| 释义 |
ˈwater-ˌmelon
[So called from the abundance of watery juice. Cf. F. melon d'eau.]
A kind of gourd, Citrullus vulgaris (formerly Cucumis Citrullus). (Applied both to the plant and its fruit.)
1615R. Cocks Diary (Hakl. Soc.) I. 47 A present of 10 water millons. Ibid., 10 water millans. 1666J. Davies Hist. Caribby Isl. 66 There grows in these Countries another kind of Melons..call'd Water-Melons, because they are full of a sugar'd water, intermingled with their meat. 1762Mills Syst. Pract. Husb. I. 153, I design to try liquorice-roots, barley, Cape-Breton wheat, cotton, indigo-seed, wood for dying, and the water melon. 1883Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 270 Two Water-melons used for buoying lines. 1887C. A. Moloney Forestry W. Afr. 360 Water Melon... Commonly cultivated in all warm countries of the world for its fleshy edible fruit.
attrib.1832S. A. O'Ferrall Ramble Amer. 298 Here I—slipped out at the side door into the water-melon patch. |