Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Almond
Alm′ond
(ä′mŭnd)
, Noun.
[OE.
almande
, almaunde
, alemaunde
, F. amande
, L. amygdala
, fr. Gr. ἀμυγδάλη
: cf. Sp. almendra
. Cf. Amygdalate
.] 1.
The fruit of the almond tree.
☞ The different kinds, as bitter, sweet, thin-shelled, thick-shelled almonds, and Jordan almonds, are the products of different varieties of the one species,
Amygdalus communis
, a native of the Mediterranean region and western Asia. 2.
The tree that bears the fruit; almond tree.
3.
Anything shaped like an almond.
Specifically:
(Anat.)
One of the tonsils.
Almond oil
, fixed oil expressed from sweet or bitter almonds.
– Oil of bitter almonds
, a poisonous volatile oil obtained from bitter almonds by maceration and distillation; benzoic aldehyde.
– Imitation oil of bitter almonds
, nitrobenzene.
– Almond tree
(Bot.)
, the tree bearing the almond.
– Almond willow
(Bot.)
, a willow which has leaves that are of a light green on both sides; almond-leaved willow (
Salix amygdalina
). Shenstone.
Webster 1828 Edition
Almond
AL'MOND
, n.1.
The fruit of the almond tree; an ovate, compressed nut, perforated in the pores. It is either sweet or bitter. [It is popularly pronounced ammond.]2.
The tonsils, two glands near the basis of the tongue, are called almonds, from their resemblance to that nut; vulgularly, but improperly, called the almonds of the ears, as they belong to the throat.3.
In Portugal, a measure by which wine is sold, twenty-six of which make a pipe.[But in Portuguese it is written almude.]
4.
Among lapidaries, almonds signify pieces of rock crystal, used in adorning branch candlesticks, so called from their resemblance to this fruit.