"fruit and flowers" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "Such illicit purchases might be explained away in a budget as spending on fruit and flowers.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "p"
      },
      "expansion": "fruit and flowers pl (plural only)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English euphemisms",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Business",
          "orig": "en:Business",
          "parents": [
            "Economics",
            "Society",
            "Social sciences",
            "All topics",
            "Sciences",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Music",
          "orig": "en:Music",
          "parents": [
            "Art",
            "Sound",
            "Culture",
            "Energy",
            "Society",
            "Nature",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "70 30",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "74 26",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English pluralia tantum",
          "parents": [
            "Pluralia tantum",
            "Nouns",
            "Lemmas"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2009 May 23, Dylan Jones, “Who's pinched all the paper clips?”, in Daily Mail",
          "text": "Most journalists I know are actually rather scrupulous with their expenses – although I do know of one who tried to pass off one of their children's birthday parties as a networking opportunity (hats off!). However, I've been thinking of some of the things I might have been able to claim myself: getting my driving gloves dry-cleaned, for instance, medicinal single malts, ‘back rubs’ in foreign hotels, or that great music-industry euphemism, ‘fruit and flowers’.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010 September 28, Cahal Milmo, “A bad buy – with a little help from his friends?”, in The Independent",
          "text": "Mr Hands was criticised for his robust managerial style, forcing through redundancies and highlighting excessive costs such as the £200,000 spent annually on \"fruit and flowers\" and £20,000 a month on candles.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2019 April 3, Chris Cooke, “Streaming boom and emerging markets drive fourth year of growth for global recorded music industry”, in Complete Music Update",
          "text": "Don’t be thinking the record companies are getting all complacent and haemorrhaging all of that new cash on exorbitant executive bonuses, plush new offices and an endless supply of fruit and flowers though. Oh no. They are investing.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Illicit purchased items such as recreational drugs or prostitutes."
      ],
      "id": "en-fruit_and_flowers-en-noun-MM~IpEOM",
      "links": [
        [
          "music",
          "music"
        ],
        [
          "business",
          "business"
        ],
        [
          "Illicit",
          "illicit"
        ],
        [
          "recreational drug",
          "recreational drug"
        ],
        [
          "prostitute",
          "prostitute"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(euphemistic, jargon, especially in the music business) Illicit purchased items such as recreational drugs or prostitutes."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "in the music business"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "especially",
        "euphemistic",
        "jargon",
        "plural",
        "plural-only"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see fruit, flower."
      ],
      "id": "en-fruit_and_flowers-en-noun-81~sCsyj",
      "links": [
        [
          "fruit",
          "fruit#English"
        ],
        [
          "flower",
          "flower#English"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "19 81",
          "word": "recreational drug"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "plural",
        "plural-only"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "fruit and flowers"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "English pluralia tantum"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Such illicit purchases might be explained away in a budget as spending on fruit and flowers.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "p"
      },
      "expansion": "fruit and flowers pl (plural only)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English euphemisms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:Business",
        "en:Music"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2009 May 23, Dylan Jones, “Who's pinched all the paper clips?”, in Daily Mail",
          "text": "Most journalists I know are actually rather scrupulous with their expenses – although I do know of one who tried to pass off one of their children's birthday parties as a networking opportunity (hats off!). However, I've been thinking of some of the things I might have been able to claim myself: getting my driving gloves dry-cleaned, for instance, medicinal single malts, ‘back rubs’ in foreign hotels, or that great music-industry euphemism, ‘fruit and flowers’.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2010 September 28, Cahal Milmo, “A bad buy – with a little help from his friends?”, in The Independent",
          "text": "Mr Hands was criticised for his robust managerial style, forcing through redundancies and highlighting excessive costs such as the £200,000 spent annually on \"fruit and flowers\" and £20,000 a month on candles.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2019 April 3, Chris Cooke, “Streaming boom and emerging markets drive fourth year of growth for global recorded music industry”, in Complete Music Update",
          "text": "Don’t be thinking the record companies are getting all complacent and haemorrhaging all of that new cash on exorbitant executive bonuses, plush new offices and an endless supply of fruit and flowers though. Oh no. They are investing.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Illicit purchased items such as recreational drugs or prostitutes."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "music",
          "music"
        ],
        [
          "business",
          "business"
        ],
        [
          "Illicit",
          "illicit"
        ],
        [
          "recreational drug",
          "recreational drug"
        ],
        [
          "prostitute",
          "prostitute"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(euphemistic, jargon, especially in the music business) Illicit purchased items such as recreational drugs or prostitutes."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "in the music business"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "especially",
        "euphemistic",
        "jargon",
        "plural",
        "plural-only"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see fruit, flower."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "fruit",
          "fruit#English"
        ],
        [
          "flower",
          "flower#English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "plural",
        "plural-only"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "recreational drug"
    }
  ],
  "word": "fruit and flowers"
}