cucumber

/ˌkjuˈkʌmbər/

/ˈkjukəmbə/

Other forms: cucumbers

A cucumber plant is a vine that grows the long, green gourds used to make pickles. Cucumbers are also commonly sliced and added to salads.

You may think of cucumbers as vegetables, but they are actually fruits, belonging to the melon family. Raw cucumbers are slightly crunchy and make a great addition to salads and sandwiches, but their flesh is too delicate for cooking. The phrase "cool as a cucumber," or calmly unruffled, comes from the plant's tendency to remain cool in the garden even on a hot day. Before the 18th century, they were known as cowcumbers.

Definitions of cucumber

1. noun

   a melon vine of the genus Cucumis; cultivated from earliest times for its cylindrical green fruit
   synonyms: Cucumis sativus, cucumber vine

   type of:

   melon, melon vine

   any of various fruit of cucurbitaceous vines including: muskmelons; watermelons; cantaloupes; cucumbers
2. noun

   cylindrical green fruit with thin green rind and white flesh eaten as a vegetable; related to melons
   synonyms: cuke

   types:

   gherkin

   small prickly cucumber

   type of:

   veg, vegetable, veggie

   edible seeds or roots or stems or leaves or bulbs or tubers or nonsweet fruits of any of numerous herbaceous plant