melon

melon is a Noun

Definition:

[1] The juicy fruit of certain cucurbitaceous plants, as the muskmelon, watermelon, and citron melon; also, the plant that produces the fruit.

[2] A large, ornamental, marine, univalve shell of the genus Melo. Melon beetle (Zoöl.), a small leaf beetle (Diabrotiea vittata), which damages the leaves of melon vines. -- Melon cactus, Melon thistle. (a) (Bot.) A genus of cactaceous plants (Melocactus) having a fleshy and usually globose stem with the surface divided into spiny longitudinal ridges, and bearing at the top a prickly and woolly crown in which the small pink flowers are half concealed. M. communis, from the West Indies, is often cultivated, and sometimes called Turk`s cap. (b) The related genus Mamillaria, in which the stem is tubercled rather than ribbed, and the flowers sometimes large. See Illust. under Cactus.