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Webster 1913 Edition

Melon

Mel′on

(mĕl′ŭn)
,
Noun.
[F., fr. L.
melo
, for
melopepo
an apple-shaped melon, Gr.
μηλοπέπων
;
μῆλον
apple +
πέπων
a species of large melon; cf. L.
malum
apple. Cf.
Marmalade
.]
1.
(Bot.)
The juicy fruit of certain cucurbitaceous plants, as the muskmelon, watermelon, and citron melon; also, the plant that produces the fruit.
2.
(Zool.)
A large, ornamental, marine, univalve shell of the genus
Melo
.
Melon beetle
(Zool.)
,
a small leaf beetle (
Diabrotiea vittata
), which damages the leaves of melon vines.
–
Melon cactus
,
Melon thistle
.
(a)
(Bot.)
A genus of cactaceous plants (
Melocactus
) having a fleshy and usually globose stem with the surface divided into spiny longitudinal ridges, and bearing at the top a prickly and woolly crown in which the small pink flowers are half concealed
.
Melocactus communis
, from the West Indies, is often cultivated, and sometimes called
Turk’s cap
.
(b)
The related genus
Mamillaria
, in which the stem is tubercled rather than ribbed, and the flowers sometimes large. See Illust. under
Cactus
.

Webster 1828 Edition

Melon

MEL'ON

,
Noun.
[L. melo; Gr. an apple; L. mollis.] The name of certain plants and their fruit, as the water-melon, the musk-melon.

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