pumpkin Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a coarse vine widely cultivated for its large pulpy round orange fruit with firm orange skin and numerous seeds; subspecies of Cucurbita pepo include the summer squashes and a few autumn squashes
    Cucurbita pepo; autumn pumpkin; pumpkin vine.
  2. noun usually large pulpy deep-yellow round fruit of the squash family maturing in late summer or early autumn

WordNet


Pump"kin noun
Etymology
For older pompion, pompon, OF. pompon, L. pepo, peponis, Gr. , properly, cooked by the sun, ripe, mellow; -- so called because not eaten till ripe. Cf. Cook, n.
Definitions
  1. (Bot.) A well-known trailing plant (Cucurbita pepo) and its fruit, -- used for cooking and for feeding stock; a pompion.

Webster 1913