Meanings
- especiallyeuphemisticjargonpluralplural onlyIllicit purchased items such as recreational drugs or prostitutes.
Mr Hands was criticised for his robust managerial style, forcing through redundancies and highlighting excessive costs such as the £200,000 spent annually on "fruit and flowers" and £20,000 a month on candles.
2010 September 28, Cahal Milmo, “A bad buy – with a little help from his friends?”, in The Independent2 more examples
Most journalists I know are actually rather scrupulous with their expenses – although I do know of one who tried to pass off one of their children's birthday parties as a networking opportunity (hats off!). However, I've been thinking of some of the things I might have been able to claim myself: getting my driving gloves dry-cleaned, for instance, medicinal single malts, ‘back rubs’ in foreign hotels, or that great music-industry euphemism, ‘fruit and flowers’.
2009 May 23, Dylan Jones, “Who's pinched all the paper clips?”, in Daily MailDon’t be thinking the record companies are getting all complacent and haemorrhaging all of that new cash on exorbitant executive bonuses, plush new offices and an endless supply of fruit and flowers though. Oh no. They are investing.
2019 April 3, Chris Cooke, “Streaming boom and emerging markets drive fourth year of growth for global recorded music industry”, in Complete Music Update, archived from the original on 14 Aug 2020 - pluralplural onlyUsed other than figuratively or idiomatically: see fruit, flower.
Synonyms: recreational drug
Synonyms & antonyms
nounUsed other than figuratively or idiomatically: see fruit, flower.
Origin
Such illicit purchases might be explained away in a budget as spending on fruit and flowers.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
fruit and flowers. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fruit%20and%20flowers
“fruit and flowers.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fruit%20and%20flowers. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fruit and flowers,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fruit%20and%20flowers.
Source: fruit and flowers on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.