pumpkin definition

<jargon> A humourous term for the token - the object (notional or real) that gives its possessor (the "pumpking" or the "pumpkineer") exclusive access to something, e.g. applying patches to a master copy of source (for which the pumpkin is called a "patch pumpkin").

Chip Salzenberg <chip@perl.com> wrote:

David Croy once told me once that at a previous job, there was one tape drive and multiple systems that used it for backups. But instead of some high-tech exclusion software, they used a low-tech method to prevent multiple simultaneous backups: a stuffed pumpkin. No one was allowed to make backups unless they had the "backup pumpkin".

(01 Apr 1999)

<botany> A well-known trailing plant (Cucurbita pepo) and its fruit, used for cooking and for feeding stock; a pompion. Pumpkin seed. The flattish oval seed of the pumpkin.

<zoology> The common pondfish.

Origin: For older pompion, pompon, OF. Pompon, L. Pepo, peponis, Gr, properly, cooked by the sun, ripe, mellow; so called because not eaten till ripe. Cf. Cook.

(01 Mar 1998)