Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PA-PAW', n. [Fr. papayer.]

1. The Carica papaya, a tree growing in warm climates to the highth of eighteen or twenty feet, with a soft herbaceous stem, naked nearly to the top, where the leaves issue on every side on long foot-stalks. Between the leaves grow the flower and the fruit, which is of the size of a melon. The juice is acrid and milky, but the fruit when boiled is eaten with meat, like other vegetables. – Encyc.
2. The papaw of North America belongs to the genus Annona or custard apple.