Vegetable word meaning and definition

[noun] edible seeds or roots or stems or leaves or bulbs or tubers or nonsweet fruits of any of numerous herbaceous plant
[noun] any of various herbaceous plants cultivated for an edible part such as the fruit or the root of the beet or the leaf of spinach or the seeds of bean plants or the flower buds of broccoli or cauliflower
[adjective] of the nature of or characteristic of or derived from plants; "decaying vegetable matter"

\Veg`e*ta*ble\, a. [F. v['e]g['e]table growing, capable of growing, formerly also, as a noun, a vegetable, from L. vegetabilis enlivening, from vegetare to enliven, invigorate, quicken, vegetus enlivened, vigorous, active, vegere to quicken, arouse, to be lively, akin to vigere to be lively, to thrive, vigil watchful, awake, and probably to E. wake, v. See {Vigil}, {Wake}, v.] 1. Of or pertaining to plants; having the nature of, or produced by, plants; as, a vegetable nature; vegetable growths, juices, etc. Blooming ambrosial fruit Of vegetable gold. --Milton. 2. Consisting of, or comprising, plants; as, the vegetable kingdom. {Vegetable alkali} (Chem.), an alkaloid. {Vegetable brimstone}. (Bot.) See {Vegetable sulphur}, below. {Vegetable butter} (Bot.), a name of several kinds of concrete vegetable oil; as that produced by the Indian butter tree, the African shea tree, and the {Pentadesma butyracea}, a tree of the order {Guttifer[ae]}, also African. Still another kind is pressed from the seeds of cocoa ({Theobroma}). {Vegetable flannel}, a textile material, manufactured in Germany from pine-needle wool, a down or fiber obtained from the leaves of the {Pinus sylvestris}. {Vegetable ivory}. See {Ivory nut}, under {Ivory}. {Vegetable jelly}. See {Pectin}. {Vegetable kingdom}. (Nat. Hist.) See the last Phrase, below. {Vegetable leather}.
(a) (Bot.) A shrubby West Indian spurge ({Euphorbia punicea}), with leathery foliage and crimson bracts.
(b) See {Vegetable leather}, under {Leather}. {Vegetable marrow} (Bot.), an egg-shaped gourd, commonly eight to ten inches long. It is noted for the very tender quality of its flesh, and is a favorite culinary vegetable in England. It has been said to be of Persian origin, but is now thought to have been derived from a form of the American pumpkin. {Vegetable oyster} (Bot.), the oyster plant. See under {Oyster}. {Vegetable parchment}, papyrine. {Vegetable sheep} (Bot.), a white woolly plant ({Raoulia eximia}) of New Zealand, which grows in the form of large fleecy cushions on the mountains. {Vegetable silk}, a cottonlike, fibrous material obtained from the coating of the seeds of a Brazilian tree ({Chorisia speciosa}). It us used for various purposes, as for stuffing, and the like, but is incapable of being spun on account of a want of cohesion among the fibers. {Vegetable sponge}. See 1st {Loof}. {Vegetable sulphur}, the fine highly inflammable spores of the club moss ({Lycopodium clavatum}); witch. {Vegetable tallow}, a substance resembling tallow, obtained from various plants; as, {Chinese vegetable tallow}, obtained from the seeds of the tallow tree. {Indian vegetable tallow} is a name sometimes given to piney tallow. {Vegetable wax}, a waxy excretion on the leaves or fruits of certain plants, as the bayberry. {Vegetable kingdom} (Nat. Hist.), that primary division of living things which includes all plants. The classes of the vegetable kingdom have been grouped differently by various botanists. The following is one of the best of the many arrangements of the principal subdivisions.
\Veg"e*ta*ble\, n. 1. (Biol.) A plant. See {Plant}. 2. A plant used or cultivated for food for man or domestic animals, as the cabbage, turnip, potato, bean, dandelion, etc.; also, the edible part of such a plant, as prepared for market or the table. Note: Vegetables and fruits are sometimes loosely distinguished by the usual need of cooking the former for the use of man, while the latter may be eaten raw; but the distinction often fails, as in the case of quinces, barberries, and other fruits, and lettuce, celery, and other vegetables. Tomatoes if cooked are vegetables, if eaten raw are fruits.

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