‖ zizyphus Bot.
(ˈzɪzɪfəs)
Also -iphus (5 -ifus); 8 anglicized ziziph.
[late L., ad. Gr. ζίζυϕον.]
A plant of a large widely distributed genus so named, which comprises spiny shrubs or trees of the buckthorn family, various species of which bear an edible fruit called zizypha or jujube, q.v.
| c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. vii. 84 Now zizifus in cold lond wole ascende. 1712 tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 134 Jujuba, or Zizipha, a large Fruit of the Ziziph Tree. 1741 J. Martyn Virg. Georg. ii. 84 note, It seems to me more probable that the Lotus of the Lotophagi is what we now call Zizyphus or the Jujube-tree. 1865 Tristram Land of Israel xxii. 527 The zizyphus and caper crept higher up the hills. 1882 Floyer Unexpl. Baluch. 265 We are..still camped under a spreading ziziphus. |
| attrib. 1890 Daily News 5 Apr. 6/1 The Crown of Thorns at Notre Dame is made of plaited reeds, in which ziziphus thorns are intertwined. |