Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In botany, the outer skin of fruits, the fleshy substance or edible portion being termed the mesocarp, and the inner portion the endocarp. See cut under endocarp.

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

  • (Bot.) The external or outermost layer of a fructified or ripened ovary. See Illust. under endocarp.

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

  • noun botany Exocarp.

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

  • noun outermost layer of the pericarp of fruits as the skin of a peach or grape

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

epi- + Ancient Greek καρπός ("fruit").

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Examples

  • OED 2nd edition: epicanthus epicardium epicarp but no epicaricacy.

    Giving evidence to the Chilcot inquiry, Tony Blair said: “I... 2010

  • The fruit's outer coat (epicarp) is peeled, pulp is sliced off the stony "seed" (endocarp), sun-dried, ground, mixed with blood to a brown, sticky, fibrous mixture (lokot) and eaten or sold in markets (Turkana).

    Chapter 7 1999

  • Eight humans - all but Gren - hurled themselves among the feathery leafage on its back, stabbing deep into the epicarp to wound its rudimentary nervous system.

    HOTHOUSE Aldiss, Brian 1962

  • HARDMAN, R. and SOFOWORA, E.A. (1971) Effect of enzymes on the yield of steroidal sapogenin from the epicarp and mesocarp of Balanites aegyptiaca fruit.

    Chapter 5 1953

  • The next layer of the pericarp is the mesocarp (Figs. 333, 334, 335), the cells of which are larger and more regular in outline than the epicarp.

    All About Coffee 1909

  • Surface view of _ep_, epicarp, and _p_, outer parenchyma of mesocarp. x160.

    All About Coffee 1909

  • The cells of the epicarp are broad and polygonal, sometimes regularly four-sided, about 15-35 µ broad.

    All About Coffee 1909

  • At intervals along the surface of the epicarp are stomata, or breathing pores, surrounded by guard cells.

    All About Coffee 1909

  • Mooden Sheriff ascribes its emetic properties to the pulp alone, the epicarp and seeds being inactive according to his authority.

    The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines Jerome Beers Thomas 1891

  • This, however, is only a fleshy outer rind -- epicarp -- which, as it ripens, opens into two equal parts, when within is seen a spherical polished nut, surrounding an aril, the mace, which is of a bright yellow colour.

    In the Eastern Seas William Henry Giles Kingston 1847

Comments

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  • found this in the amazing Blackie's Standard Shilling Dictionary!

    August 1, 2010

  • the fuzz de la fuzz

    October 4, 2010