From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishriperipe /raɪp/ ●●○ adjective (comparative riper, superlative ripest) 1 HBPTACripe fruit or crops are fully grown and ready to eat OPP unripe Those tomatoes aren’t ripe yet.2 → be ripe for something3 → the time is ripe (for something)4 → ripe old age5 CTDFripe cheese has developed a strong taste and is ready to eat SYN mature6 especially British English a ripe smell is strong and unpleasant – used humorously We were pretty ripe after a week of walking. —ripeness noun [uncountable]
Examples from the Corpus
ripe• Don't pick the apples until they're really ripe.• I checked daily, in September, until the point where they were almost ripe.• We were pretty ripe after a week of hiking.• I can taste the rich meat of venison studded with ripe apples and sweet Texas onions.• Is this melon ripe enough to eat?• It was not until they levelled out that she thought again about the possibility of living to a ripe old age.• So it seemed Meurent lived to a ripe old age.• Even when ripe, these huge fruits have a greenish yellow skin and flesh, so don't be put off.• You'll need a pound of ripe tomatoes.• The air was ripe with rhetoric, much of it aimed toward the record industry and threatening to whites.Origin ripe Old English 