<P> The comparison is more or less literal when the term is applied to people, where it means narrow at the shoulders and wide at the hips, a use that goes back to at least 1815, and one that can have either positive connotations (as in Venus figurines) or negative, depending upon the context . </P> <P> In the 20th century, another, more abstract use of the term evolved . When said of someone's voice, "pear - shaped" means rich and sonorous . The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) dates this use to 1925 . </P> <P> The third meaning is mostly limited to the United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa and Australasia . It describes a situation that went awry, perhaps horribly wrong . A failed bank robbery, for example, could be said to have "gone pear - shaped". The origin for this use of the term is in dispute . The OED cites its origin as within the Royal Air Force as a cleaned - up alternative version of its phrase "tits - up" meaning completely broken or dead; as of 2003 the earliest citation there is a quote in the 1983 book Air War South Atlantic . </P> <Ul> <Li> <P> The pear - shaped fruit of the cashew </P> </Li> <Li> <P> Pear - shaped - pear croustade </P> </Li> <Li> <P> Pear - shaped jar from the Greek island Milos (formerly known as Melos) </P> </Li> <Li> <P> Inflated party balloons </P> </Li> </Ul>

Where does the phrase it's all gone pear shaped come from