Melons

[mel-uh n] /ˈmɛl ən/

noun
1.
the fruit of any of various plants of the gourd family, as the muskmelon or watermelon.
2.
medium crimson or deep pink.
3.
the visible upper portion of the head of a surfacing whale or dolphin, including the beak, eyes, and blowhole.
4.
Informal.

/ˈmɛlən/
noun
1.
any of several varieties of two cucurbitaceous vines, cultivated for their edible fruit See muskmelon, watermelon
2.
the fruit of any of these plants, which has a hard rind and juicy flesh
3.
(US & Canadian, slang) cut a melon, to declare an abnormally high dividend to shareholders
n.

late 14c., from Old French melon (13c.), from Medieval Latin melonem (nominative melo), from Latin melopeponem, a kind of pumpkin, from Greek melopepon “gourd-apple” (name for several kinds of gourds bearing sweet fruit), from melon “apple” (see malic) + pepon, a kind of gourd, probably noun use of pepon “ripe” (see pumpkin).

In Greek, melon was used in a generic way for all foreign fruits (cf. similar use of apple). The Greek plural of “melon” was used from ancient times for “a girl’s breasts.”

noun

A woman’s breasts, esp large •Usu objectionable: the melons on that girl

noun

The sum of profits, loot, etc, to be divided: The stockholders have a meager melon to share this year (1906+)

only in Num. 11:5, the translation of the Hebrew abattihim, the LXX. and Vulgate pepones, Arabic britikh. Of this plant there are various kinds, the Egyptian melon, the Cucumus chate, which has been called “the queen of cucumbers;” the water melon, the Cucurbita citrullus; and the common or flesh melon, the Cucumus melo. “A traveller in the East who recollects the intense gratitude which a gift of a slice of melon inspired while journeying over the hot and dry plains, will readily comprehend the regret with which the Hebrews in the Arabian desert looked back upon the melons of Egypt” (Kitto).