From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
papaya \pa*pa"ya\, noun [Prob. from the native name in the West Indies; cf. Sp. papayo papaw, papaya the fruit of the papaw.]
1. (Bot.) A tree ({Carica Papaya}) of tropical America, belonging to the order {Passiflore[ae]}; called also {papaw} and {pawpaw}. It has a soft, spongy stem, eighteen or twenty feet high, crowned with a tuft of large, long-stalked, palmately lobed leaves. The milky juice of the plant is said to have the property of making meat tender. [1913 Webster +PJC]
2. The fruit of the papaya tree; it is a dull orange-colored, melon-shaped fruit, which is eaten both raw and cooked or pickled. The fruit contains {papain}, a protease. [1913 Webster + PJC]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: tropical American shrub or small tree having huge deeply palmately cleft leaves and large oblong yellow fruit [syn: {papaia}, {pawpaw}, {papaya tree}, {melon tree}, {Carica papaya}]
2: large oval melon-like tropical fruit with yellowish flesh
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