piñonn.
/piːˈnjɒn/, /ˈpɪnj(ə)n/, U.S. /ˈpɪnˌjoʊn/, /ˈpɪnj(ə)n/ 1. An edible seed from the cones of several small pine trees native to south-western North America, esp. Pinus edulis. More fully piñon nut.Quot. 1822 refers to the seed of the physic nut, Jatropha curcas (cf. pignon n.1 2).
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > edible pods, seeds, leaves, or flowers > [noun] > other edible seeds > pine-seeds
pine nuteOE
pines1327
pineapple kernela1398
pineapple seed?1440
pignon1526
pineapple1560
pinyon1577
pine kernel1598
neoza1832
piñon1834
pignoli1841
cembra nut1842
pinyon1846
cedar-nut1863
pignolia1891
Indian nut1922
pit1947
1822 S. Coleridge tr. M. Dobrizhoffer Hist. Abipones II. 261 In the Northern part of Paraguay there grows a nut called Piñon del Paraguay by the Spaniards, and by physicians nux Cathartica.]
1834 W. S. W. Ruschenberger Three Years in Pacific 86 There is another nut, called ‘piñon’, very similar to the chestnut in taste.
1848 Abert's New Mexico Rep. 1846–47 (U.S. Army Corps Topogr. Engineers) (1962) 46 The markets have..great quantities of..‘uvas’ or grapes, and ‘piñones,’ nuts of the pine tree, (pinus monophyllus).
1864 Rio Abajo Weekly Press (Albuquerque, New Mexico) 9 Feb. 3 Two [Navajo] women..had been ten days travelling, during which time their food was cedarberries and piñon nuts.
1920 C. F. Saunders Useful Wild Plants of U.S. & Canada 20 The Piñon or Pine-nut..[is] the plump, oily seed of certain..Far Western pines... Under the name of piñons they are sold in town throughout the South-west.
1946 D. C. Peattie Road of Naturalist (U.K. ed.) iii. 37 Up there the Piutes were feasting on piñon nuts and mountain sheep.
1993 Crosswinds (New Mexico) Jan. 15/2 A coalition..dedicated to the promotion and marketing of piñon nuts (more properly known by their Spanish name, piñones).
2. A pine bearing these seeds (more fully piñon pine, piñon tree); also called nut pine. Also: the wood of such a tree.
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > edible pods, seeds, leaves, or flowers > [adjective] > relating to pine-seed or pine-tree with edible seeds
pine nuteOE
cembra1785
piñon1839
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > edible pods, seeds, leaves, or flowers > [noun] > other edible seeds > pine-seeds > pine-trees bearing edible seeds
stone-pine1759
cembra pine1785
neoza1832
piñon1839
pinyon1846
parasol pine1864
arolla1881
1839 Z. Leonard Narr. Adventures 35/1 Its top is covered with the pinone tree.
1851 M. Reid Scalp Hunters II. iv. 55 Our faces partially screened by the foliage of the piñon trees.
1882 C. M. Chase Editor's Run in New Mexico 206 The common fuel is pinon, the best fire-place wood in the world.
1920 C. F. Saunders Useful Wild Plants of U.S. & Canada 75 The Two-leaved Pine (Pinus edulis..)..[is] generally known by its Spanish name piñon.
1967 N. T. Mirov Genus Pinus iii. 150 Piñons form a well-defined group... Their habitat extends to the southwestern Pacific Coastal Ranges, the Colorado Plateau, and the Mexican Volcanic Plateau.
1994 Connecticut Hort. Soc. Newslet. Apr. 10/1 Unto Santa Fe with its refreshing mountain breezes and the aroma of Pinon Pines.
Compounds
piñon jay n. = pinyon jay n. at pinyon n. Compounds.
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1887 in S. W. Denton Pages from Naturalist's Diary (1949) 115 We started off for the piñon hills after the piñon jays.
1966 M. E. Murie & O. Murie Wapiti Wilderness xi. 149 And then someone brought a piñon jay..and this one seemed to be injured.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1834