Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A West Indian vine (Cucumis anguria) having prickly mature fruits that are sold as curiosities. The immature fruits are widely used for pickling.
- n. The fruit of this plant. Also called gooseberry gourd.
- n. A small cucumber, especially one used for pickling.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A small-fruited variety of the cucumber, or simply a young green cucumber of an ordinary variety, used for pickling.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Bot.) A kind of small, prickly cucumber, much used for pickles.
- n. (Zoöl.) See Sea gherkin.
WordNet 3.0
- n. any of various small cucumbers pickled whole
- n. small prickly cucumber
Etymologies
- From earlier Dutch plural of gurk (="cucumber"), shortened form of East Frisian augurk (Wiktionary)
- Dutch gurken, pl. of gurk, cucumber, short for agurk, possibly from Polish ogorek, perhaps from Late Greek angourion. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“FLY ON THE WALL also wins the award for "most divinely picklish use of the word gherkin in all of lit'rature!”
“The name gherkin is applied to small pickling cucumbers.”
“The gherkin is a small thick oval-shaped species of cucumber with”
“Perhaps I was using 'gherkin' as an adjective, Zod?”
“The Reichstag dome is powered by vegetable oil, while the Swiss Re building, nicknamed the "gherkin," uses a system of gardens to promote natural ventilation.”
“Foster's studio, Foster and Partners, is responsible for some of the world's most iconic new buildings, including the Swiss Re headquarters in London (affectionately known as the "gherkin"), the new German Reichstag in Berlin, the Great Court for the British Museum, HSBC headquarters in Hong Kong and London, Commerzbank Headquarters in Frankfurt and the Bilbao metro system.”
“She shares that with her friends and I believe the word 'gherkin' might be used. ”
“I am doing a arch assignment on the gherkin and was wondering if you could help me with it.”
“Trying to "ketchup" with consumer demand for healthier foods, H.J. Heinz dropped the gherkin pickle from the condiment's more-than-a-century-old label logo and spruced it up with a tomato on the vine with the slogan "Grown not made.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘gherkin’.
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probablyankita's list
Words are all I have to take your heart away
apartheid, techno-klutz, logorrheic, gordian knot, anodyne, odor of sanctity, finders keepers, foot-in-mouth dis..., dutch uncle, masquerade, smoke signals, furtive glance and 320 more...
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Very Silly Words
A list of very silly sounding words, as well as words that are fun to say
badot, gardyloo, dingbat, gaffer, kine, haberdashery, forsooth, whey-faced, hoddypeak, brouhaha, widdershins, decemnovenarianize and 115 more...
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250 Cherry-Picked Words
Juicy words for the intermediate and advanced speller
consomme, miniaceous, nankeen, smaragdine, stramineous, vitellary, allemande, beguine, bransle, charabanc, margaritaceous, chaconne and 238 more...
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everything
everythin?
a, i, aardvark, abdominals, any, anti-, ash, actuall, actually, add, abs, ass and 43 more...
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What the H?
Words that I could probably spell correctly without having to look them up every single damn time were it not for an apparently extraneous and randomly placed h.
jodhpur, diarrhea, ankh, myrrh, hemorrhoids, baghdad, rhombus, rhythm, hemorrhage, sheikh, catarrh, maharajah and 21 more...
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In a pickle
Mmmm... pickles... They go well with luncheon meats.
dill, half-sour, bread-and-butter, garlic dill, gherkin, kosher dill, ogórek kiszony, sweet, lime, swedish, candied, overnight dill and 1 more...
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Starts with "Gh"
gherkin, ghost, ghee, ghetto, Ghaemshahr, ghyll, ghastly, gharry, ghibelline, ghostfish, ghaut, ghillie and 17 more...
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ShuckFinn's Words
abecedarian, conflate, mondegreen, whit, truculent, downright, pugnacious, effluvium, canker, inveigle, obfuscate, melancholy and 227 more...
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Foodie
As much fun to say as they are to eat.
blueberry, cider, almond, apricot, asparagus, banana, fudge, foldover, flapjacks, filbert, fig, biscuit and 217 more...
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elvesoncrack's Words
lachrymose, blustering, fjord, chihuahua, chiffon, catalytic, stile, gefilte, prosh, thwart, ralph, ickle and 379 more...
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elizacole's Words
isomorphic, endemic, tmesis, fillip, antedate, avoirdupois, jeremiad, hypnagogic, antediluvian, fuck, reification, raconteur and 251 more...
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cloudjuice's Words
schadenfreude, sordid, promulgate, erratic, erroneous, amalgamate, sesquipedalian, incongruous, psychosis, etymology, simulacrum, serendipity and 988 more...
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arby's words
me default
shirty, kerfuffle, tenterhooks, susurrus, palimpsest, crimson, rufous, cicatrix, crepuscular, carapace, quaff, exanimate and 239 more...
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Silent "H"
spaghetti, aghast, ghoul, gherkin, ghetto, hour, whether, whisk, whistle, rhythm, rhyme, ghost and 16 more...
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edibles
delicious sounding foodstuffs
relish, lolla rossa, thyme, alfalfa, radish, apple, lemon, lentil, aubergine, spinach, aniseed, fenugreek and 23 more...
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A feast of words
words that make my mouth water (the items are rather tasty too)
pumpkin, cream, plum, hominy, cinnamon, frangipane, clafouti, semolina, anise, vanilla, peanut, porridge and 44 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for gherkin.
bilby OED suggests all the way back to Persian angarah. Jun 17, 2010
rolig This word came into English via Dutch or German from the Polish word for "cucumber", ogorek. Jun 16, 2010
chained_bear This has to be one of the best words ever created. Jun 15, 2009