forbidden fruit

forbidden fruit

Something that one desires but cannot or should not have. A reference to the Biblical story of Adam and Eve and the fruit that God forbade them to eat in the Garden of Eden. Since forbidden fruit is the sweetest, I couldn't stop myself from taking a piece of the cake my mom had specifically made for work.
See also: forbidden, fruit
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

forbidden fruit

Fig. someone or something that one finds attractive or desirable partly because having the person or thing is immoral or illegal. (Biblical; from the apple in the Garden of Eden that was forbidden to Adam by God.) Jim flirts with his sister-in-law only because she's forbidden fruit. The boy watches that program only when his parents are out. It's forbidden fruit.
See also: forbidden, fruit
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

forbidden fruit

Unlawful pleasure or enjoyment; illicit love. For example, After Mary moved in with John, Tom began courting her-forbidden fruit is sweet, I guess , or Smoking behind the woodshed, that's a case of forbidden fruit. This expression alludes to Adam and Eve's violation of God's commandment not to touch fruit from the tree of knowledge, which resulted in their expulsion from the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:6). In the form forbidden fruit is sweet it appeared in numerous early English proverb collections.
See also: forbidden, fruit
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

forbidden fruit

If you call something forbidden fruit, you mean that you want it very much but are not allowed to have it. Knowing that from now on you can't drink alcohol or have sugar in your tea can make you want those forbidden fruits even more. `What kept Charlie and I going for 27 years,' she explains, `was the thrill of the illicit, the sense of forbidden fruit.' Note: This expression refers to the story in the Bible in which Eve tempts Adam to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge, which God had forbidden them to touch.
See also: forbidden, fruit
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

forbidden fruit

a thing that is desired all the more because it is not allowed.
The original forbidden fruit was that forbidden to Adam in the Garden of Eden: ‘But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it’ (Genesis 2:17).
See also: forbidden, fruit
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

forˌbidden ˈfruit

something that you are not allowed to have, do, etc. and for this reason is more attractive: He felt very attracted to his best friend’s wife, but admitted that it was partly because she was forbidden fruit.This expression refers to the story of Adam and Eve in the Bible, in which Eve ate an apple when she wasn’t allowed to.
See also: forbidden, fruit
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

forbidden fruit

An unlawful pleasure, usually one that is stolen; especially, illicit love. The expression alludes to the story of Eve in the Book of Genesis (2:17–3:6), in which she caused herself and Adam to be expelled from the Garden of Eden because she ate the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge. “Forbidden fruit is sweet” subsequently became a proverb, quoted in numerous early English sources, and was applied to any illicit pleasure.
See also: forbidden, fruit
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • forbidden
  • eat one's cake and have it (too)
  • eat one's cake and have it, too
  • watch the clock
  • worldly
  • worldly desires
  • earthly
  • earthly desires
  • better late than never
  • (one's) jam
References in periodicals archive
Duterte claimed that God told the snake to tempt Eve with a bite from the forbidden fruit, which he said to be an apple.
Duterte at it again, questions God's fairness in Creation story
Forbidden Fruit is a celebration of them and their efforts.”
Philadelphia Artists and Entrepreneurs to Host Masquerade Ball to Benefit Heart Disease, in February
Forbidden Fruit travelled best and looked set for an easy win when hitting the front, but after trading at 1.19 he had no answer to the rallying Winter Song, who got up close home to defy a high of 130.
Yesterday's highlights
The forbidden fruit carries a premium: A box of 25 Cohiba Robustos costs $304 on the Hong Kong-based Cigars of Habanos Web site, where shoppers are offered the option of shipping to the U.S.
Cohiba cigar trademark war heats up again
Forbidden Fruit: Sex and Religion in the Lives of American Teenagers.
Regnerus, Mark D. Forbidden Fruit: Sex and Religion in the Lives of American Teenagers
Packages come in creative names like Forbidden Fruit and Heavenly Rewards.
The word made candy corn
The four scents include Romance, Sensuality, Tranquility and Forbidden Fruit. Available online at www.drugstore.com and at most major U.S.
Los Angeles, CA-based Wet International, Inc. has developed four new Inttimo by Wet aromatherapy massage and bath oils featuring a blend of natural oils such as hemp, avocado and kukui nut in a base of sweet almond oil
The well-researched book includes illustrations and a time line (from the banana as the possible biblical forbidden fruit, to the imminent biotech future that seems necessary to save monoculture bananas from being decimated by disease).
Banana; the fate of the fruit that changed the world
When He made Adam and Eve the first thing He said to them was: "Don't eat the forbidden fruit."
Down the ages
Man-made and technological, a forbidden fruit plucked from the tree of consciousness, fire here represents the worst attributes: cruelty, corruption, lust for domination, naked aggression, murderousness.
To the White Sea
Forbidden Fruit: Love Stories From the Underground Railroad and Beyond by Betty De Remus, Atria Books, February 2005 $25, ISBN 0-743-48263-8
BIBR's best of 2005: a roundup of the year's best books from a bumper crop of new novels by seasoned African American talents, as well as noteworthy debuts
Thanks to Wertham and Congress, they became forbidden fruit, which, as everyone knows, is the tastiest of all.
The long, gory life of EC Comics: why the Crypt-Keeper never dies
"It moves away from the 'just say no' approach, which makes alcohol the forbidden fruit."
Red or white? Colby students of legal age "drink" with meals on campus
4 Before GLB, the principal of "forbidden fruit" may have lured banks into their interest in insurance.
10 facts and myths about Gramm-Leach-Bliley: the GLB financial-services modernization law hasn't lived up to initial expectations, but it has brought changes, some for the better
In the original story, the company said that the ice cream would come in four flavours--Chocolate Banana, Forbidden Fruit, Come Back For Coffee?
Sex sells ... ice cream?