ˈpig-nut
[f. pig n.1 + nut.]
1. The tuber of Bunium flexuosum; = earth-nut 1.
| 1610 Shakes. Temp. ii. ii. 172, I with my long nayles will digge thee pig-nuts. 1693 Robinson in Phil. Trans. XVII. 826 The Roots..commonly call'd Kepper-Nuts, Pignuts and Gernuts in the North, lie very deep, and fatten Hogs. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 69 ¶5 No Fruit grows Originally among us, besides Hips and Haws, Acorns and Pig-Nutts. 1883 Stevenson Treas. Isl. (1886) 277 Dig away, boys,..you'll find some pig-nuts. |
† 2. Applied to an acorn (with reference to Don Quixote ch. xi). Obs. nonce-use.
| 1711 E. Ward Quix. I. 373 At length the Don in Pensive Mood His Golden Pignuts [i.e. acorns, as eaten in the Golden Age] gravely view'd. |
3. N. Amer. The small pear-shaped nut of the broom hickory, Carya glabra, or the closely related species, Carya ovalis; also, the trees themselves, which belong to the family Juglandaceæ; = hog-nut 1. Also attrib.
| 1666 Early Rec. Warwick, Rhode Island (1926) 323 Upon a straight lyne from the pond to a pignut tree standing upon a hill. 1705 R. Beverley Hist. Virginia ii. iv. 16 There are also several Sorts of Hickories, call'd Pig-nuts. 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 322 Pig Nut, Juglans. 1785 H. Marshall Arbustrum Amer. 68 White, or Pig-nut Hickery [sic]{ddd}generally grows pretty large. 1829 [see hog-nut 1]. 1832 D. J. Browne Sylva Amer. 183 The pignut hickory is one of the largest trees of the American forest. 1866 [see hog-nut 1]. 1884 Miller Plant-n., Pig-nut, American, Carya porcina. 1908 N. L. Britton N. Amer. Trees 237 Pignut hickory... A tree of drier ground than that in which most other hickories grow. 1969 T. H. Everett Living Trees of World 98/2 The pignut..occurs as a native in dryish soils from New York to Missouri and Florida. Ibid., The closely related sweet pignut..differs in that its leaves have seven leaflets rather than the usual five. |