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cantaloupe

 - 3 dictionary results

can⋅ta⋅loupe

[kan-tl-ohp]
–noun
1. a variety of melon, Cucumis melo cantalupensis, of the gourd family, having a hard scaly or warty rind, grown in Europe, Asia, and the United States.
2. a muskmelon having a reticulated rind and pale-orange flesh.
Also, can⋅ta⋅loup.


Origin:
1730–40; < F, allegedly after Cantaluppi, a papal estate near Rome where cultivation of this melon is said to have begun in Europe, though a comparable It word is not attested until much later than the F word, and Cantaloup, a village in Languedoc, has also been proposed as the source
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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can·ta·loupe also can·ta·loup   (kān'tl-ōp')   
n.  
  1. A variety of melon (Cucumis melo var. reticulatus) having a tan rind with netlike ridges and a sweet fragrant orange flesh.

  2. Any of several other related or similar melons.


[French cantaloup, perhaps from Italian cantalupo (from Cantalupo, a former papal villa near Rome) or from Cantaloup, a village of southern France.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

cantaloupe 
1739, from It. Cantalupo, former Papal summer estate, near Rome, where melons were first grown in Europe after introduction, supposedly, from Armenia.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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