persimmon

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Any of various chiefly tropical trees of the genus Diospyros, having hard wood and orange-red fruit that is edible only when completely ripe.
2. n. The fruit of any of these trees.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. One of several species of the genus Dsipyros; primarily, D. Virginiana of North America, the date-plum, a tree common in the South, growing to a height of 60 feet. The hard fine wood of the species is used in turnery, etc., and especially for shuttles. The black of Mexican persimmon, or chapote, is D. Texana of Mexico and Texas, with a small black sweet and insipid fruit; its wood is probably the best American substitute for box. D. Kaki is the Japanese persimmon.
2. n. The fruit of any of the above-named trees. That of D. Virginiana is an inch in diameter, is extremely astringent when green, and is sometimes used as a remedy for diarrhea; when frosted or thoroughly ripe it is sweet and edible. With other ingredients it yields a domestic beer.

Wiktionary

1. n. A type of fruit, of orange colour, very sweet, quite astringent when immature.
2. n. The tree this fruit grows on, generally one of two species of ebony: Diospyros kaki (Asian) or Diospyros virginiana (North American).

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Bot.) An American tree (Diospyros Virginiana) and its fruit, found from New York southward. The fruit is like a plum in appearance, but is very harsh and astringent until it has been exposed to frost, when it becomes palatable and nutritious.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. any of several tropical trees of the genus Diospyros
2. n. orange fruit resembling a plum; edible when fully ripe