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gourd

more about gourd

gourd


  6  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Gourd  \Gourd\,  n.  [F.  gourde,  OF  cougourde  gouhourde  fr  L. 
  cucurbita  gourd  (cf.  NPr.  cougourdo);  perh.  akin  to  corbin 
  basket,  E.  corb.  Cf  {Cucurbite}.] 
  1.  (Bot.)  A  fleshy,  three-celled,  many-seeded  fruit,  as  the 
  melon,  pumpkin,  cucumber,  etc.,  of  the  order 
  {Cucurbitace[ae]};  and  especially  the  bottle  gourd 
  ({Lagenaria  vulgaris})  which  occurs  in  a  great  variety  of 
  forms,  and  when  the  interior  part  is  removed,  serves  for 
  bottles,  dippers,  cups,  and  other  dishes. 
 
  2.  A  dipper  or  other  vessel  made  from  the  shell  of  a  gourd; 
  hence  a  drinking  vessel;  a  bottle.  --Chaucer. 
 
  {Bitter  gourd},  colocynth. 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Gourd  \Gourd\,  n. 
  A  false  die.  See  {Gord}. 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Gourd  \Gourd\,  Gourde  \Gourde\  n.  [Sp.  gordo  large.] 
  A  silver  dollar;  --  so  called  in  Cuba,  Hayti,  etc 
  --Simmonds. 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  Gord  \Gord\,  n.  [Written  also  {gourd}.]  [Perh.  hollow,  and  so 
  named  in  allusion  to  a  gourd.] 
  An  instrument  of  gaming;  a  sort  of  dice.  [Obs.]  --Beau.  &  Fl 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  gourd 
  n  1:  made  from  the  dried  shell  of  a  bottle  gourd  [syn:  {calabash}] 
  2:  any  of  numerous  hard-rinded  inedible  fruits 
  3:  any  vine  of  the  family  Cucurbitaceae  that  bears  hard-rinded 
  fruits  [syn:  {gourd  vine}] 
 
  From  Easton's  1897  Bible  Dictionary  [easton]: 
 
  Gourd 
  (1.)  Jonah's  gourd  (Jonah  4:6-10),  bearing  the  Hebrew  name 
  _kikayon_  (found  only  here),  was  probably  the  kiki  of  the 
  Egyptians,  the  croton.  This  is  the  castor-oil  plant,  a  species 
  of  ricinus,  the  palma  Christi,  so  called  from  the  palmate 
  division  of  its  leaves.  Others  with  more  probability  regard  it 
  as  the  cucurbita  the  el-keroa  of  the  Arabs,  a  kind  of  pumpkin 
  peculiar  to  the  East.  "It  is  grown  in  great  abundance  on  the 
  alluvial  banks  of  the  Tigris  and  on  the  plain  between  the  river 
  and  the  ruins  of  Nineveh."  At  the  present  day  it  is  trained  to 
  run  over  structures  of  mud  and  brush  to  form  boots  to  protect 
  the  gardeners  from  the  heat  of  the  noon-day  sun.  It  grows  with 
  extraordinary  rapidity,  and  when  cut  or  injured  withers  away 
  also  with  great  rapidity. 
 
  (2.)  Wild  gourds  (2  Kings  4:38-40),  Heb.  pakkuoth  belong  to 
  the  family  of  the  cucumber-like  plants,  some  of  which  are 
  poisonous.  The  species  here  referred  to  is  probably  the 
  colocynth  (Cucumis  colocynthus).  The  LXX.  render  the  word  by 
  "wild  pumpkin."  It  abounds  in  the  desert  parts  of  Syria,  Egypt, 
  and  Arabia.  There  is  however,  another  species,  called  the 
  Cucumis  prophetarum  from  the  idea  that  it  afforded  the  gourd 
  which  "the  sons  of  the  prophets"  shred  by  mistake  into  their 
  pottage. 
 




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