jujube
(ˈdʒuːdʒuːb)
Also 7 jejub, 7–8 jujub, 8 jujeb. Also 4–8 in L. form jujuba.
[a. F. jujube, or med.L. (and Sp.) jujuba, a much altered form of Gr. ζίζυϕον. In cl.Latin, this was duly reproduced in Columella and Palladius by zizyphum (the fruit), zizyphus (the tree); these appear to have passed in late pop. L. and Romanic through zizipum, -us, zizupum, -us (cf. Appendix Probi, ed. Heræus, 1899, ‘zizipus non zizupus’), *zizubum, -us, to *zuzubo, zuzibo, whence (with the frequent change of z to j, and use of the neuter-pl. in -a in fruit-names as a fem. sing.) Old Aretine dial. of It. giuggebo (= jujebo) the tree, giuggeba the fruit, and med.L. jujuba, F. jujube. The forms jujeb and jejub come nearer to Old Aretine giuggeba and vulgar L. zizubum.]
1. An edible berry-like drupe, the fruit of various species of Zizyphus (family Rhamnaceæ).
| c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 74 Take a potel of water of barly clensid iiij. ℥. Iuiube, sebesten ana .℥. fs. [etc.]. Ibid. 182 Colre schal be purgid in þis maner..sebesten .xv. in noumbre, iuiubas .xx. [etc.]. c 1550 Lloyd Treas. Health lxxxiii. (1585) Y ij b, Take of Violettes .℥iii, of iuiubes, and of the iiii. cold sedes before namyd. 1586 Baker Traheron's Vigo 441 Iuiube are fruits, which the Latines call zizipha. 1600 J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa i. 22 Damson-trees, sallowes by the waters side, and trees of Iuiubas. 1605 Timme Quersit. iii. 181 Take..of alkakeng berries, twenty in number; of iuiubes six couple. 1641 French Distill. ii. (1651) 57 Adde..the best Jujubs, the kernels taken out, half a pound. 1664 Power Exp. Philos. i. 18 The Mites, in Jujubes and Sebesten's. Ibid. 19 Jejub's and Sebesten's. 1712 tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 134 The Jujubs are the Fruit of a Tree which grows commonly in Provence. 1718 Quincy Compl. Disp. 134 Jujebs are an Italian Fruit. 1835 Thirlwall Greece I. vi. 212 The Lotus-eaters—whose favourite fruit still grows, under the name of the jujube, on the same coast. 1858 Carpenter Veg. Phys. §557 This..known under the name of the jujube, is a favorite dessert in Italy and Spain. |
b. Any of the species of
Zizyphus which produce this fruit, as
Z. vulgaris of the Mediterranean countries,
Z. Jujuba of China,
Z. Lotus of N. Africa.
| 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 37 a, Cypros is a tre in Egypt wyth leaues of iuiuba. 1682 Wheler Journ. Greece i. 73 A kind of Juiuba, whose leaves shine like silver. 1759 tr. Adanson's Voy. Senegal 49 He was sitting on the sand, under the shade of a jujube. 1885 A. Brassey The Trades 99 Over our heads waved..cocoanuts, breadfruits, jujubes, and hundreds of others. |
2. A lozenge, made of gum-arabic, gelatin, etc., flavoured with, or in imitation of, the fruit (sense 1).
| 1835 [Remembered by Rev. C. B. Mount]. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade 210/2 The term jujube is..very generally applied by chemists and confectioners to a thickened mucilaginous lozenge. 1866 Treas. Bot. 1251/2 The dried fruits..are given to allay cough. The lozenges sold as Jujubes are commonly but erroneously said to be flavoured with them. |
3. attrib. and
Comb., as
jujube paste, a jelly made from jujubes, or a confection flavoured with, or in imitation of, them;
jujube-plum = sense 1;
jujube-tree = sense 1 b.
| 1858 Hogg Veget. Kingd. 235 *Jujube paste..should consist of gum arabic and sugar dissolved in a decoction of this fruit..but as made in this country the fruit forms no part of the ingredient. |
| 1884 J. Payne 1001 Nights VIII. 70 *Jujube-plums of various colours. |
| 1548 Turner Names of Herbes 82 Zizypha..maye be called in english *Iuiuba tree. 1578 Lyte Dodoens vi. xlix. 722 This tree is called..in English, the Iuiub tree. 1879 E. Arnold Lt. Asia v. (1881) 110 Under dark mangoes and the jujube-trees. 1887 C. A. Moloney Foresty W. Afr. 299 Jujube or Ber Tree..A loosely-branched tree or shrub, ten to forty feet high. |