pecans

Noun

pecan (plural pecans)

1. A deciduous tree, Carya illinoinensis, of the central and southern United States, having deeply furrowed bark, pinnately compound leaves, and edible nuts.
   • And away on the farther bank, a motte of huge pecans, standing like giant sentinels over the dwarfed landscape, filled the eye with remote vistas in their shady, twilight aisles. It was very still.1885, Howard Seely, A Ranchman's stories, page 154
2. A smooth, thin-shelled, edible oval nut of this tree.
   • MEG. […] (Meg takes out two pecans and tries to open them by cracking them together.) Come on ... Crack, you demons! Crack!
     LENNY. We have a nutcracker!
     MEG. (Trying with her teeth.) Ah, where's the sport in a nutcracker? Where's the challenge?1982, Beth Henley, Crimes of the heart, page 17
3. A half of the edible portion of the inside of this nut.
   • Each shell contains two pecans, usually plump and oblong in shape, although some varieties are round or pointed.2005, in The Condensed Encyclopedia of Healing Foods (Joseph Pizzorno, Lara Pizzorno; Atria Books)