gherkin

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306. West Indian gherkin (_Cucumis Anguria The name gherkin is applied to small pickling cucumbers.

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Definitions (10)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun A West Indian vine (Cucumis anguria) having prickly mature fruits that are sold as curiosities. The immature fruits are widely used for pickling.
  2. noun The fruit of this plant. Also called gooseberry gourd.
  3. noun A small cucumber, especially one used for pickling.

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Examples (50)

  • AT THE KEYBOARD -- They stab at a keyboard like a plastic toothpick at a gherkin. —  The Toque
  • When you finally have everything you need (remember to keep 1 egg, 1 dough, 1 curd, 1 butter, and 1 gherkin), sell all the animals, turn off the well, and just leave the cats and dogs on the farm until you get the Playing Slowly trophy —  Gamezebo: Casual Game Reviews, Previews, Cheats, Tips, Forums, Free Games, and More
  • But it's the sex ones that I am interested in mostly, not because of my mammoth gherkin, but because the messages paint a strange picture of marketers 'expectations of their potential clients' conception of sex. —  Planet Atheism
  • Critics had branded the proposed building a "gherkin", after the famous structure of the same name in London, though it would have shared no resemblance.
  • 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. —  The St. Petersburg Times
 

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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Dutch gurken, pl. of gurk, cucumber, short for agurk, possibly from Polish ogorek, perhaps from Late Greek angourion.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Formerly also gerkin, girkin, gurkin, guerkin (the h or u being intended “to keep the g hard”), from Dutch agurkje (prob. once *agurkken, with diminutive suffix -ken = English -kin, equivalent to diminutive -je) = Danish agurk = Swedish gurka = German gurke, a cucumber, gherkin, from Bohemian okurka = Servian ugorka = Polish ogorek, ogurek = Upper Sorbian korka = Lower Sorbian gurka = Russian oguretsŭ = Hung, ugorka = Lithuanian agurkas = Lett, gurkjis (cf. Middle Latin angurius, Middle Greek ἄγγουρον, ἀγγούριον, New Greek ἀγγούρι, ἀγκούρι, a cucumber, gherkin, of Arabic or Persian origin): cf. Arabic ′ajūr, a cucumber (Persian augūr, a grape). The source can hardly be, as asserted, in the Arabic Persian Turk, khiyār, Hindustani khīrā, a cucumber.
 

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/ˈgərkɪn/
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