WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : Cof"fee
Part of Speech : n.
Etymology : [Turk. qahveh, Ar. qahuah wine, coffee, a decoction of berries. Cf. Caf?.]
Definition : 1. The "beans" or "berries" (pyrenes) obtained from the drupes of a small evergreen tree of the genus Coffea, growing in Abyssinia, Arabia, Persia, and other warm regions of Asia and Africa, and also in tropical America.

2. The coffee tree.

Note: There are several species of the coffee tree, as, Coffea Arabica, C. occidentalis, and C. Liberica. The white, fragrant flowers grow in clusters at the root of the leaves, and the fruit is a red or purple cherrylike drupe, with sweet pulp, usually containing two pyrenes, commercially called "beans" or "berries".

3. The beverage made from the roasted and ground berry. They have in Turkey a drink called coffee . . . This drink comforteth the brain and heart, and helpeth digestion. Bacon.

Note: The use of coffee is said to have been introduced into England about 1650, when coffeehouses were opened in Oxford and London. Coffee bug (Zo?l.), a species of scale insect (Lecanium coff?a), often very injurious to the coffee tree. -- Coffee rat (Zo?l.) See Musang.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913