Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A tree (Nephelium lappaceum) of southeast Asia, bearing edible oval red fruit with soft spines.
- n. The fruit of this tree.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The fruit of Nephelium lappaceum, a lofty tree of the Malay archipelago. It is of an oval form, somewhat flattened, 2 inches long, of a reddish color, and covered with soft spines or hairs. The edible part is an aril, and is of a pleasant subacid taste. The tree is related to the lichi and longan, and is cultivated in numerous varieties.
Wiktionary
- n. A tree, Nephelium lappaceum, of Southeast Asia.
- n. The fruit of this tree.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Bot.) A Malayan fruit produced by the tree Nephelium lappaceum, and closely related to the litchi nut. It is bright red, oval in shape, covered with coarse hairs (whence the name), and contains a pleasant acid pulp. Called also
ramboostan .
WordNet 3.0
- n. Malayan tree bearing spiny red fruit
- n. pleasantly acid bright red oval Malayan fruit covered with soft spines
Etymologies
- From Malay rambutan, English usage first attested 1707. (Wiktionary)
- Malay, from rambut, hair (from its hairy covering). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“She might mean a culogo, but they would not be found in rambutan trees.”
“This subject is mentioned elsewhere: see chapter on the Arts and Sciences of the Singhalese.] _The use of fruit_ -- Fruits are abundant and wholesome; but with the exception of oranges, pineapples, the luscious mango and the indescribable "rambutan," for want of horticultural attention they are inferior in flavour, and soon cease to be alluring.”
“They are slowly smoked using wood from the rambutan tree before being sent to local markets and abroad.”
“But I personally prefer mangosteen or rambutan, though.”
“A block from Honolulu Harbor, a wide pedestrian lane called Kekaulike runs between two rows of old brick buildings, lined with palm trees and cardboard boxes piled high with fragrant papayas, apple bananas, pineapples, and spiky, ruby-colored rambutan.”
“Yudhoyono told a reporter for Koran Tempo Daily that when he invited Obama to come to Jakarta next year, Barack said that "besides forging greater cooperation between the two nations, a visit would give him a chance to try local food again, including meatball soup, nasi goreng and rambutan.”
Food, Culture & Politics: Barack as Indonesian Gourmand...And Peace Maker
“On the other hand, my first memories of Thailand, for example, are incredibly vivid: Stepping out on the tarmac of Don Mueang in the heat of a murky tropical night, hearing shouts of "Yankee go home" before being wai'ed and given jasmine-scented garlands and some juicy, sticky rambutan by my AFS hosts on the way into town.”
“A fine mist filters down through the rambutan trees.”
“We pause under the shade of a rambutan tree, next to a hedge shaped like a monkey eating a banana.”
“I love the taste of rambutan but I'm not a fan of the texture so I hardly ever buy them.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘rambutan’.
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Exotic Fruits
List naming fruits found in foreign markets and lands that are seldom seen or heard of in America.
durian, ababai, cornelian cherry, sloe, ackee, Adam's fig, apple cactus, pitahaya, dragon fruit, pitaya, asam gelugor, tamarind and 347 more...
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cicatrix
scar tissue
minatory, naira, Cluniac, embracive, prolix, hierophant, timorous, adduce, veracious, dysphoric, sang-froid, vitiate and 503 more...
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Fruits
orange, banana, lime, lemon, pineapple, apple, papaya, blueberry, mulberry, cranberry, pear, raspberry and 16 more...
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Waffalage
waffle, confuzzled, boggle, aberrant, ploogie, kumquat, blether, witter, prattle, defenestrate, coprolite, rambutan and 14 more...
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Fruit, Sex and Other Morsels
Because drippy passionfruit, and he was pricked pineapple but sometime around cherry durian blond twins started persimmon, lychee papaya and before we knew it, quince plum mango mango and O O O Ora...
sweetsop, canistel, velvet apple, sticky, viscid, ganache, damson, rambutan, papain, fruit bat, spread, cream and 6 more...
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Trees!
mahogany, sequoia, balsa, sandalwood, tamarind, balsam, eucalyptus, birch, willow, buttonwood, evergreen, loblolly and 501 more...
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BetaRish's Words
brigand, teetotum, internship, thribble, neologism, readies, resfest, tohubohu, tanzen, regression, nutlet, bandolier and 111 more...
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looked up
Words I've come across while reading and looked up in the dictionary.
deesis, pendentive, revetment, aedicule, stemma, patera, ephod, entrepot, corbel, exedra, volute, archivolt and 1408 more...
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new acquisitions
found in the wild (i.e., not on Wordie!)
samara, indehiscent, paschal, rogation, wen, rete, diriment, epicene, duramen, euhemerism, objurgate, canaille and 429 more...
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bayesian's Words
triangulate, dissemble, parsimonious, trickle, piscine, pulcritude, persiflage, glimmer, descant, munificent, entablature, embonpoint and 52 more...
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Honey List
Honey varieties of all sorts. These are "monofloral", meaning the predominant source of nectar was from a single plant species.
"Polyfloral" honey is derived from a variety of nectar ...basswood, gallberry, clover, tupelo, sourwood, alfalfa, huajillo, orange blossom, kiawe, lehua, thistle, sage and 20 more...
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fruit
Fruits I know and love.. or am thinking about.
lemon, apple, cherry, grape, kiwi, strawberry, mango, tomato, cloudberry, hurma, pineapple, peach and 6 more...
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Fruity words
All fruits are not created equal. Nor are all words for fruits. These are my favorite fruit words and not necessarily my favorite fruits!
pomegranate, pome, pomelo, kiwi, rambutan, tomato, breadfruit, durian, tangerine, raspberry, huckleberry, elderberry and 5 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for rambutan.
hernesheir I misspoke - I disagree with the two very general definitions listed, solely on the grounds that they are way too general - "a tree bearing edible fruit" could include apples/oranges or limes/coconuts as well (and mixing either of those is frowned upon nod to Harry Nilsson). "Edible reproductive body of a seed plant..." could be anything from grapes to rose hips. I know, I'm picky. A similar overly-general definition might be "a human is an animal with two eyes" - true, but almost useless. Oct 30, 2009
bilby Why? Oct 30, 2009
hernesheir I must disagree with most of the given definitions listed for this one. Oct 30, 2009
goatboy Durian Durian
Simon Le Bon's first failed attempt at stardom. Jan 24, 2008
skipvia Dorian's lesser-known first cousin... Jan 24, 2008
goatboy As featured in the Oscar Wilde classic The Picture of Durian Gray Jan 24, 2008
brusselsprouts Least you didn't choose the Durian....
Jan 24, 2008
goatboy Now that's what I call kinky Jan 24, 2008