tamarind

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A tropical Asian evergreen tree (Tamarindus indica) having pinnately compound leaves, pale yellow flowers, and long pods containing small seeds embedded in an edible pulp.
2. n. The fruit of this tree.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The fruit of the leguminous tree Tamarindus Indica; also, the tree itself. The tamarind is widely cultivated through the tropics, being desirable for its fruit, shade, and timber, and for the fragrance of its flowers. It reaches a height of 60 or 80 feet, with a widely spreading crown of dense foliage. The fruit is a flat thickened pod, 3 to 6 inches long, with a brittle brown shell containing a fibrous juicy pleasantly acid pulp inclosing the seeds. The pulp is used in hot countries to make cooling drinks, and preserved in syrup or sugar, or alone, it forms the tamarinds of commerce. It is used also in preparing tamarind-fish. It is officinally recognized as a refrigerant and laxative. Besides the pulp, the seeds, flowers, leaves, and bark all have their medicinal applications in India or elsewhere. The leaves in India form an ingredient in curries. The wood is very hard and heavy, yellowish-white in color with purple blotches, and is used in turnery.
2. n. The brown tamarind.
3. n. In Jamaica, a large tree, Pithecolobium filicifolium (Acacia arborea).
4. n. In Trinidad, Pentaclethra filamentosa, a leguminous tree also found in Guiana, Nicaragua, etc.

Wiktionary

1. n. A tropical tree, Tamarindus indica.
2. n. The fruit of this tree; the pulp is used as spice in Asian cooking and in Worcestershire sauce.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Bot.) A leguminous tree (Tamarindus Indica) cultivated both the Indies, and the other tropical countries, for the sake of its shade, and for its fruit. The trunk of the tree is lofty and large, with wide-spreading branches; the flowers are in racemes at the ends of the branches. The leaves are small and finely pinnated.
2. n. One of the preserved seed pods of the tamarind, which contain an acid pulp, and are used medicinally and for preparing a pleasant drink.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. large tropical seed pod with very tangy pulp that is eaten fresh or cooked with rice and fish or preserved for curries and chutneys
2. n. long-lived tropical evergreen tree with a spreading crown and feathery evergreen foliage and fragrant flowers yielding hard yellowish wood and long pods with edible chocolate-colored acidic pulp