mangosteen
(ˈmæŋgɒstiːn)
Forms: 6 mangestain, 7 mancoustan, mangosthan, mangustan, 8 mangastan, mangostane, mangoustan, 8–9 mangostan, mangusteen, 9 mangostin, mangoostan, mangastene, mangostein, 8– mangosteen.
[a. Malay mangustan.]
1. The fruit of the East Indian tree Garcinia Mangostana (family Guttiferæ). It is about the size of an apple, with a thick reddish-brown rind, and a white juicy pulp of delicious flavour.
| 1598 W. Phillip tr. Linschoten i. liv. 96/2 There are yet other fruites, as Brindoijns, Durijndois, Iamboloens, Mangestains, and other such like fruites. 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 87 Durions, Mancoustan, and Bananes. 1707 W. Funnell Voy. x. 286 The Mangastan is about the bigness of a Golden-Runnet. 1797 Sir G. Staunton Macartney's Emb. China I. 274 In March, among other fruits, the mangosteen was ripe. 1806 Barrow Voy. Cochin China 185 Mangoostan. 1845 Darwin Voy. Nat. xx. 455 Mangostin. 1852 F. A. Neale Resid. Siam xii. 194 That prince of all earthly fruits, the mangostein. |
2. The tree producing this fruit.
| 1734 Zollman in Phil. Trans. XXXVIII. 232 The Mangostans is a kind of Pomiferous Tree, which grows in the Molucca Islands. 1797 Monthly Mag. III. 208 Martin had introduced into the botanic garden there [Cayenne] the Ravengara, the Mangoustan, the Clove tree [etc.]. 1871 Kingsley At Last v, A group of young Mangosteens. |
3. wild mangosteen (tree), Embryopteris glutinifera.
| 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., There is a sort of wild Mangoustan, called by the Portuguese, mato, which grows in the woods both in the East Indies and in America. 1866 Treas. Bot. 717/1. 1885 G. S. Forbes Wild Life in Canara 42 Near at hand were two or three wild mangosteen trees. |
4. A name used in Barbados for the jujube, Zizyphus mauritiana.
| 1750 G. Hughes Nat. Hist. Barbados v. 134 The Dunktree, or Mangustine. This is a middle-sized Tree. 1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2) 263 Mangosteen, in Barbadoes this name is given to the Jujube (Ziziphus jujube). 1965 E. G. B. Gooding et al. Flora Barbados 272 (heading) Zizyphus mauritiana..Z. jujuba (L.)..Mangustine..Shrub or small tree, 2–4·5 m., young stems tomentose. |