Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A powder made from cacao seeds after they have been fermented, roasted, shelled, ground, and freed of most of their fat.
  • noun A beverage made by mixing this powder with sugar in hot water or milk.
  • noun A moderate brown to reddish brown.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A beverage made from ground cocoa-nibs. See cocoa-nibs, cacao, and Theobroma.
  • noun A palm belonging to the genus Cocos, producing the cocoanut.
  • noun A corrupted form of cacao.
  • noun The ground kernels of the cacao or chocolate-tree. See cacao and Theobroma.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • (Bot.) A tall palm tree producing the cocoanut (Cocos nucifera) as its fruit. It grows in nearly all tropical countries, attaining a height of sixty or eighty feet. The trunk is without branches, and has a tuft of leaves at the top, each being fifteen or twenty feet in length, and at the base of these the nuts hang in clusters; the cocoanut tree. It is widely planted throughout the tropics, and in some locations as an ornamental tree.
  • noun A preparation made from the seeds of the chocolate tree, and used in making, a beverage; also the beverage made from cocoa or cocoa shells.
  • noun the husks which separate from the cacao seeds in preparing them for use.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun uncountable the dried and partially fermented fatty seeds of the cacao tree from which chocolate is made
  • noun uncountable an unsweetened brown powder made from roasted, ground cocoa beans, used in making chocolate, and in cooking.
  • noun uncountable a hot drink made with milk, cocoa powder, and sugar
  • noun countable a cup or mug of this drink
  • noun countable a light to medium brown colour
  • adjective of a light to medium brown colour, like that of cocoa powder

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a beverage made from cocoa powder and milk and sugar; usually drunk hot
  • noun powder of ground roasted cacao beans with most of the fat removed

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Alteration (influenced by obsolete coco, coconut palm) of cacao.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Metathesis of Spanish cacao.

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Examples

Comments

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  • Captured at Yorktown, "20 bags cocoa, 3,000 lb."

    October 29, 2007

  • Make your cocoa rococo for a real taste treat!

    January 6, 2008

  • CB, did the cocoa put up much of a fight at Yorktown?

    August 28, 2008