Also 8 casheu, 9 cashoe, caju; also ACAJOU, q.v. [ad. F. acajou, ad. Brazilian acajoba (Littré).]
1. Cashew-tree, a large tree (Anacardium occidentale) cultivated in the West Indies and other tropical countries, bearing a kidney-shaped fruit (cashew-nut) placed on the end of a thickened fleshy pear-shaped receptacle (cashew-apple), popularly taken for the ‘fruit.’
The shell of the nut consists of three layers, of which the middle one contains an extremely acrid black oil, which is rendered harmless by roasting the nuts before eating. The oil is sometimes used in India to protect floors from the attacks of white ants. The receptacle has an acid flavor.
1703. Dampier, Voy., III. New Holland, 68. The Cashew is a Fruit as big as a Pippin, pretty long, and bigger near the Stemb than at the other end…. The Seed of this Fruit grows at the end of it; ’tis of an Olive Colour shaped like a Bean.
1756. P. Browne, Jamaica, 226. The Cashew Tree … The almond or kernel is of a delicate taste.
1796. Stedman, Surinam, II. xxii. 139. The real acajow or cashew nuts.
1852. F. A. Neale, Resid. Siam, xii. 194. The cashoenut and apple.
c. 1865. Letheby, in Circ. Sc., I. 106/1. Caju apple oil.
2. Cashew-bird, the name given in the West Indies to an insessorial bird, Tanagra zena.
1852. Th. Ross, trans. Humboldt’s Trav., II. xviii. 172. The curassaos and cashew-birds … going down several times a-day to the river to allay their thirst.
