pompion, pumpion Now rare.
(ˈpʌmpɪən)
Forms: 6–7 pompon, -one; (6 pompine), 6–7 pompeon, 6– pompion, pumpion, (7 pom-, pumpian).
[Orig. a. obs. F. pompon ‘a pumpion or melon’ (Cotgr.), nasalized form of popon, poupon, also in 16th c. pepon, ad. L. pepo, -onem, a. Gr. πέπων, -ον-, large melon, pumpkin. From F. also MDu., Du. pompoen. In Eng. pompon has undergone two anomalous transformations, first to pompeon, pompion, pumpion, and finally to pumkin, pumpkin, q.v.]
1. The large fruit of a cucurbitaceous plant (Cucurbita Pepo); a pumpkin; also the plant itself.
| α 1545 Elyot Dict., Pepo,..a kynde of Melones called Pompones. 1555 Eden Decades 127 Gourdes melones cucumers pompons citrons. 1587 Harrison England ii. xiii. (1877) i. 259 An acre of ground..whereon to set cabbages..pompons, or such like stuffe. 1601 Holland Pliny xix. v. 14 Now when they exceed in greatnes, they be called Pepones, i. Melons or Pompons. |
| β 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 95 Herbes and rootes to boile or to butter... Pompions in May. 1577 [see pomecitron]. 1588 Parke tr. Mendoza's Hist. China 326 They haue great store of Maiz,..pompines and mellons. 1640 Brome Sparagus Garden iii. viii, Pompeons are as good meat for such a hoggish thing as thou art. 1657 R. Ligon Barbadoes 33 Pompians of a rare kind, almost as sweet as Milions. 1828 W. Irving Columbus xii. (1848) I. 380 Melons, gourds, pompions, and cucumbers. |
| γ 1599 R. Gardiner Kitch. Gard. 12 Pumpions, Cucumbers, Beanes and Radish seedes. 1626 Bacon Sylva §486 Take Cucumbers, or Pumpions, and set them (here and there) among Musk Melons. 1771 Lady M. Coke Jrnl. 22 Nov., Yesterday I tasted some bread the half of which was made with pumpion. 1796 C. Marshall Garden xv, Pumpions are raised on a moderate hot-bed in April or May. |
† 2. Sometimes applied to the
pompelmoose.
Obs.| 1677 J. Phillips tr. Tavernier's Voy., India iii. xxiii. 199 Coming to Bantam..We had also Mango's, and a certain large Fruit call'd Pompone [orig. gros fruit qu'ils nomment Pompone], red also within, the meat of it being soft and spungy, but of an excellent taste. 1704 tr. Jan Nieuhof's East Indies in Churchill's Voy. II. 326 The apples call'd pompions by the Dutch [orig. De vruchten of appelen, pompelmoesen by d'onzen..genoemt],..grow scarce anywhere else in the Indies but in the Isle of Great Java. |
† 3. Applied in contempt to a (big) man.
Obs.| 1598 Shakes. Merry W. iii. iii. 43 We'l vse this vnwholsome humidity, this grosse-watry Pumpion. 1623 Fletcher Rule a Wife i. v, O here's another pumpion, the cramm'd son of a starv'd usurer. a 1625 Fletcher & Massinger Cust. Country i. ii, What Should I call thee? Pompeon, Thou kisse my lady? |
4. † a. attrib. fig. Swelling, big, magniloquent.
| a 1670 Hacket Abp. Williams i. (1692) 120 Without pumpian words and ruffling grandiloquence. |
b. Comb. as
pompion-bottle,
pompion-twine;
pompion berry: see
quot. 1872.
| 1672 tr. Bernier's Mem. Gt. Mogul III. 16 That..the servants may easily, with their Pompion-bottles, water them. 1840 Browning Sordello ii. 775 Observe a pompion-twine afloat. 1872 Schele de Vere Americanisms 403 Hack berries or Pompion berries..are obtained from a shrub..(Celtis occidentalis), and are sweet and edible. |