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EnglishLatin scriptExpression: Verified

Time and straw make medlars ripe.

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Meanings

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Patience and delayed outcomesReviewed 2026-08-24

Sense: Verified

Literal translation: Time and straw make medlars ready to eat.
Natural translation: Time and straw make medlars ready to eat.

Functional meaning: Says that time and suitable conditions can make something usable that is not ready now.
Usage context: Historical metaphor for allowing a process to reach readiness; current currency is not claimed.

Community: Unknown
Region: Unknown
Historical period: Recorded from 1578, with variants through 1732.
Register: historical food metaphor

What supports this meaning

Period

English Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases: A Historical DictionaryG. L. Apperson1929Dictionary
Locator: p. 634, s.v. "Time", no. 14
Recorded from 1578, with variants through 1732.
Claim: VerifiedHistorical or primary sourceAI data-completeness reviewer, 2026-08-24
Rights cleared. Only short proverb strings and factual bibliographic or locator metadata; attribute and link the work; do not reproduce scan pages or surrounding dictionary entries.

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