pear-shaped

comparative more pear-shaped · superlative most pear-shaped · alternative pearshaped

1. Having a shape of a (typical western) pear, or in cross-section, like the cross-section of a pear.

   Single egg laid directly on ledge, pear-shaped to prevent rolling off[.]

   2009, Lars Svensson, Collins Bird Guide, page 210

   Synonyms: lecythiform, piriform, pyriform

   1. Having gynoid fat distribution, not android fat distribution.

      pear-shaped obesity

      2 more examples

      Just as one should take sitting-up exercises every day to keep one's figure from going pear-shaped in the hips, one should spend at least a little time, even if it is only very little, sloughing off mental flabbiness by thinking, studying or just reading something that requires an exercising effort of the mind to understand, memorise or digest.

      1936 March 21, Glen Innes Examiner, NSW, page 7, column 3

      Even at BMIs above 30, where obesity begins, men and women whose waist-to-hip ratio identified them as more pear-shaped were less likely to die -- of any cause and of cardiovascular causes -- than those with similar BMIs who were apple-shaped.

      2015 September 11, Melissa Healy, “Pear-shaped vs. apple trumps body mass index as a measure of risk”, in Los Angeles Times, archived from the original on 11 Nov 2015

      Synonyms: lecythiform, piriform, pyriform, gynoid

2. entertainmentOf a vocal or musical tone, mellow, rich, sonorous
3. CommonwealthIrelandUKslangUsually in the phrase go pear-shaped: wrong, awry.