See Also: Melon(medicine)
Melon(money)
melon(1)(dictionary)
melon(2)(dictionary)
melon(encyclopedia)
melon(dictionary)
Melon Salad(recipes)
Three-Melon Soup(recipes)
bitter melon(medicine)
Summer Melon Soup(recipes)

melon(1) (iou)



melon noun1 & adjective. LME.
[Old & mod. French from late Latin melon-, melo contr. of Latin melopepo MELOPEPON.]
A. noun.
The fruit of a gourd, Cucumis melo, with sweet green, yellowish-pink, etc., flesh; the plant bearing this. Also, a watermelon. LME.
cantaloup melon, honeydew melon, musk melon, etc. cut the melon slang (a) decide a question; (b) divide a large profit among a number of people.
b. fig. A large profit to be divided among a number of people. slang. E20.
c. = melon pink below. M20.
Zoology. In many toothed whales, a mass of waxy material in the head, thought to focus acoustic signals; the dome this forms on the forehead. L19.
b. adjective. Of a melon pink colour. L20.
Comb.: melon-cactus = MELOCACTUS; melon-caterpillar = melonworm below; melon-oil oil from the melon of a cetacean; melon pink (of) a yellowish-pink colour; melon-seed a seed from a melon; melon-seed body (Medicine), a small loose rounded mass found in the cavities of inflamed joints and in certain types of cyst (usu. in pl.); melon-shell (the shell of) any of various very large smooth-shelled volutes of the tropical Indo-Pacific, esp. one of the genus Melo; melon-thistle = MELOCACTUS; melon-wood a yellow Mexican wood resembling sandalwood, used for furniture; melonworm the greenish caterpillar of an American pyralid moth, Diaphania hyalinata, which is a pest of pumpkins, melons, and other cucurbits.
meloniere noun [French melonniere] a melonry M17-E18.
melonist noun (long rare) a person who cultivates melons M17.
melonry noun a place for the cultivation of melons E18.