Skip to main content
cucurbit

cucurbit

1 8.6
A group of garden plants that include cucumbers, melons, squashes, and pumpkins
  • noun
  • /ˈkjuːkərbɪt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : cucurbitácea
  • So we look to man as the supreme retort, an alembic, a cucurbit within which fermentation will occur and thoughts be distilled.
  • beans and cucurbits
  • corn and cucurbits

Examples

  • That's because the killer-at-large is a new cucurbit disease called yellow vine.

    Academic text (1997)
  • At least one government-run firm in China distributes satellite inoculants to protect seedlings of tomato, pepper, cucurbits, and tobacco.

    Academic text (1996)
  • Suppose we should burn a tree, enclosing ash, smoke, vapor, and every other component within a cucurbit, adding to this a living seed.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • During the dry season, they maintain separate households on Ituqui, where they grow corn and cucurbits, fish, and run cattle on the natural grasslands.

    Academic text (2002)
  • Oyster nut (Telfairia pedata) is a tropical African perennial cucurbit.

    Blog text (1)
  • With two exceptions, the same crops—manioc, beans, corn, and cucurbits—are grown in the uplands as on the floodplain.

    Academic text (2002)
  • Throughout its Amazon boom, roughly 1940-1990, jute was supplemented with subsistence production of manioc, corn, beans, and cucurbits.

    Academic text (2002)
  • The tactic capitalizes on an inherent taste that some insect pests have for squash plants over melons, cantaloupes, and other cucurbits.

    Academic text (1997)
  • Before the PCR test, the researchers conducted lengthy—often months-long—greenhouse experiments to see which cucurbit-loving insects could infect melon plants as they fed.

    Academic text (1997)
  • Cucurbits, like cucumbers and melons, thrive best in warm weather and plenty of sunlight.

Synonyms

gourd
vscucurbit
8 4.2

A climbing plant that makes fruits with hard skins, some used for food or decoration

covers any plant in that family including many soft or fleshy fruits

Surface Forms

cucurbit singular
cucurbits plural

Etymology

The word cucurbit comes from the Latin cucurbita, which meant a 'gourd' or 'bottle'. So a cucurbit is simply a plant of the gourd family, like pumpkins, squashes, melons, and cucumbers.