almond

AL'MOND, noun 1. The fruit of the almond tree; an ovate, compressed nut, perforated in the pores. It is either sweet or bitter. [It is popularly pronounced ammond.] 2. The tonsils, two glands near the basis of the tongue, are called almonds, from their resemblance to that nut; vulgularly, but improperly, called the almonds of the ears, as they belong to the throat. 3. In Portugal, a measure by which wine is sold, twenty-six of which make a pipe. [But in Portuguese it is written almude.] 4. Among lapidaries, almonds signify pieces of rock crystal, used in adorning branch candlesticks, so called from their resemblance to this fruit.