Forms: 1 walhhnutu, 4–6 walnotte, 5 wallnott, 5, 6 walnutt(e, 6–6 wall-nutt, 7 walenotte, 7–8 wallnut, 6– walnut. See also WALSH-NUT. [OE. walhhnutu str. fem, = WFris. walnút (NFris. walnödd from Da.), MDu. walnote (Kilian walnot), Du. walnoot, MLG. wallnot, -nut, LG. (Bremisch. Wörterb. wallnutt) walnut, G. walnuss (earlier wallnuss), ON. valhnot str. fem. (Norw. valnot, Sw. valnöt, Da. valnød). The first element is OTeut. *walχo-z (OE. wealh, OHG. walah) ‘Welshman,’ i.e., Celtic or Roman foreigner; see WELSH a.
The solitary OE. example (in a glossary c. 1050) is the earliest known appearance of the word in any language. The word must, however, have come to England from the Continent, but there is no evidence to show whether it belonged to the primitive OE. vocabulary, or was introduced at a relatively late date. It seems to have belonged originally to the LG.-speaking district; etymologically it meant the nut of the Roman lands (Gaul and Italy) as distinguished from the native hazel. It is noteworthy that in the languages of these countries the word descending from L. nux, when used without qualification, denotes the walnut. In HG. the word appears first in the 16th c. (adapted from LG.); but MHG. had the equivalent wälhisch nuʓ (mod.G. dial. wälsche nuss, wälschnuss): see WALSH-NUT.
The ONF. noix gauge, gaugre, walnut (which survives in mod. Picard and Norman dialects) app. represents a popular L. *nux gallica, a translation of the Teut. word.]
1. The nut of the common walnut-tree, Juglans regia, consisting of a two-lobed seed (the edible kernel) enclosed in a spheroidal shell covered with a green fleshy husk.
The seed of the mature fruit is eaten like any other nut, and the soft unripe fruit is used entire for pickling.
French walnut: the nut (much larger than the ordinary kind) of a variety of the common walnut tree, Juglans regia maxima.
c. 1050. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 452/34. Nux, hnutbeam oððe walhhnutu.
1358–9. Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 124. Et ij M. de walnottes, prec. millene 15d.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XI. 251. As on a walnot with-oute is a bitter barke, And after þat bitter barke … Is a kirnelle of conforte kynde to restore.
c. 1430. Two Cookery-bks., 109 (Ashm. MS.). Take curnylles of walnotys.
1580. Blundevil, Curing Horses Dis., xcix. 46. Me thinkes that the quantitie of a Walnut were too little for so much wine.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., IV. ii. 171. Let them say of me, as iealous as Ford, that scarch’d a hollow Wall-nut for his wiues Lemman.
1639. T. de Grey, Compl. Horsem. i. 276. Make it up into pils somewhat bigger than a French Walnut.
1661. J. Childrey, Brit. Baconica, 6. Their quantity is from a Pease to a Wall-nut.
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 498, ¶ 3. I was diverting my self with a pennyworth of Walnuts.
1769. Mrs. Raffald, Engl. Housekpr. (1778), 223. To preserve Walnuts white. Take the large French walnuts full grown, but not shelled, pare them till you see the white appear, [etc.].
1870. Yeats, Nat. Hist. Comm., 187. Walnuts will not bear a long voyage without being kiln-dried.
b. Often referred to as eaten with wine after dinner.
1824. Pyne (title), Wine and Walnuts.
1833. Tennyson, Miller’s Dau., 32. In after-dinner talk Across the walnuts and the wine.
c. Used for walnut-juice.
1709. Prior, Henry & Emma, 501. Black Soot, or yellow Walnut shall disgrace This little Red and White of Emma’s Face.
d. Oil of walnuts: the essential oil expressed from the kernels of walnuts.
1634. Peacham, Compl. Gentl., xiii. (1906), 130. Then use the oyle of Walnuts.
1800. trans. Lagrange’s Chem., II. 227. Olive-oil, oil of wallnuts, oil of colsa … are all used in the arts for making soap.
¶ e. Applied to the cow-nut.
1553. Eden, New India, 1st Three Bks. on Amer. (Arb.), 19. This tree … beareth a kynde of walnuttes [L. iuglandes] most delicate to be eaten.
2. The nut-bearing tree Juglans regia (N.O. Juglandaceæ). Also applied to other species of Juglans and related genera: see 2 b. In the U.S. the word often denotes the Hickory (Carya).
1600. Fairfax, Tasso, III. lxxvi. The broad-leau’d Sicamore, The barraine Platane, and the Wall-nut sound.
1600. J. Pory, trans. Leo’s Africa, IV. 228. Vpon this mountaine are many springs, and woods abounding with walnuts.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 12 Oct. 1677. Innumerable are the plantations of trees, especially wallnuts.
1869. Tozer, Highl. Turkey, I. 266. There are but few trees, only a few poplars, and a walnut or two.
b. With defining adj. Common Walnut (in British use), Juglans regia, called in the U.S. English Walnut. Black Walnut, the American species, Juglans nigra; Grey or White Walnut, the Butternut of the U.S., Juglans cinerea.
1754. Catesby, Nat. Hist. Carolina, etc., I. 67. The Black Walnut. Most parts of the Northern Continent of America, abound with these Trees, particularly Virginia and Maryland.
1760. J. Lee, Introd. Bot., App. 331. Walnut, Jamaica, Hura.
1785. Martyn, Lett. Bot., xxviii. (1794), 439. Common Walnut is distinguished by having the component leaves oval, smooth, sometimes a little toothed, and almost equal.
1857. A. Gray, First Less. Bot. (1866), 153. Heart-wood … is generally of a different color,… brown in Black-Walnut, black in Ebony, etc.
1864. Grisebach, Flora W. Ind. Isl., 788. Walnut, Jamaica, Picrodendron Juglans. Walnut, Otaheite, Aleurites triloba.
1882. Garden, 7 Jan., 1/2. Besides these there are already fruiting … English Walnuts, Persian Walnuts (Kaghazi), Almonds, American Black Walnuts, &c. Ibid., 16 Sept., 251/1. The Grey Walnut or Butternut … is smaller in growth and more spreading in habit [than the Black Walnut].
3. The wood of the walnut-tree.
a. 1585. in Eng. Hist. Rev. (1914), XXIX. 517. The comodities thence ar … Boordes of chestnuttes and walnuttes.
1624. Capt. J. Smith, Virginia, II. 25. The wood that is most common is Oke and Walnut.
1853. Dickens, Bleak Ho., xviii. How pleasant then, to be bound to no particular chairs and tables, but … to flit from rosewood to mahogany, and from mahogany to walnut,… as the humour took one.
1868. Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869), 15. The museum has been partly filled with absolutely dust-proof cases of solid walnut shaped in the best style of the art.
1892. Joseph Gardner & Sons’ Monthly Circular, 1 Oct. Walnut—American.—Imports: 394 Logs into Liverpool. Ibid. Walnut—Circassian—No Imports.
† b. As material for gun-stocks. Hence colloq. To shoulder walnut: to enlist as a soldier. Obs.
1838. D. Jerrold, Men of Character (1851), 10. ‘I tell ye, Cuttles, it’s no use. I’ll shoulder walnut first.’ ‘Walnut!’ ‘Ay, go for a soldier.’
4. attrib. and Comb. a. obvious combinations, as (sense 1) walnut-kernel, -ketchup, -oil, -peel, -trade, -wine; walnut-stained adj.; (sense 2) walnut avenue, garden, leaf, -wood; (sense 3, quasi-adj. ‘made of walnut’) walnut bed, sideboard; walnut-framed adj. b. special comb.: walnut-brown, the brown color produced by the application of walnut-juice to the skin; walnut-juice, the juice expressed from the green husk of the walnut; used by gipsies as a brown stain for the skin; † walnut-water (see quot.).
1898. Miss Yonge, Keble’s Parishes, iii. 44. There were two *walnut avenues planted about this time.
1840. Thackeray, Catherine, xi. This amiable pair were lying in a large *walnut bed.
1865. Kingsley, Herew., xxx. If William’s French grooms got hold of you, Torfrida, it would not be a little *walnut-brown which would hide you.
1908. S. E. White, Riverman, xiv. The *walnut-framed photograph.
1873. Kingsbury, Comm. Song of Sol., Speaker’s Comm., IV. 671/2. She relates to the Chorus how in early spring she had first met the King in a *walnut-garden in her own country.
1912. E. Thomas, Geo. Borrow, v. 44. They colour his face with *walnut juice so that he looks a ‘true son of an Egyptian.’
1908. [Miss E. Fowler], Betw. Trent & Ancholme, 9. A string of *walnut kernels.
1769. Mrs. Raffald, Engl. Housekpr. (1778), 32. One meat spoonful of *walnut catchup.
1855. Delamer, Kitchen Gard. (1861), 166. Walnut ketchup, is obtained from the outer husk of the ripe fruit.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Ulcer, A Decoction of *Walnut Leaves in Water, with a little Sugar.
1842. Loudon, Suburban Hort., 629. Slugs and earth-worms may be effectually destroyed by … a decoction of … walnut leaves.
1649. W. Bullock, Virginia, 12. Potashes, Rape, and *Walnut Oyle, and other Staples.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 543. *Walnut-peels managed as for wool, form a cheap and durable brown for silk.
1833. Veget. Subs. Materials of Manuf., xxiii. 404. Fawn colours. Sumach—Walnut-peels—Henna.
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., II. No. 5731. A *walnut sideboard, Renaissance style.
1906. T. Watts-Dunton, Thoreau’s Walden, Introd. p. xi. One of those masquerading ‘children of the Tent’ … who think it fine to play the Man of the Woods, in order that they may … write books with *walnut-stained fingers.
1712. Steele, Spect., No. 509, ¶ 3. I must repeat the Abomination, that the *Walnut Trade is carry’d on by old Women within the Walks.
1747. Mrs. Glasse, Cookery, xx. 158. To distill *Walnut-water. Take a Peck of fine green Walnuts, bruise them well…, put two Quarts of good French Brandy to them, [etc.].
1769. Mrs. Raffald, Engl. Housekpr. (1778), 325. To make *Walnut Wine.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., I. vi. An old corner cupboard of *walnut-wood.
