Also -el. [a. F. jargonelle ‘a very gritty variety of pear’ (Littré), dim. of jargon JARGON sb.2]
An early ripening variety of pear.
Orig. applied, as in Fr., to an inferior variety, but already by 1733, transferred to that called in Fr. Cuisse Madame.
1693. Evelyn, De la Quint. Compl. Gard., III. I. 123. Here is a particular List of those [Pears] which I know to be so Bad, that I Counsel no Body to Plant any of them. Summer-Pears … 8. The Jargonnelle.
1733. Miller, Gard. Dict., s.v. Pyrus, Jargonelle … is certainly what all the French Gardeners did formerly call the Cuisse Madam.
1858. O. W. Holmes, Aut. Breakf.-t., iv. (1865), 32. Some are ripe at twenty, like human Jargonelles, and must be made the most of, for their day is soon over.
1858. Mrs. Oliphant, Laird of Norlaw, I. 22. The white gable wall of the manse, obscured with the branches of its jargonel tree.
1894. W. N. White, in Times, 25 Sept., 10/2. That prettiest and earliest of all pears, the Jargonnelle.
b. Short for jargonelle pear essence, Amylacetate, C5H11. C2H3O2, used as flavoring for confectionery.
