from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Cocoa \Co"coa\ (k[=o]"k[-o]), n., Cocoa palm \Co"coa palm`\
(k[=o]"k[-o] p[aum]m`)[Sp. & Pg. coco cocoanut, in Sp. also,
cocoa palm. The Portuguese name is said to have been given
from the monkeylike face at the base of the nut, fr. Pg. coco
a bugbear, an ugly mask to frighten children. Cf., however,
Gr. koy^ki the cocoa palm and its fruit, ko`i:x, ko`i:kos, a
kind of Egyptian palm.] (Bot.)
A tall palm tree producing the cocoanut ({Cocos nucifera}) as
its fruit. It grows in nearly all tropical countries,
attaining a height of sixty or eighty feet. The trunk is
without branches, and has a tuft of leaves at the top, each
being fifteen or twenty feet in length, and at the base of
these the nuts hang in clusters; the cocoanut tree. It is
widely planted throughout the tropics, and in some locations
as an ornamental tree.
[1913 Webster]