Almond

Forms: 3–4 almand(e, 3–5 almaund(e, 4–5 almound(e, alemaund, 4–6 almonde, (5 almund, 5–7 almon, 6 alomond, aulmond), 5– almond. [a. OFr. almande, alemande, earlier alemandre, alemandle (also amande, amandre); cf. Sp. almendra, Pg. amendoa, It. mandorla, mandola, Pr. and med.L. amandola; pointing to early Romanic *amendla, -ola, -ala, from L. amygdala, a. Gr. ἀμυγδάλη. Cf. the change of smaragdum to smeraldo. The initial al- in Fr. and Sp. prob. arose in the latter, by confusing the initial a- (dropped in It., as if no real part of the word) with Arab. article al-, as in almidon (Fr. amidon), almirante (amirand), almáraco (amáracum).

  The genealogy of almond is therefore: Gr. ἀμυγδάλη, L. amygdala = ămi·gdălă, ămi·ngdălă; early Rom. ăme·ndəlă (thence Pg. ăme·ndōă); splitting up into ’me·ndəlă (thence It ma·ndōla), al-’me·nd(ə)lă (thence Sp. alme·ndră), and al-ăme·ndəlă, al-ăma·ndəla, whence OFr. alĕma·ndlĕ, alĕma·ndrĕ; OFr. and E. alĕma·ndĕ, alma·ndĕ; E. almau·nd, a·lmaund, a·lmŏnd, ā·mənd.

  1.  The kernel of a drupe or stone-fruit, the produce of the almond tree, of which there are two kinds, the sweet and the bitter.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 6895. Almandes [v.r. almondes, -maundes, -mound] was groun þar-on.

1388.  Wyclif, Numb. xvii. 8. The blossoms … weren fourmed in to alemaundis [1382 almaundes].

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. iii. Yf a foxe eteþ almoundes he schal dye.

1463.  Mann. & Househ. Exps., 217. Item, vjl. almundys, xviijd.

1542.  Boorde, Dyetary, xii. (1870), 263. Almons be hote & moyste; it doth comforte the brest.

1586.  Bright, Melanch., xl. 267. Oile of bitter alomonds.

1611.  Bible, Gen. xliii. 11. Myrrhe, nuts, and almonds.

1769.  Sir J. Hill, Fam. Herb. (1812), 5. Sweet almonds are excellent in emulsions.

1814.  Sir H. Davy, Agric. Chem., 83. The principal part of the almond … [is] a substance analogous to coagulated albumen.

  2.  The tree that bears almonds, Amygdalus communis (N.O. Rosaceæ), closely allied to the genus Prunus, which contains the plum, peach, nectarine, etc. Often in comb. as almond-tree.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 272. Mark well the flowring Almonds in the Wood.

1735.  Miller, Gard. Dict., s.v. Amygdalus, The common Almond … is cultivated more for the beauty of its flowers, than for its fruit.

1870.  Yeats, Nat. Hist. Comm., 78. The almond and the palm flourish together.

  3.  A comfit enclosing an almond kernel.

  4.  A kernel similar to the almond.

1712.  trans. Pomet’s Hist. Drugs, I. 85. Two or three Nuts or Berries, which contain in each a little luscious Almond.

  5.  Anything shaped like an almond, whether solid or superficial, as: a. An ornament of that shape; b. A name given by lapidaries to pieces of rock crystal used in adorning branch candlesticks; c. An oval with pointed ends.

1853.  Ruskin, Stones of Ven., II. ii. § 12. 22. Six balls, or rather almonds, of purple marble.

  6.  The tonsils; also called almonds of the throat, jaws or ears. The latter name is also given to ‘a small lymphatic gland over the mastoid process or below the external ear,’ Syd. Soc. Lex. arch.

1578.  Lyte, Dodoens, I. lxxxi. 120. Ulcers of the aulmondes or kernels of the throte.

1607.  Topsell, Four-footed Beasts (1673), 500. Goats milk … gargarized in the mouth, is very effectual against the pains and swellings of the almonds.

1641.  Baker, Chron. (1679), 401/1. The Almonds of her Jaws began to swell.

1709.  Phil. Trans., XXVI. 318. A pain on the left side about the Almonds of the Ear.

1835.  Hoblyn, Dict. Med., Almonds of the Ears, a popular name for the exterior glands of the neck.

  † 7.  Other almond-shaped animal organs: esp. a. The operculum of a whelk; b. Some part of a rabbit’s leg. Obs.

c. 1450.  J. Russell, Bk. Nurture, in Babees Bk. (1868), 60. His [the whelk’s] pyntill & gutt almond & mantille awey þer fro ye pitt.

1627.  Peacham, Compl. Gent., xxi. (1634), 253. To make Paste to last long, you may use … those parts of a Connies legges which are called the Almonds.

1631.  Markham, Way to Wealth, II. I. xiii. (1668), 70. Those parts of the Conies leg which is called the Almond of the Coney.

  8.  The delicate pink color of the almond blossom.

1879.  Daily News, 13 June, 2/2. Cream colour, relieved with ‘cardinal,’ and almond adorned with the same fashionable hue, was also largely represented.

  9.  From its color: A kind of pigeon, more fully called the Almond Tumbler.

1867.  Tegetmeier, Pigeons, ii. 113. The feathers of the Almond should be covered with a metallic lustre or gloss.

1883.  Standard, 11 Jan., 3/6. The almond tumbler, a round plump bird.

  10.  Comb. and Attrib., in which almond stands in simple attributive relation, as almond blossom, colo(u)r, flower, fruit, shape, wood; in attributive relation of material, as almond cake, custard, paste, etc.; or in similative or instrumental relation to a pa. pple., as almond-leaved, -scented, -shaped; almond-shaded.

  Also almond-kernel (= ALMOND 1, 6); almond oil, the expressed oil of bitter almonds, or benzoic aldehyde; almond-peach, a hybrid between the almond and peach, cultivated in France; almond rock, snow, confections made with almonds; almond tree, the tree that bears almonds, also fig. (from the color of its flowers) grey hair; almond tumbler (see ALMOND 9); almond willow, or almond-leaved willow, Salix amygdalina; almond-worts, Lindley’s name for the plants of gis N. O. Drupaceæ or stone-fruits.

  Also ALMOND-BUTTER, -MILK, q.v.

  a. 1842.  Tennyson, To the Queen, 16. The sun-lit almond-blossom shakes.

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., Almaunde frute (1499 almon) Amigdalum.

1867.  Lady Herbert, Cradle L., i. 3. Floors … made of ebony and almond-wood.

1751.  Chambers, Cycl., Almonds give the denomination to a great number of preparations in confectionery, cookery, etc. whereof they are the basis; as Almond cakes, Almond cream … Almond paste, Almond snow.

1880.  Miss Braddon, Asph., II. 95. The golden tinge of the almond pound-cake.

1830.  Edin. Rev., LII. 71. Amygdaloid is a rock containing almond-shaped cavities.

a. 1790.  T. Warton, Poems (1802), II. 44 (Jod.).

  1601.  Holland, Pliny (1634), II. 146. Tonsils or Almond-kernels on either side of the throat.

a. 1845.  Hood, T. of Trumpet, xiii. The almond-oil she had tried.

1880.  Daily News, 6 May, 5/5. Almond rock and peppermint drops.

1388.  Wyclif, Eccles. xii. 5. An alemaunde tre schal floure.

1590.  Pasquil’s Apol., I. E b. Vpon whose siluer heads the Almond-tree hath blossomde.

1611.  Bible, Jer. i. 11. I see a rodde of an almond tree.

a. 1763.  Shenstone, Ess., Wks. 1765, II. 124 (T.). Planted … with trees more and more fady, till they end in the almond-willow, or silver osier.