Definitions

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

  • noun Any of various mostly climbing or trailing plants of the family Cucurbitaceae, which includes the squash, pumpkin, cucumber, gourd, watermelon, and cantaloupe.
  • noun A gourd-shaped flask forming the body of an alembic, formerly used in distillation.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A plant of the natural order Cucurbitaceæ.
  • noun A chemical vessel originally shaped like a gourd, but sometimes shallow, with a wide mouth, used in distillation.
  • noun A gourd-shaped vessel for holding liquids.
  • noun A cupping-glass.

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

  • noun (Chem.) A vessel or flask for distillation, used with, or forming part of, an alembic; a matrass; -- originally in the shape of a gourd, with a wide mouth. See alembic.

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

  • noun Any member of the Cucurbita genus of gourds.
  • noun obsolete A receptacle, originally gourd-shaped and used for liquids or chemicals; a bottle or other container.

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

  • noun any plant of the family Cucurbitaceae

Etymologies

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

[Middle English cucurbite, from Old French, from Latin cucurbita, gourd.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French cucurbite, from Latin cucurbita.

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Examples

Comments

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  • alternatively:

    1. the trajectory of a cucumber which has been launched into space.

    2. a specialized harnessing device used by those with a tendency to engage in lachanolagnosis-related activities, particularly those requiring the restraint of gourds.

    July 13, 2008

  • How do you launch a cucumber into space, thereby penetrating the thick layer of mayonnaise that surrounds the Earth?

    July 14, 2008

  • You aim for the hole in the mayosphere that has been brought about by global climate change.

    July 14, 2008

  • The mayosphere is disappearing at the rate of 3,000 salad rolls per day. This is serious, folks.

    July 14, 2008

  • Mayo my!

    July 14, 2008

  • a unit of measure equal to the length of a cucumber, measured in dog years

    June 21, 2015