Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Turk \Turk\, n. [Per. Turk; probably of Tartar origin: cf. F.
Turc.]
1. A member of any of numerous Tartar tribes of Central Asia,
etc.; esp., one of the dominant race in Turkey.
2. A native or inhabitant of Turkey.
3. A Mohammedan; esp., one living in Turkey.
It is no good reason for a man's religion that he
was born and brought up in it; for then a Turk would
have as much reason to be a Turk as a Christian to
be a Christian. --Chillingworth.
4. (Zo["o]l.) The plum weevil. See {Curculio}, and {Plum
weevil}, under {Plum}.
{Turk's cap}. (Bot.)
(a) Turk's-cap lily. See under {Lily}.
(b) A tulip.
(c) A plant of the genus {Melocactus}; Turk's head. See
{Melon cactus}, under {Melon}.
{Turk's head}.
(a) (Naut.) A knot of turbanlike form worked on a rope
with a piece of small line. --R. H. Dana, Jr.
(b) (Bot.) See {Turk's cap}
(c) above.
{Turk's turban} (Bot.), a plant of the genus {Ranunculus};
crowfoot.
Melon \Mel"on\, n. [F., fr. L. melo, for melopepo an
apple-shaped melon, Gr. ?; ? apple + ? a species of large
melon; cf. L. malum apple. Cf. {Marmalade}.]
1. (Bot.) The juicy fruit of certain cucurbitaceous plants,
as the muskmelon, watermelon, and citron melon; also, the
plant that produces the fruit.
2. (Zo["o]l.) A large, ornamental, marine, univalve shell of
the genus {Melo}.
{Melon beetle} (Zo["o]l.), a small leaf beetle ({Diabrotiea
vittata}), which damages the leaves of melon vines.
{Melon cactus}, {Melon thistle}.
(a) (Bot.) A genus of cactaceous plants ({Melocactus})
having a fleshy and usually globose stem with the
surface divided into spiny longitudinal ridges, and
bearing at the top a prickly and woolly crown in which
the small pink flowers are half concealed. {M.
communis}, from the West Indies, is often cultivated,
and sometimes called {Turk's cap}.
(b) The related genus {Mamillaria}, in which the stem is
tubercled rather than ribbed, and the flowers
sometimes large. See Illust. under {Cactus}.