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Coconut
Definitions
- 1 A fruit of the coconut palm (not a true nut), Cocos nucifera, having a fibrous husk surrounding a large seed. countable, uncountable
"The Coco-nut Trees grow by the Sea, on the Weſtern ſide in great Groves, 3 or 4 Miles in length, and a Mile or two broad. This tree is in ſhape like the Cabbage-tree, and at a diſtance they are not to be known each from other, only the Coco-nut Tree is fuller of Branches ; but the Cabbage-tree generally is much higher, tho' the Coco-nut Trees in ſome places are very high."
- 2 large hard-shelled oval nut with a fibrous husk containing thick white meat surrounding a central cavity filled (when fresh) with fluid or milk wordnet
- 3 A hard-shelled seed of this fruit, having white flesh and a fluid-filled central cavity. countable, uncountable
- 4 the edible white meat of a coconut; often shredded for use in e.g. cakes and curries wordnet
- 5 The edible white flesh of this fruit. uncountable
Show 9 more definitions
- 6 tall palm tree bearing coconuts as fruits; widely planted throughout the tropics wordnet
- 7 The coconut palm. countable, uncountable
- 8 A member of any of various dark-skinned ethnic groups (e.g. Hispanic, South Asian, or black) who is considered to have overly assimilated to white culture:; A Hispanic or other dark-skinned person considered to have overly assimilated to white culture. US, countable, derogatory, ethnic, slur, uncountable
"After that I was regarded as comic. I became a ‘coconut’—someone brown on the outside, white on the inside. I was the bleached academic—more white than the anglo professors. In my classes several students glared at me, clearly seeing in me the person they feared ever becoming. Who was I, after all, but some comic Queequeg, holding close to my breast a reliquary containing the white powder of a dead European civilization?"
- 9 A member of any of various dark-skinned ethnic groups (e.g. Hispanic, South Asian, or black) who is considered to have overly assimilated to white culture:; A black person considered to have overly assimilated to white culture, a black race traitor. Australia, Kenya, South-Africa, countable, derogatory, ethnic, slur, uncountable
"Their convictions challenged those critics who dismissed John Githongo’s anti-corruption efforts as the naïve projection of inappropriate ‘mzungu’ values onto an African nation where they were doomed to fail. If John was a ‘coconut’, he certainly wasn’t the only coconut in Kenya."
- 10 A member of any of various dark-skinned ethnic groups (e.g. Hispanic, South Asian, or black) who is considered to have overly assimilated to white culture:; A Malay person who cannot speak Malay. Singapore, countable, derogatory, ethnic, slur, uncountable
- 11 A member of any of various dark-skinned ethnic groups (e.g. Hispanic, South Asian, or black) who is considered to have overly assimilated to white culture:; An Indian person who cannot speak Tamil. Malaysia, countable, derogatory, ethnic, slur, uncountable
- 12 A Pacific islander. New-Zealand, countable, derogatory, ethnic, slur, uncountable
- 13 A female breast. countable, slang, uncountable
"He compliments her erect posture and says her breasts look like big clusters of grapes hanging off a palm tree. You would expect him to say merely that he likes her big coconuts."
- 14 The human head. countable, slang, uncountable
"[Ashley J. Williams shoots a zombified version of the Winter Soldier in the head.] Dazzler: Oh my God...thank you! I-i-is he-- Ashley J. Williams: A double-barrel boomstick blast straight through the coconut? Trust me, babe--he's not comin' back from that one."
Etymology
From coco + nut. In reference to assimilated Hispanic or black people, derived from the fruit's exotic origins. The slur originates from the idea that one is "brown on the outside, white on the inside". In reference to Polynesians, from the ubiquity of coconut palms in the area.
See also for "coconut"
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