watermelonless en · ADJ
Etymology
From watermelon + -less.
Meanings
-
(not-comparable, rare) Without watermelons.
The old court in Harrisonburg held during the summer was known as “watermelon court,” and much evidence remained after each session to prove it. One reference states, “The court was melonless because of a late spring frost.” Another fellow recalls the first Monday in August as being a popular court day. “The watermelon wagons lined up around the Court House and the whole town enjoyed the festive atmosphere.” He also recalls the summer of 1895 as being so cold that it frosted every month except August. He remembers men wearing overcoats to harvest the fall crops. He, too, remembers the watermelonless court during that summer!
1976, Nancy B. Hess, “County Crops”, in The Heartland: “Rockingham County”, Harrisonburg, Va.: Park View Press, →ISBN, page 70:It’s Summer so I hum. Let bass slip around my runagate tongue. I have lived watermelonless. I have scorned my languorous youth.
1999, Terrance Hayes, “Summer”, in Muscular Music, Chicago, Ill.: Tia Chucha Press, →ISBN, page 32:The game was up and we began paddling furiously for the opposite shore. This caused Flora to shout all the louder: “Boy! Boys! Don’t let the melons get away. Keep the dadblasted things. If you don’t the whole pack of you will be back to plug and ruin another batch!” So we did, sitting down in a ravine out of sight of the scoutmaster. Red looked up, his florid, freckled face wet with melon, and grinned widely: “You know, fellers, I just don’t know what we’d do without Mr. Flora.” Red was to wind up watermelonless in the U.S. Navy!
2000, Frank F[urlong] Mathias, “Camp Black Hawk and Carlisle Christianity”, in The GI Generation: A Memoir, Lexington, Ky.: University Press of Kentucky, →ISBN, page 198: