A culinary vegetable. (Genus, cucurbita.) It is not necessary to resort to the Greek σιχυος, as certain lexicographers do, for the etymology of this word. It is Indian, and is often mentioned by the early writers.
In summer, when their [the Indians'] corn is spent, squonter squashes is their best bread, a fruit like a young pumpkin.--Wood's New England, 1634, p. 67.