Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An evergreen tree (Artocarpus altilis) first domesticated in New Guinea and Oceania and cultivated for its large round starchy edible fruits.
  • noun The fruit of this tree.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The fruit of the tree Artocarpus incisa. See below.
  • noun A rubiaceous shrub of northern Australia, Gardenia edulis, bearing a small edible fruit.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Bot.) The fruit of a tree (Artocarpus incisa) found in the islands of the Pacific, esp. the South Sea islands. It is of a roundish form, from four to six or seven inches in diameter, and, when baked, somewhat resembles bread, and is eaten as food, whence the name.
  • noun (Bot.) The tree itself, which is one of considerable size, with large, lobed leaves. Cloth is made from the bark, and the timber is used for many purposes. Called also breadfruit tree and bread tree.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An evergreen tree, Artocarpus altilis, native to islands of the east Indian Ocean and western Pacific Ocean.
  • noun The large round fruit of this tree.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun native to Pacific islands and having edible fruit with a texture like bread
  • noun a large round seedless or seeded fruit with a texture like bread; eaten boiled or baked or roasted or ground into flour; the roasted seeds resemble chestnuts

Etymologies

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Examples

  • CAPTAIN COOK, Hawaii—The breadfruit is a remarkable food: The prickly football-size pod is full of nutrients and energy.

    'Food of the Future' Has One Hitch: It's All But Inedible Julia Flynn Siler 2011

  • The breadfruit is a superb tree, about 60 feet high, with deep green, shining leaves, a foot broad, sharply and symmetrically cut, worthy, from their exceeding beauty of form, to take the place of the acanthus in architectural ornament, and throwing their pale green fruit into delicate contrast.

    The Hawaiian Archipelago Isabella Lucy 2004

  • The breadfruit is a superb tree, about 60 feet high, with deep green, shining leaves, a foot broad, sharply and symmetrically cut, worthy, from their exceeding beauty of form, to take the place of the acanthus in architectural ornament, and throwing their pale green fruit into delicate contrast.

    The Hawaiian Archipelago 1867

  • "Tree crops like breadfruit, which is from the Pacific, could be introduced in Africa because trees are more resistant to climate change."

    BBC News - Home 2010

  • The breadfruit is a tree that grows up to around 10 to 35 meters tall with sticky, large, spirally arranged lobed leaves found in the South Pacific.

    All Categories Featured Content - Associated Content 2009

  • They knew how to keep seeds such as breadfruit alive for months during an open ocean canoe voyage, and how to graft plants, enhance growth, and most importantly how to utilize the botanical resources of their islands to maximum effect.

    Arthur Rosenfeld: Speed, Greed, and Sustainability 2009

  • The most common method of dividing time at Otaheite is by moons; but they likewise make a division of the year into six parts, each of which is distinguished by the name of the kind of breadfruit then in season.

    A Voyage to the South Sea For The Purpose Of Conveying The Bread-Fruit Tree To The West Indies, Including An Account Of The Mutiny On Board The Ship William Bligh 1785

  • Long before our reliance on the big three - wheat, maize and barley - we were more varied in our choice of base ingredients, and lost heroes such as breadfruit (an indigenous, starchy staple of the Pacific islands), amaranth (a grain with high protein content and an ability to grow in extremely arid conditions) and tamarind (a tropical fruit tree) can dig us out of our blinkered state.

    The Guardian World News 2009

  • Forests which provide important staple crops in the region, such as breadfruit, mangoes, citrus fruits and coconuts, were also threatened by climate change and overexploitation, it said.

    Climate Ark Climate Change & Global Warming RSS Newsfeed 2009

  • Forests which provide important staple crops in the region, such as breadfruit, mangoes, citrus fruits and coconuts, were also threatened by climate change and overexploitation, it said.

    Rainforest Portal RSS Newsfeed 2009

Comments

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  • Whenever I see this word, I remember the movie "Six Days, Seven Nights," in which someone (Harrison Ford or Anne Heche) said "I don't know, it isn't bread." And the other said, "...and it isn't fruit."

    Ah, screenwriting genius...

    December 12, 2007

  • Heavenly stuff.

    December 12, 2007