| 释义 |
rambutan, -bootan|ræmˈbuːtən|
Also 8 rum-, rambostan, rambustine, 9 rambotan, ramboutan, ramboteen.
[a. Malay rambūtan, f. rambut hair, in allusion to its villose covering.]
The fruit of Nephelium lappaceum, a tree of the Malay archipelago, having a reddish coat, covered with soft spines or hairs, and pulp of a subacid flavour. Also, the tree bearing this fruit, which belongs to the family Sapindaceæ.
The forms with s are prob. due to association with mangosteen, which also exhibits the substitution of -ine, -een for -an in the last syllable, as in rambustine, -boteen.
1707W. Funnell Voy. x. 286 The Rumbostan is about the bigness of a Walnut. 1779T. Forrest Voy. N. Guinea 323 They have also..Mangoes, Mangustines, Rambustines. 1772–84Cook Voy. (1790) I. 281 The rambutan contains a fruit within which is a stone, that is perhaps the finest acid in the world. 1795tr. C. P. Thunberg's Travels (ed. 2) II. 277 The Rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum) grows in large clusters and is very generally eaten. 1815W. Thorn Conq. Java 212 The Ramboutan is..of a very pleasant taste. 1839T. J. Newbold Straits of Malacca I. ii. 53 In the valley grow various fruit-trees, such as the mangostin,..the rambotan, etc. 1852F. A. Neale Resid. Siam xii. 194 The bilimby, the ramboteen and the sour-sop. 1880Nature XXIII. 143/2 The mango, pine⁓apple, durian, rambutan. 1895Natural Sci. VI. 25 He came upon a brisk fight between a large number of Kras and about half a dozen Lotongs (Semnopithecus) for the possession of a Rambutan tree..in fruit. 1920W. Popenoe Man. Tropical Fruits x. 328 The rambutan is eaten fresh. 1940E. J. H. Corner Wayside Trees of Malaya I. 592 Mangosteen, Durian and Rambutan generally flower together. 1962B. Harrisson Orang-Utan iii. 106 The only alternatives were some rambutan trees in the back of the garden... We were little surprised that the new trees, though they had only a small supply of ripe rambutan, stimulated a bout of nest-building. 1966[see jack n.4 b]. 1969Oxf. Bk. Food Plants 100/2 The rambutan is limited to tropical lowlands and requires a high rainfall. 1976‘G. Black’ Moon for Killers ix. 125, I had two helpings and followed them with a couple of rambutans. 1977Borneo Bull. 7 May 2/2 The corn potential is shown in the centre's annual report for 1976, which also underlines pepper and rambutans as two other valuable income-earning crops. |