FIRST-FRUIT,

FIRST-FRUITS, noun

1. The fruit or produce first matured and collected in any season. Of these the Jews made an oblation to God, as an acknowledgment of his sovereign dominion.

2. The first profits of any thing. In the church of England, the profits of every spiritual benefice for the first year.

3. The first or earliest effect of any thing, in a good or bad sense; as the first-fruits of grace in the heart, or the first-fruits of vice.