squirting cucumber

American  

noun

1. a Mediterranean plant, Ecballium elaterium, of the gourd family, whose ripened fruit forcibly ejects the seeds and juice.

---

squirting cucumber British  

noun

1. a hairy cucurbitaceous plant, Ecballium elaterium , of the Mediterranean region, having a fruit that discharges its seeds explosively when ripe

---

Etymology

Origin of squirting cucumber

First recorded in 1795–1805

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

squirting cucumber

This revealed that the seed projection method of the squirting cucumber has been fine-tuned to ensure near-optimal dispersal and the success of the plant over generations.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 25, 2024

A team led by the University of Oxford has solved a mystery that has intrigued scientists for centuries: how does the squirting cucumber squirt?

From Science Daily ● Nov. 25, 2024

Amid the wayside rubbish grows one of the gourd family, Ecbalium elaterium, commonly called the squirting cucumber, whose fruit—a rough and extremely bitter little cucumber—is the size of a date. 

From The Life of the Spider by Teixeira de Mattos, Alexander

ELATERIUM, a drug consisting of a sediment deposited by the juice of the fruit of Ecballium Elaterium, the squirting cucumber, a native of the Mediterranean region.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 2 "Ehud" to "Electroscope" by Various

Elaterium, a drug obtained from the mucus of the fruit of the squirting cucumber; is a most powerful purgative, and was known to the ancients.

From The Nuttall Encyclopædia Being a Concise and Comprehensive Dictionary of General Knowledge by Nuttall, P. Austin