melon

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This time the melon was a whole one, and Vincent divided it with a couple of other prisoners, for the fruit was too large for one person to consume, being quite as large as a man's head The next day another melon was bought, but this time Vincent did not open it in public.

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Definitions (17)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun Any of several varieties of two related vines (Cucumis melo or Citrullus lanatus) widely cultivated for their edible fruit.
  2. noun The fruit of any of these plants, having a hard rind and juicy flesh.

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Examples

  • This time the melon was a whole one, and Vincent divided it with a couple of other prisoners, for the fruit was too large for one person to consume, being quite as large as a man's head The next day another melon was bought, but this time Vincent did not open it in public. —  With Lee in Virginia A Story of the American Civil War
  • The Thebans offered apples instead of sheep as a sacrifice to Hercules, a custom derived from the following circumstance At one time, when a sacrifice was necessary, the river Asopus had so inundated the country that it was impossible to take a sheep across it for the purpose, when some youths, recollecting that the Greek word melon signified both sheep and an apple, stuck wooden pegs into the fruit to represent legs, and brought this vegetable quadruped as a substitute for the usual offering. —  Science in the Kitchen.
  • This time the melon was a whole one, and —  With Lee in Virginia: a story of the American Civil War
  • This time the melon was a whole one, and Vincent divided it with —  With Lee in Virginia A Story of the American Civil War
  • The remains of the whale of a melon were there to convince him. —  The Wrong Twin
 

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Melon has been looked up 292 times, favorited 0 times, listed 27 times, and commented on twice.

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Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin mēlō, mēlōn-, short for Latin mēlopepō, from Greek mēlopepōn : mēlon, apple + pepōn, gourd.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Formerly also mellon, millon, million (the last still in dial, use); from Old French melon, mellon, millon, French melon = Spanish melon = Portuguese melão = Italian melone, a melon, from Late Latin melo(n-), for L. melopepo(n-) (later Old French melopepon), from Greek μηλοπέπων, a melon, so called as being apple-shaped, from Greek μῆλον (Latin malum), apple (including also pears, peaches, etc.), + πέπων, a melon: see pepo.
  2. Abbr. of pademelon or paddy-melon.
 

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/ˈmɛlən/
by American Heritage

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