The Collaborative International Dictionary
Cashew \Ca*shew"\ (k[.a]*sh[=oo]"), n. [F. acajou, for cajou, prob. from Malay k[=a]yu tree; cf. Pg. acaju, cf. Acajou.]
(Bot.) A tree ( Anacardium occidentale) of the same family which the sumac. It is native in tropical America, but is now naturalized in all tropical countries. Its fruit, a kidney-shaped nut, grows at the extremity of an edible, pear-shaped hypocarp, about three inches long.
-
the cashew nut.
Cashew nut, the large, kidney-shaped fruit of the cashew, which is edible after the caustic oil has been expelled from the shell by roasting the nut.
Wiktionary
n. The seed of the cashew tree, often viewed as a nut in the culinary sense, though in the botanical sense classified as a seed.
WordNet
n. kidney-shaped nut edible only when roasted [syn: cashew]