cream of tartar, noun phrase

Origin:
English, AfrikaansShow more Special sense of general English, probably from taste of fruit pulp (see quotation 1966); or perhaps translation of Afrikaans kremetart, see kremetart.
In full cream of tartar tree: the baobab tree Adansonia digitata, the sole species of the Bombacaceae; kremetart sense 1.
1860 [see kremetart sense 1].
a1875 T. Baines Jrnl of Res. (1964) II. 141The nut of the ‘Cream of Tartar’ tree, a species of Baobab, hung in a bag inside...Inside were..hard, brown seeds..in compartments filled with a powder slightly acid to the taste and exactly resembling that from which it derives its name.
1878 P. Gillmore Great Thirst Land 406It is frequently called the cream of tartar tree, because between the seeds there is a pulpy, crystallised substance, which when soaked in water makes an extremely pleasant acid drink.
1894 W.C. Baldwin Afr. Hunting 295We measured a tree called Cream of Tartar sixty-one feet round the bole; but there are many very much larger.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 132Cream of tartar tree, Adansonia digitata. This tree is sometimes called the ‘Monkey bread tree’ and the ‘Calabash baobab tree’.
1917 R. Marloth Dict. of Common Names of Plants 21Cream-of-tartar tree v. Baobab, The fruit contains a whitish acidulous powder, but not any tartar, the acidity being due to citric acid.
1949 C. Bullock Rina 40The great unnatural boles and misshapen branches of the cream-of-tartar.
1966 C.A. Smith Common Names 195Cream-of-tartar tree,..The juice of the pulpy fruit contains citric acid, and produces a refreshing beverage having the taste of a tartaric solution, whence the vernacular name.
1966 C.A. Smith Common Names 311The vernacular name (sc. ‘kremetartboom’) is a part corruption of cream-of-tartar tree.
1990 Weekend Post 6 Oct. (Leisure) 4The fat and bulbous baobab..is also known as the cream of tartar tree and the ‘sherbet’ in the seed pod is a delight to monkeys and small boys.
In full cream of tartar tree:the baobab tree Adansonia digitata, the sole species of the Bombacaceae; kremetart sense 1.
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CRC, nounn.crimen injuria, noun phrasen. phr.
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