Indian fig
[Indian a. 4.]
1. Applied to species of Opuntia or Prickly Pear.
| 1712 Indian fig [see fig n.1 1 c]. 1718 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. to Abbe Conti 31 July, That plant we call Indian-fig..is an admirable fence, no wild beast being able to pass it. 1797 Holcroft tr. Stolberg's Trav. (ed. 2) II. lx. 367 The cactus opuntia, or Indian fig, grows..among the rocks. 1830 Disraeli Home Lett. (1885) 54 Surrounded by aloes and Indian figs I could have fancied myself in the Antilles. |
2. Indian fig-tree. a. The banian tree.
| 1594 Blundevil Exerc. v. vii. (1636) 546 The Indian fig⁓tree groweth round about Goa..the fruits are small Figges, and red as blood. a 1715 Tate Cowley (Mason), The Indian figtree next did much surprise With her strange figure all our deities. 1885 C. J. Stone Chr. bef. Christ 93 He perceived a sacred Indian fig-tree. |
† b. The banana. Obs.
| 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 505 The Indian Figge⁓tree: if it may bee called a tree, which is not above a mans height, and within like to a reede..it hath leaves a fathom long, and three spannes broad..men beleeve that Adam first transgressed with this fruit. |