See Also: Townsend family(encyclopedia)
Townsend(dictionary)
Harris, Townsend(encyclopedia)
Melon(money)
Melon(medicine)
melon(dictionary)
melon(2)(dictionary)
melon(1)(dictionary)
melon(encyclopedia)
Melon Salad(recipes)

melon(1) (iou) and Townsend family (sh)


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.

Townsend family (sh)




U.S. cabinetmakers in Newport, R.I., of the 17th-18th century.

The brothers Job (1699-1765) and Christopher (1701-1773) were the first generation involved in furniture making. Job's daughter married his apprentice John Goddard (see Goddard family). Five of Job's sons and two of Christopher's sons became cabinetmakers. The Goddard-Townsend group was best known for case furniture characterized by block fronts (divided into three panels, with the central panel recessed) and decorative carved shell motifs, frequently in the graceful and somewhat ornate style developed by Thomas Chippendale.