin
A cherry is a small fruit usually eaten in a single bite, and the phrase was originally intended to refer specifically to an attempt to repeat an already-completed action. By the 1940s, cherry had taken on the additional meaning of "virginity" and the phrase was considered embarrassing, and so "apple" replaced "cherry" chiefly in American usage. As an apple is usually eaten in many bites, the additional nuance of "an unrepeatable action" was increasingly lost. The first recorded use of the "apple" form is in 1922.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
bite of the cherry. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bite%20of%20the%20cherry
“bite of the cherry.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bite%20of%20the%20cherry. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bite of the cherry,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bite%20of%20the%20cherry.
Source: bite of the cherry on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.