abaca

en-noun

abaca (countable and uncountable, plural abacas)

Norwegian Bokmål: abaca

The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles

Oxford University Press
w:Oxford University Press

Musa textilis, a species of banana tree native to the Philippines grown for its textile, rope- and papermaking fibre.


grass

grass (countable and uncountable, plural grasses)

Tok Pisin: gras, garas

Fiji Hindi: giraas

New York, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Baltimore

From Middle English gras, from Old English græs, from Proto-Germanic *grasą (“grass”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰreh₁- (“to grow”).
cognates
Cognate with Scots girs, gers, gress (“grass”), North Frisian gäärs, geers (“grass”), Saterland Frisian Gäärs (“grass”), West Frisian gers (“grass”), Low German Gras (“grass”), Dutch gras (“grass, turf, pasture”), German Gras (“grass, weed”), Danish græs (“grass”), Swedish gräs (“grass”), Norwegian Bokmål gress (“grass”), Faroese, Icelandic and Norwegian Nynorsk gras (“grass”), Latin herba (“plant, weed, grass”), Albanian grath (“grass blade, spike”). Related to grow, green.
The "informer" sense is probably a shortening of grasshopper (“police officer, informant”), rhyming slang for copper (“police officer”) or shopper (“informant”); the exact sequence of derivation is unclear.

inh

the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence

the grass is always greener on the other side of the road

Thou turnest man to destruction: and sayest, Returne yee children of men. / For a thousand yeeres in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past: and as a watch in the night. / Thou carriest them away as with a flood, they are as a sleepe: in the morning they are like grasse which groweth vp. / In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth vp: in the euening it is cut downe, and withereth.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 90:3–6:

The cicale above in the lime, / And the lizards below in the grass, / Were as silent as ever old Tmolus was, / Listening to my sweet pipings.

a. 1823 (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Hymn of Pan”, in Mary W[ollstonecraft] Shelley, editor, Posthumous Poems of Percy Bysshe Shelley, London: […] [C. H. Reynell] for John and Henry L[eigh] Hunt, […], published 1824, →OCLC, page 169:

'Twas early June, the new grass was flourishing everywheres, the posies in the yard—peonies and such—in full bloom, the sun was shining, and the water of the bay was blue, with light green streaks where the shoal showed.

1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

(countable, uncountable) Any plant of the family Poaceae, characterized by leaves that arise from nodes in the stem and leaf bases that wrap around the stem, especially those grown as ground cover rather than for grain.

(countable) Various plants not in family Poaceae that resemble grasses.

(uncountable, physics) Sharp, closely spaced discontinuities in the trace of a cathode-ray tube, produced by random interference.

'Have ready a hundred of ſmall graſs boiled, then ſave tops enough to ſtick the rolls with, the reſt cut ſmall and put into the cream, fill the loaves with them.'

1769, Hannah Glasse, The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy, 9th edition, page 195:

(countable, folk etymology) Asparagus; "sparrowgrass".


grass

en-verb

grass (third-person singular simple present grasses, present participle grassing, simple past and past participle grassed)

grasses (present singular third-person)
grassing (participle present)
grassed (participle past)
grassed (past)

The Chicken himself attributed this punishment to his having had the misfortune to get into Chancery early in the proceedings, when he was severely fibbed by the Larkey one, and heavily grassed.

1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC:

He flew at me with his knife, and I had to grass him twice, and got a cut over the knuckles, before I had the upper hand of him.

1893, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Naval Treaty, Norton, published 2005, page 709:

(transitive) To lay out on the grass; to knock down (an opponent etc.).


date

→ German: Date

→ Hebrew: דייט (deyt)

→ Hindi: डेट (ḍeṭ)

→ Japanese: デート (dēto)

desc

→ Kashubian: dejta (Canada, United States)

→ Korean: 데이트 (deiteu)

From Middle English date, from Old French date, from Late Latin data, from Latin datus (“given”), past participle of dare (“to give”); from Proto-Indo-European *deh₃- (“to give”). Doublet of data.

لِقَاء الْحُبّ

meeting with a lover or potential lover; a person so met

You may need that at a later date.

partner

companion when one is partaking in a social occasion


big

en-adj

big (comparative bigger, superlative biggest)

bigger (comparative)
biggest (superlative)

Inherited from Northern Middle English big, bigge (“powerful, strong”), possibly from a dialect of Old Norse. Ultimately perhaps a derivative of Proto-Germanic *bugja- (“swollen up, thick”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew-, *bu- (“to swell”), in which case big would be related to bogey, bugbear, and bug.
Compare dialectal Norwegian bugge (“great man”), Low German Bögge, Boggelmann.

der

talk to Ralph on the big white telephone

Gosh, she is big!


big

In the Appalachian League, where Cal Ripken once played in Bluefield, W.Va., a ballplayer's chances of making it to the bigs are less than one in six.

2004 June 23, Michelle Boorstein, “Ballclub’s Pullout Caps Va. Town’s Run of Woes; Struggling Martinsville No Longer Celebrates Its Boys of Summer”, in Washington Post:

(in the plural) The big leagues, big time.


Indian

en-noun

Indian (countable and uncountable, plural Indians)

From Anglo-Norman indien, Middle French indien, corresponding to Ind + -ian. Applied to inhabitants of the Americas due to an early misconception that the Americas were the eastern end of Asia / the Indies (hence also the designation of Caribbean islands as the West Indies).

Mardi Gras Indian
Mardi Gras Indian#English

(countable) Ellipsis of Mardi Gras Indian.


banana

banana (countable and uncountable, plural bananas)

Borrowed from Portuguese banana or Spanish banana, derived from a Niger-Congo language spoken in the Guinea region. Specific derivation is unclear. Possible ancestor or cognate languages include Wolof banaana, Eastern Maninkakan banana, and Vai ꕒꘌꕯ (ɓaana) or ꕒꕌꕯ (ɓaana). However, Ay Baati Wolof (Munro & Gaye, 1997) posits that Wolof banaana is itself derived from Portuguese banana.
The racial slur derives from the notion that they are "Yellow (East-Asian) on the outside, White (Westernized) on the inside".

banánový (corresponding to English attributive use)

(corresponding to English attributive use) banánový

An elongated curved tropical fruit of a banana plant, which grows in bunches and has a creamy flesh and a smooth skin.

(Canada, US, UK, Ireland) In particular, the sweet, yellow fruit of the Cavendish banana cultivar, which may be eaten raw, as distinct from e.g. a plantain for cooking.

The tropical tree-like plant which bears clusters of bananas, a plant of the genus Musa (but sometimes also including plants from Ensete), which has large, elongated leaves.

banana equivalent dose
banana equivalent dose

(nuclear physics) A banana equivalent dose.

(computer science, colloquial) A catamorphism (from the use of banana brackets in the notation).


chess

Uncertain; perhaps linked to Etymology 1, above, from the sense of being arranged in rows or lines.

Hobbled, loudly gourmandizing the dry chess grass, they were guarded by a pair of dismounted soldiers in long, dusty coats [...].

2007, Michael Chabon, Gentlemen of the Road, Sceptre, published 2008, page 59:

(now chiefly US) Any of several species of grass in the genus Bromus, generally considered weeds.


tamale

Back-formation from the plural tamales, from Spanish tamales, plural of tamal, from Nahuatl tamalli (“wrapped”).

A Mexican dish of cornmeal dough shell filled with various ingredients (e.g. chopped beef, pork, sweet filling) then steamed in corn husks.


rice

rice (countable and uncountable, plural rices)

→ Bislama: raes

→ Tok Pisin: rais

From Middle English rys, from Old French ris, from Old Italian riso, risi, from Byzantine Greek ὄρυζα (óruza), from an Eastern Iranian language related to Middle Persian blnc (*brinǰ), Northern Kurdish riz (beyond Euphrates) and Zazaki riz. Theorized to come to Iranian languages from Sanskrit व्रीहि (vrīhi).
Prior to Sanskrit, it is speculated to be possibly a borrowing from a Dravidian language (compare Proto-Dravidian *wariñci (“rice”)), or from Austroasiatic languages further east.
Alternatively Byzantine Greek ὄρυζα (óruza) is said to be from Hebrew אורז (órez), from South Arabian areez ultimately from Old Tamil 𑀅𑀭𑀺𑀘𑀺 (arici).
Doublet of arroz.

Rice is a tropical plant; yet Carolina and Georgia grow the finest in the world; heavier grained, better filled, and more merchantable, than any imported into Europe from the Indies.

1831, Daniel Jay Browne, The Naturalist, volume 1, page 375:

Drought stress causes yield reductions and sometimes total crop failures in rainfed rice areas of Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

1982, International Rice Research Institute, Drought Resistance in Crops with Emphasis on Rice:

Rice transformed with genes encoding human CYP1a1, CYP2B6, and CYP2C19 are more tolerant of various herbicides than non-transgenic rice plants, due to increased metabolism by the introduced P450 enzymes [Kawwahigashi et al. 2005a, 2007, 2008; James et al. 2008].

2014, V. S. Rao, Transgenic Herbicide Resistance in Plants:

(uncountable) Cereal plants, Oryza sativa of the grass family whose seeds are used as food.


rice

en-verb

rice (third-person singular simple present rices, present participle ricing, simple past and past participle riced)

rices (present singular third-person)
ricing (participle present)
riced (participle past)
riced (past)

Riced Potato. Have a flat dish and the colander hot. With a spoon, rub mashed potato through the colander on to the hot dish.

1881, Maria Parloa, Miss Parloa's New Cook Book: A Guide to Marketing and Cooking:

Following ricing, the potato mash proceeds to the drum drier where flaking is done.

1961, Potato Chipper, volume 21, page 88:

Last night I riced the potatoes and added in the cream and butter while they were hot, so today wll we have to do is add flour and roll them out.

2015, Lorna Seilstad, As Love Blooms (The Gregory Sisters Book #3): A Novel:

(transitive) To squeeze through a ricer; to mash or make into rice-sized pieces (especially potatoes).

In northern Minnesota the whites have invented the verb "to rice," and speak of "ricing," i. e., harvesting the crop of wild rice.

1894, John Merle Coulter, Botanical Gazette, page 505:

When ricing, the Ojibway dress warmly at first; by midday they may shed some clothes as harvest toil combines with the hot sun of late summer to warm them.

1988, Thomas Vennum, Wild rice and the Ojibway people:

As it was, the Indian seldom bothered to harvest wild rice on public waters after opening day of the ricing season.

2002, David Laursen, A Capital Place: Reminiscences of a Sandy Lake Boyhood:

(intransitive) To harvest wild rice (Zizania sp.)

(computing, transitive) To customize the user interface of a computer system, e.g. a desktop environment. (derived from rice out)


hay

en-noun

hay (countable and uncountable, plural hays)

From Middle English hey, from Old English hīeġ, from Proto-West Germanic *hawi, from Proto-Germanic *hawją (compare West Frisian hea, Dutch hooi, German Heu, Norwegian høy), from *hawwaną (“to hew, cut down”). More at hew.

(countable) Any mix of green leafy plants used for fodder.

I would like some of that hay. Enclose $20.

1947, William Burroughs, letter, 19 Feb 1947

Jeff Spicoli, roll me another hay

1994, “Bug Powder Dust”, performed by Bomb the Bass:


hay

en-verb

hay (third-person singular simple present hays, present participle haying, simple past and past participle hayed)

hays (present singular third-person)
haying (participle present)
hayed (participle past)
hayed (past)

To cut grasses or herb plants for use as animal fodder.


ail

ail (third-person singular simple present ails, present participle ailing, simple past and past participle ailed)

ails (present singular third-person)
ailing (participle present)
ailed (participle past)
ailed (past)

Inherited from Middle English eilen, from Old English eġlan, eġlian (“to trouble, afflict”), from Proto-West Germanic *aglijan, from Proto-Germanic *aglijaną (“to trouble, vex”), cognate with Gothic 𐌰𐌲𐌻𐌾𐌰𐌽 (agljan, “to distress”).

inh

Have some chicken soup. It's good for what ails you.

What aileth thee, Hagar?

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 21:17:

Not content with having in 1996 put a Defence of Marriage Act (DOMA) on the statue book, Congress has now begun to hold hearings on a Respect for Marriage Act. Defended, respected: what could possibly ail marriage in America?

2011, “Connubial bliss in America”, in The Economist:

(transitive) To cause to suffer; to trouble, afflict. (Now chiefly in interrogative or indefinite constructions.)


palm

→ Malay: palma, ڤلما

From Middle English palme, from Old English palm, palma (“palm-tree, palm-branch”), from Latin palma (“palm-tree, palm-branch, palm of the hand”), from Proto-Indo-European *pl̥h₂meh₂, *pl̥h₂emeh₂ (“palm of the hand”), from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“flat”). Cognate with Dutch palm, German Palme, Danish palme, Icelandic pálmur (“palm”).

der

(scouting) Any of 23 awards that can be earned after obtaining the Eagle Scout rank, but generally only before turning 18 years old.


bent

en-adj

bent (comparative benter or more bent, superlative bentest or most bent)

benter (comparative)
more bent (comparative)
bentest (superlative)
most bent (superlative)

From Middle English bent-, preterite stem (as in bente, benten, etc.), and Middle English bent, ibent, ybent, past participle forms of Middle English benden (“to bend”). Equivalent to bend + -t.

(Of something that is usually straight) Folded, dented.

That shot was so bent it left the pitch.

(colloquial, chiefly US) Suffering from the bends.


bent

the bent of a bow

the force they have in the discharge , according to several bents

1648, John Wilkins, Mathematical Magick:

The state of being curved, crooked, or inclined from a straight line; flexure; curvity.


bent

en-noun

bent (countable and uncountable, plural bents)

From Middle English bent, benet, from Old English *beonot (attested only in place-names and personal names), from Proto-West Germanic *binut (“reed, rush”), of uncertain origin.

inh

His spear a bent, both stiff and strong.

1627, Michael Drayton, Nymphidia, published 1810, page 124:

Gunga Dass gave me a double handful of dried bents which I thrust down the mouth of the lair to the right of his, and followed myself, feet foremost [...].

1888, Rudyard Kipling, “The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes”, in The Phantom ’Rickshaw and Other Tales, Folio Society, published 2005, page 121:

Clusters of strong flowers rose everywhere above the coarse tussocks of bent.

1913, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “chapter 9”, in Sons and Lovers, London: Duckworth & Co. […], →OCLC:


far

en-adj

far (comparative farther or further, superlative farthest or furthest or farthermost or furthermost)

farther (comparative)
further (comparative)
farthest (superlative)
furthest (superlative)
farthermost (superlative)
furthermost (superlative)

Inherited from Middle English ferre, fer, Old English feor, feorr, from Proto-Germanic *ferrai.

if you go far enough left, you get your guns back

the apple does not fall far from the stem

the apple does not fall far from the tree

the apple does not fall far from the trunk

the apple doesn't fall far from the tree

trust someone as far as one could fling a bull by the tail

trust someone as far as one could throw them

I have such a long way to go but yet I have come such a far piece already

2011, Peggy Woods, Ramblings from a Soul, page 42:

far heap; far memory; far pointer

(programming, not comparable) Outside the currently selected segment in a segmented memory architecture.


far

A cataplasm made from any meal is heating, whether it be of wheat, or of far, or barley, or bitter vetch, ...

1756, Aurelius Cornelius Celsus, Medicine: In Eight Books, page 108:

Almost all the rustic writers agree in this, that far is most proper for wet clay land, and triticum for dry land. 'In wet red clays,' says Cato, 'sow far; and in dry, clean, and open lands, sow triticum.'

1857, John Marius Wilson, The Rural Cyclopedia:

Our wedding-cake is the memorial of a practice, that bore a striking resemblance to, if it was not derived from, confarreatio, the form of marriage that had fallen into general disuse amongst the Romans in the time of Tiberius. Taking its name from the cake of far and mola salsa that was broken over the bride's head, confarreatio was attended with an incident that increases its resemblance to the way in which our ancestors used at their weddings objects symbolical of natural plentifulness.

1872, John Cordy Jeaffreson, Brides and Bridals, volume 1, page 201:

The early Romans broke a cake of far and mola salsa (salted meal) over the bride's head, — a symbol of plentifulness, […]

1919, Carl Holliday, Wedding Customs Then and Now, page 32:

Emmer (a type of wheat), especially in the context of Roman use of it.


far

(UK, dialect) A litter of piglets; a farrow.


fog

en-noun

fog (countable and uncountable, plural fogs)

Origin uncertain; but probably of North Germanic origin. Probably either a back-formation from foggy (“covered with tall grass; thick, marshy”), from the earlier-attested fog (“tall grass”) (see below), or from or related to Danish fog (“spray, shower, drift, storm”), related to Icelandic fok (“spray, any light thing tossed by the wind, snowdrift”), Icelandic fjúka (“to blow, drive”), from Proto-Germanic *feukaną (“to whisk, blow”), from Proto-Indo-European *pug- (“billow, bulge, drift”), from *pew-, *pow- (“to blow, drift, billow”), in which case related to German fauchen (“to hiss, spit, spray”).


penguin

→ Assamese: পেঙ্গুইন (peṅguin)

→ Burmese: ပင်ဂွင် (panggwang)

→ Hawaiian: penekuina

→ Japanese: ペンギン (pengin)

→ Khmer: ភេនឃ្វីន (pheinkhviin)

→ Korean: 펭귄 (penggwin)

→ Thai: เพนกวิน (pen-gwîn)

→ Welsh: pengwin

Etymology tree
Proto-Celtic *kʷennom
Proto-Brythonic *penn
Welsh pen?
Proto-Indo-European *weyd-der.?
Proto-Celtic *windos
Proto-Brythonic *gwɨnn
Welsh gwyn?
Proto-Indo-European *peyH-der.
Proto-Indo-European *bʰenǵʰ-influ.?
Latin pinguisder.?
English penguin
Unknown; first attested in the 16th century in reference to the auk of the Northern hemisphere; the word was later applied to the superficially similar birds of the Southern hemisphere (as was woggin). Possibly from Welsh pen (“head”) and gwyn (“white”), or from Latin pinguis (“fat”). See citations and the Wikipedia article.
(nun): Because of the often black-and-white habit, resembling the bird's colors.

etymon

Here are also birds cal'd Pen-gwins (white-head in Welch) like Pigmies walking upright, their finns or wings hanging very orderly downe like sleeves […]

1638, Thomas Herbert, Some Yeares Travels, section I:

Any of several flightless sea birds, of order Sphenisciformes, found in the Southern Hemisphere, marked by their usual upright stance, walking on short legs, and (generally) their stark black and white plumage.


tare

From Middle English tare (“vetch”), from Old English *taru, from Proto-West Germanic *taru.

Any of the tufted grasses of genus Lolium; darnel.


popcorn

en-noun

popcorn (countable and uncountable, plural popcorns)

Georgian: პოპკორნი (ṗoṗḳorni)

German: Popcorn

desc

Greek: ποπ κορν (pop korn), ποπκόρν (popkórn)

Icelandic: poppkorn

Japanese: ポップコーン (poppukōn)

Korean: 팝콘 (papkon)

Norwegian:

Bokmål: popkorn

Nynorsk: popkorn

Polish: popcorn

Russian: попко́рн (popkórn)

Swedish: popcorn

Short for popped + corn. By surface analysis, pop + corn.

(chiefly uncountable) A snack food made from corn or maize kernels popped by dry heating.

springmielie

a snack food made from corn kernels popped by dry heating

મકાઈની ધાણી

makāīnī dhāṇī


papyrus

en-noun

papyrus (usually uncountable, plural papyri or papyruses)

From Middle English papirus, borrowed from Latin papȳrus, from Ancient Greek πάπυρος (pápuros), of unknown origin. Doublet of papyros.

Cyperus papyrus
Cyperus papyrus#Translingual

(usually uncountable) A plant (Cyperus papyrus) in the sedge family, native to the Nile river valley, paper reed.


ginger

ginger (countable and uncountable, plural gingers)

→ Greek: τζίντζερ (tzíntzer)

→ Japanese: ジンジャー (jinjā)

→ Maltese: ġinġer

→ Manx: jinshar

→ Welsh: sinsir

→ Zulu: újínja

Inherited from Middle English gingere, alteration of gingivere, from Old English gingifer, gingiber (influenced by Old French gingembre), from Medieval Latin gingiber, zingiber, from Latin zingiberi, from Late Ancient Greek ζιγγίβερις (zingíberis), from Sauraseni Prakrit 𑀲𑀺𑀁𑀕𑀺𑀯𑁂𑀭 (siṃgivera), ultimately from Dravidian, compare Old Tamil 𑀇𑀜𑁆𑀘𑀺𑀯𑁂𑀭𑁆 (iñcivēr) and Tamil இஞ்சிவேர் (iñcivēr) from இஞ்சி (iñci, “ginger”) + வேர் (vēr, “root”).

/ˈd͡ʒɪnd͡ʒɚ/

Zingiber officinale
Zingiber officinale#Translingual

The pungent aromatic rhizome of a tropical Asian herb, Zingiber officinale, used as a spice and as a stimulant and acarminative.

Other species belonging to the same family, Zingiberaceae, especially those of the genus Zingiber

Can you buy dry ginger in Croatia? If not what is an alternative?

(colloquial, countable and uncountable) Ginger ale, or can or bottle of such (especially if dry).

Here’s, um, not toast but bread, anyway. And a can of ginger.

A lot of people will tell you ‘ginger’ tastes best in glass, and there is a science behind that,” says the company’s commercial director.

2015 August 19, Douglas Fraser, bbc.co.uk:

Maybe I was naive in thinking that baking with fizzy juice (soda, ginger, pop, whatever your regional name for the stuff is!) would be straightforward.

2016 January 7, Amy, baking with granny.co.uk:

(colloquial, Scotland, especially Glasgow, countable and uncountable) Any fizzy soft drink, or can or bottle of such; pop; soda.


ginger

en-verb

ginger (third-person singular simple present gingers, present participle gingering, simple past and past participle gingered)

gingers (present singular third-person)
gingering (participle present)
gingered (participle past)
gingered (past)

/ˈd͡ʒɪnd͡ʒɚ/

The accident was an excuse merely to replace an old-fashioned regular with old-fashioned notions by an active, fire-eating young general who would ginger things up.

1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance, Faber & Faber, published 2004, page 886:

Before an action began, he liked to make bold predictions as to its outcome; this was part of his way of gingering people up, of creating an aura of victory to come.

2004, Eric Larrabee, Commander in Chief: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, His Lieutenants, and Their War, page 464:

Regarding this human angle, DeMille wrote, "I am sometimes accused of gingering up the Bible with large and lavish infusions of sex and violence. I can only wonder if my accusers have ever read certain parts of the Bible."

2007, J. Stephen Lang, The Bible on the Big Screen: A Guide from Silent Films to Today's Movies:

(idiomatic, transitive) To enliven, to spice (up).


lawyer

From Middle English lawier, lawyer, lawer, equivalent to law + -yer.

A professional person with a graduate law degree that qualifies for legal work (such as Juris Doctor)

His forefathers had been, as a rule, professional men—physicians and lawyers; his grandfather died under the walls of Chapultepec Castle while twisting a tourniquet for a cursing dragoon; an uncle remained indefinitely at Malvern Hill;[…].

1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter II, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

A lawyer's time and advice are his stock in trade. - aphorism often credited to Abraham Lincoln, but without attestation

A professional person qualified (as by a law degree or bar exam) and authorized to practice law as an attorney-at-law, solicitor, advocate, barrister or equivalent, i.e. represent parties in lawsuits or trials and give legal advice.

regsgeleerde

professional person authorized to practice law

The species of Eugnomus are very partial to the lawyer (Rubus australis ) when in bloom.

1881 April, George M. Thomson, “On the Fertilization of New Zealand Flowering Plants”, in Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, volume 13, page 250:

In the lawyer (Rubus australis) a considerable differentiation has taken place. All the alllies of this plant (such as the true roses, brambles, rasps, &c.), exhibit a strong development of epidermal structures in the form of hooks, spines, or hairs, but in none are these structures so perfect as in our lawyer.

1885, New Zealand Journal of Science - Volume 2, page 417:

A plant that is excessively troublesome in the localities where the native vegetation has been least disturbed is the “lawyer” (Rubus australis).

1915, John Henderson, P. Marshall, Percy Gates Morgan, The Geology and Mineral Resources of the Reefton Subdivision, Westport and North Westland Division, page 6:

Any of various plants that have hooked thorns.

A relative of the raspberry found in Australia and New Zealand, Rubus australis

Besides the bags and nets common throughout the continent, these tribes have water-bags, which they make of closely-plaited “lawyer” (Calamus Australis), and also of palm-leaf sewn with the sinews of animals.

1886, Edward Micklethwaite Curr, The Australian Race, page 427:

The nest was a foot or two from the ground, and placed in a bunch of lawyer (Calamus ) canes.

1901, Archibald James Campbell, Nests and Eggs of Australian Birds, page 267:

This lawyer (Calamus australis) is a climbing palm, throwing up shoots from its roots as thick as a man's finger and tough as wire, covered with sharp spines, and bearing much divided leaves, alternating with tendrils twenty feel long.

1905, W. J. Gordon, “Jackey Jackey”, in The Boy's Own Annual, volume 28, page 318:

They were usually very neatly laid out under arching masses of the exasperating lawyer-palm vines ( Calamus moti and C. australis ), and consequently not too easy to examine.

1910 October, Sidney Wm. Jackson, “Additional Notes on Tooth-billed Bower-Bird (Scenopaeetes dentirostris) of North Queensland”, in The Emu: Official Organ of the Australasian Ornithologists' Union, volume 10, page 84:

Lawyer Vine (Calamus muelleri), also known as Hairy Mary and Wait-a-while, is actually a palm, that grows in long canes that loop and snake through the undergrowth.

2014, Germaine Greer, White Beech: The Rainforest Years, page 171:

The trail of the lawyer vine (CALAMUS OBSTRUENS), with its leaf sheath and long tentacles bristling with incurved hooks, is over it all.

2022, E. J. Banfield, The Confessions of a Beachcomber:

Various species of Calamus, including Calamus australis, Calamus muelleri, Calamus obstruens, Calamus vitiensis, Calamus warburgii, and Calamus moti.

The stems of the "lawyer vine" (Flagellaria indica), buz or buzi (W.), boz (E.), are used in house-building, tying fences, etc.

2011, A. C. Haddon, W. H. R. Rivers, Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits, page 89:

A woody climbing rainforest vine, Flagellaria indica.


wheat

en-noun

wheat (countable and uncountable, plural wheats)

From Middle English whete, from Old English hwǣte, from Proto-West Germanic *hwaitī, from Proto-Germanic *hwaitijaz (compare West Frisian weet, Dutch weit, Low German Weten, German Weizen, Danish hvede, Swedish vete, Norwegian Nynorsk kveite, Icelandic hveiti), from *hwītaz (“white”). More at white.

(countable) Any of several cereal grains, of the genus Triticum, that yields flour as used in bakery.


pineapple

pineapple (countable and uncountable, plural pineapples)

Pineapple Primary
en:pineapple
en:pineapple (disambiguation)

→ Japanese: パイナップル
→ Yami: pinapo

→ Welsh: pinafal, afal pin

→ Cornish: pinaval

→ Ojibwe: zhingwaako-mishiimin (calque)

From Middle English pinappel (“pinecone”, literally “pine-apple/pine-fruit”). Later applied to the fruit of the pineapple plant due to its resemblance to a pinecone. Compare the Middle Dutch and Dutch pĳnappel, the Middle Low German pinappel, the Old High German pīnapful, the Middle High German pīnaphel, and the early Modern German pinapfel — all in the sense of “pine cone”. Compare also the post-Classical Latin pomum pini, the Old French pume de pin, the Middle French and French pomme de pin and Spanish piña. By surface analysis, pine + apple.

inh

pineapple strawberry Fragaria × ananassa)

Ananas comosus
Ananas comosus#Translingual

A tropical plant, Ananas comosus, native to South America, having thirty or more long, spined and pointed leaves surrounding a thick stem.


maize

en-noun

maize (countable and uncountable, plural maizes)

Borrowed from Spanish maíz, from Taíno *mahis, *mahisi, from Proto-Arawak *marikɨ. Cognate with Lokono marisi, Wayuu maiki.

A fundamental creative act of American man was the development of maize. For it was maize that made possible and sustained the whole Peruvian civilization as well as Mexican and Central American ones. Exactly where it originated is not known, but corn was found in pre-Mayan graves dating to 3000 B.C.

1972, Lytle Robinson, chapter 5, in Edgar Cayceʼs Story of the Origin and Destiny of Man, USA: Berkley Publishing Corporation, page 106:

Corn; a type of grain of the species Zea mays.

аԥш

corn; a type of grain of the species Zea mays

Milje

Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina)


couch

From a variant of quitch, from Middle English quich, quyke, from Old English cwice.

The first field it did was one on which Swedes had been roughly planted the year previously, but it had not been touched since the crop was eaten off, and was then a perfect wilderness of Couch, Docks, Thistles, and Dandelions.

1864 November 19, “The Agricultural Gazette”, in The Gardeners' Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette: A Newspaper of Rural Economy and General News, volume 24, number 47, London: Published for the proprietors, at 41, Wellington Street, Covent Garden, W.C., →OCLC, page 1114, column 2:

After he knew that he would have to give up the farm in two years he ploughed it up, had a thin crop of oats, and sowed it again with winter oats. In February, 1914, it was a field of couch.

1916, The Law Journal Reports, volume 85, part 1, London: E. B. Ince, →OCLC, page 46:

The lateral growth of these underground shoots can be very rapid, so that, from a small patch of couch, a large area of coffee can become infested in a short time.

1962, World Crops, volume 14, London: Leonard Hill Ltd., →OCLC, page 71:

Elymus repens
Elymus repens#Translingual

Couch grass, a species of persistent grass, Elymus repens, usually considered a weed.


turmeric

turmeric (countable and uncountable, plural turmerics)

/təɹˈmɛ.ɾɪk/

From Middle English turmeryte, tarmaret, of uncertain origin. Possibly corrupted from Arabic كُرْكُم (kurkum, “Curcuma”). Others have theorized it might come from Old French terre mérite (“deserving earth”).

Curcuma longa
Curcuma longa#Translingual

(botany) An Indian plant (Curcuma longa), with aromatic rhizomes, part of the ginger family (Zingiberaceae).


cabbage

cabbage (countable and uncountable, plural cabbages)

Sranan Tongo: kabisi

→ Abenaki: kabij

→ Swahili: kabichi

→ Yoruba: kábéèjì

From Middle English caboche, cabage (“cabbage”; “a certain fish”), a borrowing from Anglo-Norman caboche (“head”), a northern variant of caboce, of uncertain origin. Some authorities derive it from Latin caput (“head”), others from ca- (said to be an expressive prefix) + boce (“hump; bump”) (whence English boss).

inh

person with severely reduced mental capacities due to brain damage

A terminal bud of certain palm trees, used for food.


oat

en-noun

oat (countable and uncountable, plural oats)

Inherited from Middle English ote, from Old English āte, from Proto-Germanic *aitǭ (“swelling; gland; nodule”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eyd- (“to swell”). See English atter.
cognates
* Germanic: cognate with Scots ait (“oat”), Dutch oot, aat (“oat”), Saterland Frisian Aate (“pea”), German Low German Aat ‘oat’, obsolete Luxembourgish Otz ‘oat’, Icelandic át ‘feed, fodder’. Further related to Icelandic eitill (“nodule”), Norwegian Bokmål eitel (“knot, gland”), Norwegian Nynorsk eitel (“knot, gland”), Old High German eiz (“abscess”) (German Eiter (“pus”), Eiß (“ulcer”)), Dutch etter (“pus”), East Frisian eitel (“fast, raging”), Old Norse eitill (“nodule”), West Frisian iete
* Indo-European: Latin aemidus (“swollen, protuberant”), Old Church Slavonic ꙗдъ (jadŭ, “poison”), Ancient Greek οἰδέω (oidéō, “to swell”), Albanian ënj (“to swell, inflame”), Old Armenian այտնում (aytnum, “to swell”), այտ (ayt, “cheek”), Sanskrit इन्दु (índu, “water drop”)

der

The oat stalks made good straw.

The main forms of oat are meal and bran.

World trade in oat is increasing.

(uncountable) Widely cultivated cereal grass, typically Avena sativa.

שבולת שועל \ שִׁבֹּלֶת שׁוּעָל

The wild red oat is thought to be the ancestor of modern food oats.

(countable) Any of the numerous species, varieties, or cultivars of any of several similar grain plants in genus Avena.

The point is, except in Scotland, people eat comparatively few oats. Scotland's another story, though you'll have to decide how seriously to take it. The way the story goes is that in eastern Scotland, the unmarried plowmen didn't eat anything but oats and milk, except for an occasional potato.

1991, Cornelia M. Parkinson, Cooking with Oats: Oat Bran, Oatmeal, and More, Storey Publishing, →ISBN, page 2:

(usually as plural) The seeds of the oat, a grain, harvested as a food crop and for animal feed.

A simple musical pipe made of oat-straw.


panic

en-noun

panic (countable and uncountable, plural panics)

From Late Middle English panik, panyk (“plant of the genus Panicum”), borrowed from Latin pānicum, pānīcum (“foxtail millet or Italian millet (Setaria italica); plant of the genus Panicum, panicgrass”); further etymology uncertain, probably either from pānis (“bread; loaf”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- (“to graze; to protect; to shepherd”)) or pānus (“ear of millet; thread wound on a bobbin”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)penh₁- (“to twist; to weave”)) + -cum (suffix forming neuter nouns). Doublet of bannock and bonnag

der

[folio 76, recto] Panicum […] hathe no name in Engliſh yet⸝ but it may well be called panick after yͤ Latin. Panik hath leues lyke vnto a rede when it commeth firſt furth. […] [folio 76, verso] Dioſcorides writeth yͭ Panic hathe the ſame vertue yͭ Milleth hathe⸝ but that it noriſheth & byndeth leſſe. Galene ſayeth yͭ panic is of the kynde of pulſes⸝ and in lykenes lyke vnto millet⸝ and alſo in vertue of ſmall noriſhmẽt⸝ and dry.

1562, Wylliam Turner [i.e., William Turner], “Of Panick”, in The Second Parte of Guilliam Turners Herball⸝ […], Cologne: […] Arnold Birckman, →OCLC, folios 76, recto – 76, verso:

Panicum […] hath no name in English yet, but it may well be called panic after the Latin. Panic hath leaves like unto a reed when it cometh first forth. […] [Pedanius] Dioscorides writeth that panic hath the same virtue that millet hath, but that it nourisheth and bindeth less. Galen sayeth that panic is of the kind of pulses, and in likeness like unto millet, and also in virtue of small nourishment, and dry.

There be ſundrie ſorts of Panick, although of the ancients there hathe beene ſet downe but two, that is to ſay, the wilde or fielde Panick, and the garden or manured Panick: […]

1597, John Gerarde [i.e., John Gerard], “Of Panick”, in The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes. […], London: […] Edm[und] Bollifant, for Bonham and Iohn Norton, →OCLC, book I, page 78:

(by extension) A plant of the genus Panicum, or of similar plants of other genera (especially Echinochloa and Setaria) formerly included within Panicum; panicgrass or panic grass.


malt

en-noun

malt (countable and uncountable, plural malts)

From Middle English malt, from Old English mealt, from Proto-West Germanic *malt, from Proto-Germanic *maltą (“malt”), from *maltaz (“soft; nesh; weak; squashy; melting”), from Proto-Indo-European *meld-, *mled- (“to crush; grind; make weak”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Moalt (“malt”), Dutch mout (“malt”), German Malz (“malt”), Swedish malt (“malt”), Old Church Slavonic младъ (mladŭ, “tender; young”), Russian молодой (molodoj, “young; fresh; new”). The Proto-Germanic noun was borrowed into Proto-Slavic as *malta; compare Ukrainian мо́лот (mólot), Czech mláto. More at melt.

cog

Oh many a peer of England brews
Livelier liquor than the Muse,
And malt does more than Milton can
To justify God's ways to man.

1896, A. E. Housman, A Shropshire Lad, section LXII:


corn

en-noun

corn (usually uncountable, plural corns)

Kashubian: kòrné (Canada)

Tok Pisin: kon

→ Maori: kānga

Inherited from Middle English corn, from Old English corn, from Proto-West Germanic *korn, from Proto-Germanic *kurną, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵr̥h₂nóm (“grain; worn-down”), from *ǵerh₂- (“grow old, mature”). The sense "maize" is a clipping of Indian corn. Cognate with Dutch koren, German Low German Koorn, German Korn, Danish korn, Norwegian Bokmål korn, Norwegian Nynorsk korn and Swedish korn; see also Albanian grurë, Russian зерно́ (zernó), Czech zrno, Latin grānum and Lithuanian žirnis. Doublet of grain, gram, granum, and grao.

doublet

what does that have to do with the price of corn

The planting or sowing of maize, exclusively called corn, was just accomplished on the Town Hill, when I reached it.

1809, Edward Augustus Kendall, Travels Through the Northern Parts of the United States:

Corn was the staff of life for many Indian people before contact, and it became the staff of life for many European colonists. Corn was higher in nutrition than most other grain crops. John Lawson, who travelled in South Carolina and into the interior Indian country in 1701, was one of the many colonists who sang the praises of corn.

1998 February 18, Colin G. Calloway, New Worlds for All: Indians, Europeans, and the Remaking of Early America, JHU Press, →ISBN, pages 51–52:

(US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, uncountable) Maize, a grain crop of the species Zea mays.


corn

en-verb

corn (third-person singular simple present corns, present participle corning, simple past and past participle corned)

corns (present singular third-person)
corning (participle present)
corned (participle past)
corned (past)

(US, Canada) To preserve using coarse salt, e.g. corned beef.


quicken

en-noun

quicken (countable and uncountable, plural quickens)

From Middle English quiken (“couch grass (Elymus repens); a leguminous plant, vetch”) [and other forms], a variant of quich, quik (“couch grass (Elymus repens); a leguminous plant, vetch”) [and other forms] (whence modern English quick, quitch (“couch grass, quitchgrass”); the -en element remains unexplained), from Old English cwiċe (“couch grass”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *kwikwaz (“alive; lively; quick”); see further at etymology 1.

nb...

(Late Middle English) quechyn, quyken, qwyckyn, (Middle English) quechen

inh

Quickens-bog may at first seem to derive its name from the plant Quicken, by which, Scotticé, we understand couch-grass, dog-grass, or the Triticum repens of [Carl] Linnæus, and the common English monosyllable Bog, by which we mean, in popular language, a marsh or morass; in Latin, Palus.

1816, [Walter Scott], chapter VI, in The Antiquary. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 139:

couch grass

(chiefly Midlands (northern), Northern England, Northern Ireland, Scotland) Synonym of couch grass (“a species of grass, Elymus repens”); also (chiefly in the plural), the underground rhizomes of this, and sometimes other grasses.


reed

en-noun

reed (countable and uncountable, plural reeds)

From Middle English red, reed, from Old English hrēod, from Proto-West Germanic *hreud, of uncertain origin.
Akin to Saterland Frisian Rait (“reed”), West Frisian reid (“reed”), Dutch riet (“reed”), German Ried (“reed”). No cognates in North Germanic languages, but the existence of an otherwise unattested Gothic *𐌷𐍂𐌹𐌿𐌳 (*hriud) was supposed by the brothers Grimm. They also theorised that the word may have a relation to the retas mentioned in Noctes Atticae (Aulus Gellius). The measuring reed sense is the translation of Akkadian qanûm ("cane") used in the Bible and elsewhere.

(countable) The hollow stem of these plants.

(countable, music) Part of the mouthpiece of certain woodwind instruments, comprising a thin piece of wood or metal which shakes very quickly to produce sound when a musician blows over it.

A Babylonian unit of measure the length of a reed, equal to half a nindan, or six cubits.


dent

From French dent, from Latin dēns, dentis (“tooth”). Doublet of dens and tooth.


bere

From Middle English bere, from Old English bere (“barley”), from Proto-West Germanic *barī, from Proto-Germanic *baraz (“barley”). Compare Welsh bara (“bread”), Latin far (“emmer”), Serbo-Croatian бра̏шно/brȁšno (“flour”), Albanian bar (“grass”), Ancient Greek Φήρον (Phḗron, “plant deity”). See also: barley.

cog

(chiefly Scotland) Barley, especially four-rowed barley or six-rowed barley.


abacaxi

Borrowed from Portuguese abacaxi (“pineapple”).


wanghee

Phyllostachys nigra
Phyllostachys nigra#Translingual

Bamboo species of the genus Phyllostachys, especially Phyllostachys nigra.


avenaceous

en-adj

avenaceous (comparative more avenaceous, superlative most avenaceous)

more avenaceous (comparative)
most avenaceous (superlative)

Belonging to, or resembling, oats or the oat grasses.


cheat

en-verb

cheat (third-person singular simple present cheats, present participle cheating, simple past and past participle cheated)

cheats (present singular third-person)
cheating (participle present)
cheated (participle past)
cheated (past)

Inherited from Middle English acheten, variant of escheten, from Old French escheoiter, from the noun (see below). Displaced native Old English beswīcan.

My brother flunked biology because he cheated on his mid-term.

(intransitive) To violate rules in order to gain, or attempt to gain, advantage from a situation.

My husband cheated on me with his secretary.

After he found out his wife cheated, he left her.

While the nonavoidant passive-aggressive cheats for the sexual gratification and tries to disguise his or her cheating afterwards, in contrast, the passive-aggressive avoidant cheats less for the sex than to send a message[…]

2003, Martin Kantor, Distancing: Avoidant Personality Disorder, page 137:

(intransitive) To be unfaithful to one's spouse or partner; to commit adultery, or to engage in sexual or romantic conduct with a person other than one's partner in contravention of the rules of society or agreement in the relationship.

ходи́ть нале́во impf (xodítʹ nalévo, literally “go left”)

(informal, intransitive) To disregard self-imposed restrictions or commitments in favour of resting or indulging oneself.


cheat

→ Dutch: cheat

→ French: cheat

→ German: Cheat

Inherited from Middle English chete, an aphetic form of eschete (“the reversion of property to the state”), from Old French eschet, escheit, escheoit (“that which falls to one”), from the past participle of eschoir (“to fall”) (modern French échoir), from Vulgar Latin *excadēre, from Latin ex + cadere (“fall”).

When I consider life, 'tis all a cheat.

1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1676, →OCLC, (please specify the page number):

An act of deception or fraud; that which is the means of fraud or deception.


pine

en-noun

pine (countable and uncountable, plural pines)

From Middle English pyne, from Latin pīnus, from Proto-Indo-European *peyH- (“sap, juice”). Cognate with Sanskrit पितु (pitu, “sap, juice, resin”). Doublet of pinus. Related to fat.

cog

The northern slopes were covered mainly in pine.

I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.

1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:

Sepia Delft tiles surrounded the fireplace, their crudely drawn Biblical scenes in faded cyclamen blending with the pinkish pine, while above them, instead of a mantelshelf, there was an archway high enough to form a balcony with slender balusters and a tapestry-hung wall behind.

1963, Margery Allingham, “Miss Thyrza’s Chair”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 41:

(countable, uncountable) Any coniferous tree of the genus Pinus.


barley

en-noun

barley (usually uncountable, plural barleys)

From Middle English barly, barli, from Old English bærlīċ (“barley-like”, adjective) (later referring to barley itself and grain crops of similar appearance), from bere (“barley”) (compare Scots bere (“six-rowed barley”)), from Proto-Germanic *baraz (compare Old Norse barr), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰers- (“spike, prickle”). Equivalent to bere + -ly. See English brew.

sprat barley

now Hordeum distichon or Hordeum vulgare

Hordeum vulgare
Hordeum vulgare#Translingual

A cereal of the species Hordeum vulgare, or its grains, often used as food or to make beer and other malted drinks.

Coix lacryma-jobi
Coix lacryma-jobi#Translingual

(Singapore) The seed of Job's tears. (Coix lacryma-jobi)


millet

en-noun

millet (countable and uncountable, plural millets)

From late Middle English, borrowed from Middle French millet; from Latin milium, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“to grind, crush”), see also Ancient Greek μελίνη (melínē, “millet”) and Lithuanian málnos (“millet”).

der

[…] Tobias said, ‘Don't bother. Elena's allergic to all known food groups. The only thing she eats here is seasoned millet and rainwater they bring down from Vermont in a zinc can.’

1991, Douglas Coupland, “Adventure without risk is Disneyland”, in Generation X, New York: St. Martin's Press, →OCLC, page 155:

Any of a group of various types of grass or its grains used as food, widely cultivated in the developing world.

mel

any of a group of various types of grass or its grains used as food

Urochloa ramosa

syn. Brachiaria ramosa; brown-top millet

Panicum miliaceum
Panicum miliaceum#Translingual

(specifically) Common millet, in particular Panicum miliaceum.


sorghum

en-noun

sorghum (countable and uncountable, plural sorghums)

From New Latin genus name Sorghum, from Italian sorgo, from Vulgar Latin *syricum (“Syrian”), from Sȳricus. Doublet of the synonyms sorgho (via French) and sorgo (via Italian).

1936, Harry Nelson Vinall, Joseph Charlworth Stephens, John Holmes Martin, Identification, History, and Distribution of Common Sorghum Varieties, US Department of Agriculture, Technical Bulletin No. 506, page 2,
The sorghum crop has four uses — forage, grain, sirup, and industrial (such as the manufacture of brooms, wallboard, etc.).

1978, US Department of Agriculture, Watch out for witchweed, a serious pest of corn, sorghum, and other crops, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Program Number 1212, unnumbered page,
Witchweed (Striga spp.) is a parasitic plant that attacks corn, sorghum, sugarcane, rice, and more than 60 different species of the grass family.

2008, Lamissa Diakité, Amadou Sidibé, Melinda Smale, Mikkel Grum, Seed Value Chains for Sorghum and Millet in Mali: A State-based System in Transition, International Food Policy Research Institute, Discussion Paper 00749, page 2,
Archaeological evidence suggests that economies based on cattle, goats, sorghum, and pearl millet were established in this region between 5,000 and 3,000 years ago (Smith 1998).

Sorghum bicolor
Sorghum bicolor#Translingual

A cereal, Sorghum genus and species, the grains of which are cultivated to make flour and feed cattle. Almost all cultivated ones as well as some wild ones belong to the species Sorghum bicolor (syn. Sorghum vulgare).


rye

rye (countable and uncountable, plural ryes)

From Middle English rie, reighe, from Old English ryġe, from Proto-West Germanic *rugi, from Proto-Germanic *rugiz, from Proto-Indo-European *Hrugʰís.
Germanic cognates include Dutch and West Frisian rogge, Low German Rogg, German Roggen, Rocken, Old Norse rugr (Danish rug, Swedish råg); non-Germanic cognates include Russian рожь (rožʹ) and Latvian rudzi.

Secale cereale
Secale cereale#Translingual

The grass Secale cereale from which the grain is obtained.

хьэпцӏий

the grass Secale cereale or its grains as food

Caraway (from the mistaken assumption that the whole seeds, often used to season rye bread, are the rye itself)


cardamom

cardamom (countable and uncountable, plural cardamoms)

Late Middle English, from Old French cardamome or Latin cardamōmum, from Ancient Greek καρδάμωμον (kardámōmon).

grains of paradise
grains of paradise#English

Aframomum melegueta
Aframomum melegueta#Translingual

(uncommon, inexact) Synonym of grains of paradise, the seeds or seed capsules of Aframomum melegueta, of East Africa.


ita

A kind of palm tree (Mauritia flexuosa), growing near the Orinoco.


haver

Borrowed from Scots haver, from Middle English haver, from Old Norse hafri (“oat, oats”), from Proto-Germanic *habrô (“oat, oats”), from Proto-Indo-European *kapro- (“goat”). Cognate with Dutch haver (“oats”) and German Hafer (“oat”).

(UK, Scotland, dialect) Oats (the cereal).


oats

Oats are in the north corner of the farm.

Usually oats is last in a rotation and does not get the fertilizer that other feed grains get.

A mass of oat plants (genus Avena, especially Avena sativa).


ilala

Hyphaene coriacea, a type of palm tree native to South Africa.


guano

guano (countable and uncountable, plural guanos or guanoes)

Borrowed from Spanish guano, from Quechua wanu.

The guano, so extensively used for manure, is full of the most beautiful infusoria, some of them splendidly iridiscent; and there is no better method of testing the genuineness of this useful substance than by the microscope.

1799, Edwin Sidney, Blights of the Wheat, and Their Remedies, page 175:

In the second experiment, a comparative trial was made between guano and bone-dust mixed with coal ashes.

1844, J. Ridgway, Peruvian and Bolivian Guano, its nature, properties and results, page 22:

Low-grade phosphatic guanos can be mixed with coffee hulls and pulp, which contain a small amount of potash.

1918, Philip Lindsey Gile, The bat guanos of Porto Rico and their fertilizing value, page 60:

The great white bat has great white guano!

A roof made of guano palm fronds will last up to 15 years, although Maya harvesters point out that the leaves must be cut when the moon is full; otherwise, the stems become susceptible to insect damage.

2010, James D. Nations, The Maya Tropical Forest:

Coccothrinax borhidiana, a variety of palm tree indigenous to Cuba.


canna

From Latin canna (“reed”), from Ancient Greek κᾰ́ννᾱ (kắnnā, “reed”), from Akkadian 𒂵𒉡𒌑𒌝 (qanûm). Cognates Biblical Hebrew קָנֶה (qané), Aramaic קַנְיָא (qanyā), Classical Syriac ܩܢܝܐ (qanya), and English canon, cannon, canal, and channel. Doublet of cane and kaneh.

A palisade of Canary palms formed an honour guard along the verges, while beds of golden cannas flamed from the central reservation.

2000, JG Ballard, Super-Cannes, Fourth Estate, published 2011, page 7:

Still, some of Mr. Cooper’s tender salvias are wintering over, and he plans to leave a few clumps of cannas in the ground next fall.

2007 January 18, Anne Raver, “Is It Spring? Winter? What’s a Flower to Think?”, in New York Times:

Any member of the genus Canna of tropical plants with large leaves and often showy flowers.


copra

copra (countable and uncountable, plural copras)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-copra.wav

Borrowed from Portuguese copra, from Malayalam കൊപ്ര (kopra), from Sanskrit कपालः (kapālaḥ, “skull”). Doublet of kapala.

She burnt a small quantity of straw and copra in an earthern incense bowl and took it out to him.

2011, Arupa Patangia Kalita, translated by Deepika Phukan, The Story of Felanee:

The dried kernel of the coconut, from which coconut oil is extruded.


emmer

emmer (countable and uncountable, plural emmers)

First used in 1908; borrowed from German Emmer, from Middle High German emeri, from Old High German amari, derivative of amar(o), which in turn gave rise to the obsolescent German synonym Amelkorn (“amelcorn”). Further etymology unknown, but some sources claim descent from Latin amylum (“starch, gruel”) (q.v.).

Emmer Wheat or Farro Emmer wheat, T. turgidum dicoccum, was probably the second wheat to be cultivated. It grew in warmer climates than einkorn, and became the most important cultivated form from the Near East through northern Africa and Europe until early Roman times, when it was superseded by durum and bread wheats. But pockets of emmer cultivation survived in parts of Europe, and emmer is now widely available under its Italian name, farro.

2004, Harold McGee, chapter 9, in On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, Scribner, →ISBN:

Triticum dicoccon
Triticum dicoccon#Translingual

Any of species Triticum dicoccon, one of a group of hulled wheats that are important food grains.

wild emmer

Triticum dicoccoides (a hybrid of Triticum urartu and a wild goatgrass. such as Aegilops searsii or Aegilops speltoides)


fescue

fescue (countable and uncountable, plural fescues)

From Old French festu (modern fétu), from Proto-Romance festu, from Latin festūca (“stalk, stem, straw”).

A hardy grass commonly used to border golf fairways in temperate climates. Any member of the genus Festuca.


raffia

raffia (countable and uncountable, plural raffias)

He was pressed against the canes and raffia of which this old house was built.

1958, Saul Bellow, Henderson the Rain King:

A fibrous material used for tying plants, originating from the leaves of raffia palm trees (genus Raphia).


redtop

redtop (countable and uncountable, plural redtops)

(uncountable) A kind of grass (Agrostis vulgaris) highly valued in the United States for pasturage and hay for cattle.


sago

sago (countable and uncountable, plural sagos or sagoes)

From Malay sagu, via Portuguese sagu or Dutch sago.

A powdered starch obtained from certain palms (Metroxylon spp., esp. Metroxylon sagu), used as a flour and food thickener and for sizing textiles.

սագո

a powdered starch obtained from certain palms and used as a food thickener

A similar starch obtained from a palm-like cycad (Cycas revoluta).

Any of the palms from which sago is extracted.

сагова палма

any of the palms from which sago is extracted


sedge

sedge (countable and uncountable, plural sedges)

Etymology tree
Proto-Germanic *sagjaz
Proto-West Germanic *sagi
Old English seċġ
Middle English segge
English sedge
From Middle English segge, from Old English seċġ, from Proto-West Germanic *sagi, from Proto-Germanic *sagjaz, from Proto-Indo-European *sak- (“marsh plant”).
Cognate with Dutch zegge and German Segge, dialectal German Saher (“reeds”).

inh

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-sedge.wav

But when the moon rose and the breeze awakened, and the sedges stirred, and the cat's-paws raced across the moonlit ponds, and the far surf off Wonder Head intoned the hymn of the four winds, the trinity, earth and sky and water, became one thunderous symphony—a harmony of sound and colour silvered to a monochrome by the moon.

1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

Any plant of the genus Carex, the true sedges; perennial, endogenous herbs with triangular jointless stems, a spiked inflorescence, and long grass-like leaves which are usually rough on the margins and midrib.

Andropogon virginicus
Andropogon virginicus#Translingual

Any other plants resembling sedges, such as Gentiana rubricaulis and Andropogon virginicus.


sedge

(fishing) A dry fly used in fly fishing, designed to resemble a sedge or caddis fly.


thatch

en-noun

thatch (countable and uncountable, plural thatches)

Variant of thack, from Middle English thache, thach, from Old English þæc (“roof-covering”), from Proto-West Germanic *þak, from Proto-Germanic *þaką (“covering”), from (o-grade of) Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg- (“cover”).
Cognate with Icelandic þak, Dutch dak, German Dach, Norwegian tak, Swedish tak, Danish tag; and with Latin toga, Albanian thak (“awn, beard, pin, peg, tassel, fringe”), Lithuanian stogas (“roof”). Related to Ancient Greek τέγος (tégos, “roof”) and στέγη (stégē, “roof”). See also English deech, deck.

cog

(Caribbean) Any of several kinds of palm, the leaves of which are used for thatching.


helm

en-noun

helm (countable and uncountable, plural helms)

The noun is possibly:
* a variant of haulm; or
* from its etymon Middle English halm, helm, Early Middle English healm (“straw, stubble; stalk (?); handle of a tool or weapon”) [and other forms], from Old English healm (“stalk of a grass or plant; hay, straw, stubble”) or an unattested variant *helm, from Proto-Germanic *helmaz (see Proto-West Germanic *helm) or *halmaz (“stalk of a grass or plant; hay, straw”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱelh₂- (“to prick, stab, stick”).
The verb is either derived from the noun, or is possibly a variant of yelm.
cognates
* Dutch helm (“haulm”); helm, hellem, hellim (“straw”) (dialectal)
* Low German helm (“haulm”) (hallem (Heligoland), halm (Holstein))

inh

The Italians, and Spaniards, call it Sparto, and the ſecond ſort Albardi, The Dutch Halm. And vve in Engliſh, Helme, and Matvveede, but the people all along the Coaſts of Norfolke and Suffolke, call it Marram, and may be called Sea Ruſhes as vvell.

1640, John Parkinson, “Spartum herba sive Inncus. Matt Weed or Mat Rushes.”, in Theatrum Botanicum: The Theater of Plants. Or, An Herball of a Large Extent: […], London: […] Tho[mas] Cotes, →OCLC, page 1200:

(uncountable, obsolete) Synonym of bentgrass (“any of numerous reedy grass species of the genus Agrostis”)


rush

From Middle English risshe, rusch, risch, from Old English rysċ, rysċe, risċ, risċe, from a merger of Proto-West Germanic *riskijā, from Proto-Indo-European *(H)resg- (“to weave”) and Proto-West Germanic *ruskijā, borrowed from Latin rūscum (“butcher's broom”), of unknown origin + *-jā (animal and plant suffix).
Cognates include West Frisian risk, Dutch rus (“bulrush”), Norwegian Bokmål rusk, dialectal Norwegian ryskje (“hair-grass”). Further cognates include Russian розга (rozga).

der

(plant of the genus Juncus):

Any of several stiff plants of the genus Juncus, or the family Juncaceae, having hollow or pithy stems and small flowers, and often growing in marshes or near water.


flint

en-noun

flint (countable and uncountable, plural flints)

From Middle English flynt, flint, from Old English flint, from Proto-West Germanic *flint, from Proto-Germanic *flintaz (compare Dutch vlint, flint (“flint, cobblestone”), German Flins, Flint (“flint, pebble”), Danish flint (“flint”)), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)plind- (“to split, cleave”) (compare Irish slinn (“slate, shingle”), Ancient Greek πλίνθος (plínthos)), from *(s)pley- (“to split”). More at split.

der

He used flint to make a fire.

Some of the enormous fragments of chalk which are interstratified with drift have not only layers of undisturbed flints, but also sandpipes in the middle of them, or cylindrical cavities filled with sand and gravel […]

In a cornfield on one side flakings of flint are numerous.

1916, Allen Jesse Reynolds, Wilson Straley, The Archaeological Bulletin, volumes 7-9, page 3:

A hard, fine-grained quartz that fractures conchoidally and generates sparks when struck against a material such as steel, because tiny chips of the steel are heated to incandescence and burn in air.

صَوَّان

hard fine-grained quartz which generates sparks when struck

A piece of flint, such as a gunflint, used to produce a spark by striking it with a firestriker.

صَوَّانَة

piece of flint, such as gunflint used to produce a spark — see also firestriker

A small cylinder of some other material of the same function in a cigarette lighter, etc.

A type of maize/corn with a hard outer hull.


plantain

Inherited from Middle English planteyne, planteyn, from Anglo-Norman plainteine et al., Old French plaintain, from Latin plantāgō, from planta (“sole of the foot”), a nasalized form of Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂- (“flat; to spread”), because of the broad, flat shape of the plantain leaves.

The roots of Plantain and Pellitory of Spain beaten to powder and put into hollow teeth, takes away the pains of them.

1653, Nicholas Culpeper, The English Physician Enlarged, Folio Society, published 2007, page 225:

The paths too are overgrown, but easily identified by the presence on them of round-leaved plantains.

2003, Ernst Jünger, translated by Michael Hofmann, Storm of Steel, Penguin, published 2004, page 41:

A plant of the genus Plantago, with a rosette of sessile leaves about 10 cm (4") long with a narrow part instead of a petiole, and with a spike inflorescence with the flower spacing varying widely among the species. See also psyllium.

Indian plantain

Arnoglossum spp.; Plantago ovata, Cacalia spp.

water plantain

Alisma spp.; Baldellia spp.; Sagittaria secundifolia


ananas

From Italian ananas, from French ananas, from Spanish ananás, from Portuguese ananás, adapted from Old Tupi nanas (“pineapple”).

(obsolete) Bromelia pinguin, a plant with edible fruit.


spiderwort

One morning she had me traipsing out at the crack of dawn for prickly poppy, toadflax, spiderwort, and skeleton weed. If that doesn't sound like the makings of a witch's brew, then I'm the queen of England.

2010, Clare Vanderpool, Moon Over Manifest:

A perennial plant of the Tradescantia genus, found in clumps in woodland and meadow.


galangal

en-noun

galangal (countable and uncountable, plural galangals)

From Middle English galyngale, from Old French galingal, from Arabic خَلَنْجَان (ḵalanjān), from Persian قولنجان (qulenjân, qulanjân), from Sanskrit कुलञ्जन (kulañjana), perhaps from Chinese 高良薑／高良姜 (gāoliángjiāng), from 高涼 /高凉 (Gāoliáng) (a prefecture or county in China) + 薑 /姜 (jiāng, “ginger”).

The refreshing aroma of galangal acts in combination with and as a contrast to lemongrass in many recipes in this book.

2008, Carol Selva Rajah, David Thompson, Heavenly Fragrance, page 144:

Another time, she dined in Hampstead, where she was fed a version of stargazy pie with a whole squid where the eel should have been. It was flavoured, for the full medieval effect, with galangal, which her hostess described as “kind of like frankincense”.

2023 July 15, Rachel Cooke, “No, Nigella – dinner parties are great. Deliveroo just doesn’t cut it”, in The Observer, →ISSN:

Any of several east Asian plants of genera Alpinia and Kaempferia in the ginger family, used as a spice, but principally Alpinia galanga.

خَوْلَنْجَان

any of several plants of the ginger family


carnauba

carnauba (countable and uncountable, plural carnaubas)

From Portuguese carnaúba, from Old Tupi karana'yba.

A Brazilian palm tree having waxy, fan-shaped leaves and toothed leafstalks, Copernicia prunifera.


quinoa

quinoa (countable and uncountable, plural quinoas)

→ Welsh: cwinoa

→ Korean: 퀴노아 (kwinoa)

Borrowed from Spanish quinua, from Quechua kinwa.

Turn the heat up to medium-high, add the quinoa, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

2007, Mark Bittman, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food, page 560:

Quinoa is another of those foods that keeps getting miscategorized—everyone thinks it′s a grain, everyone uses it like a grain, but it′s actually a seed.

2007, Jonny Bowden, The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth, page 78:

To use quinoa in a salad, spread it on a platter or baking sheet after cooking to allow it to cool and, more importantly, dry. Cooked quinoa can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

2009, Miriam Backes, Bob′s Red Mill Cookbook: Whole & Healthy Grains for Every Meal of the Day, page 104:

The high-protein dried fruits and seeds of this plant, used as a food staple and ground into flour.


ginger root

Ginger, the underground stem, or rhizome, of the plant Zingiber officinale.


pone

pone (countable and uncountable, plural pones)

Borrowed from Powhatan apones, appoans (“bread”), from Proto-Algonquian *apwa·n (“thing which has been baked or roasted”), whence also Abenaki abôn (“bread”).

der

(Southern US) A baked or fried cornbread (bread made of cornmeal), often made without milk or eggs.


coir

en-noun

coir (countable and uncountable, plural coirs)

Borrowed from Tamil கயறு (kayaṟu), Malayalam കയർ (kayaṟ).

The fibre obtained from the husk of a coconut, used chiefly in making rope, matting and as a peat substitute.


twitch

couch grass (Elymus repens; a species of grass, often considered as a weed)


sugar cane

sugar cane (usually uncountable, plural sugar canes)

Daniel was watching Sarah, Bose and Femi munch contentedly on the firm sweetness of sugar cane, plucking back the green with their fingers to reveal the creamy yellow-white that left gluey juices on their hands and clothes.

2005, Helen Oyeyemi, The Icarus Girl, Bloomsbury, page 306:

Saccharum officinarum
Saccharum officinarum#Translingual

A tropical grass of the genus Saccharum (especially the species Saccharum officinarum, including hybrids) having stout, fibrous, jointed stalks, the sap of which is a source of sugar.

tubèë

species of grass whose sap is a source of sugar


roastnear

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-roastnear.wav

(US, slang) An ear of corn or corn on the cob.


zoysia

After Karl von Zois zu Laubach, Austrian botanist.

In areas farther north, zoysias will live but will not spread. Zoysias need bright, hot sunlight.

1957 August 19, Popular Mechanics, volume 108, number 2, page 220:

Any of a genus (Zoysia) of creeping perennial grasses of southern Asia and New Zealand having fine wiry leaves and including some suitable for lawn grasses, especially in warm regions.


zacate

From Philippine Spanish zacate, from Mexican Spanish, from Classical Nahuatl zacatl (“dry weeds or grass; fodder, forage”), from Uto-Aztecan *saka-t.

der

Swamp ricegrass, Leersia hexandra, a grass cultivated for green forage.


palm tree

From Middle English palmetre, from Old English palmtrēow (“palm tree”), equivalent to palm + tree. Compare Danish palmetræ (“palm tree”), Swedish palmträd (“palm tree”), Norwegian palmetre (“palm tree”), Icelandic pálmatré (“palm tree”).

A tree of the family Arecaceae usually characterised by having a single stem or trunk, directly from which sprout several leaves or fronds giving a shape like an outstretched hand.


cat's-paw

en-noun

cat's-paw (plural cat's-paws or cats'-paws)

From cat + paw. In most senses, due to a resemblance of shape. In its senses as a pawn to another's interests or analysis, variant of earlier cat's-foot, derived from European tales of a monkey (attested as early as 1456 but sometimes misattributed to the 16th-century monkey of Pope Julius II) who used a sleeping puppy or cat's foot to rake hot chestnuts out of a fire, taken as a metaphor for rulers' ill use of their subjects. Now usually understood in light of Jean de La Fontaine's 1679 fable of the "The Monkey and the Cat" (sometimes misattributed to Aesop), in which the monkey fools the cat into removing the chestnuts through flattery and promises of shared reward. The cat removes the chestnuts one by one, burning his paw while the monkey eats each in turn. A maid then enters and chases them both away. La Fontaine's moral concludes that princes should not endure real losses for mere flattery from their king.

an unrelated metaphor from a separate story

pull someone's chestnuts out of the fire

Any of several species of North American freshwater mussels of the genus Epioblasma, especially E. obliquata.


citronella

citronella (usually uncountable, plural citronellas)

From French citronnelle. See citro- + nella.

A tropical Asian grass, Cymbopogon nardus, that has citrus-scented leaves.

An essential oil obtained from this plant, often used as an insect repellent.


ait

From Scots ait, ate, from Middle English ate, from Old English āte. More at oat.

Let husky wheat the haughs adorn,
An' aits set up their awnie horn,


red fescue

a grass plant, Festuca rubra, with green, red, or blue-green flowers, found in Europe, Asia and North America.


cornmeal

cornmeal (countable and uncountable, plural cornmeals)

She made a kind of polenta from cornmeal and chicken broth, with some cheese sprinkled on top.

Dried corn (maize) milled (ground) to a coarse meal.


betel nut

An egg-shaped seed of the betel palm; wrapped in the leaves of the betel pepper and chewed.


diss

LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-diss.wav

Ampelodesmos mauritanicus syn. Ampelodesmos tenax, a reedy grass used for cordage.


manila

manila:

Yellow-brown; colored like manila paper.


coconut

coconut (countable and uncountable, plural coconuts)

→ Japanese: ココナッツ (kokonattsu)

From coco + nut. In reference to assimilated Hispanic or Black people, derived from the fruit's exotic origins and the slur that they are "brown on the outside, white on the inside". In reference to Polynesians, from the ubiquity of coconut palms in the area.

that accounts for the milk in the coconut

Your mum is a white whore, you coconut.

2016 June 8, “Containment”, in Cleverman, episode 2, spoken by Waruu West [speaking to half-brother Koen West]:

(South Africa, Australia, derogatory, ethnic slur) A black person considered to have overly assimilated to white culture, a black race traitor.


floss

Origin obscure. Perhaps of North Germanic origin. Compare Norwegian flos, flus (“rind, scale, strip peeled off”).

unk

obscure

Juncus effusus
Juncus effusus#Translingual

(Northern England, Scotland) The common rush (Juncus effusus).


triticale

en-noun

triticale (countable and uncountable, plural triticales)

Blend of Latin trīticum (“wheat”) + Latin sēcale (“rye”).

blend

(countable) Any particular variety of triticale.


Adam's apple

Calque of Latin pomum Adami, which is found in the botanical sense from 1560 and the anatomical sense from 1600. According to the earliest sources, the anatomical usage derives from a common belief that Adam was punished by God for the fall of man by having a piece of the forbidden fruit lodged in his throat (see 1662 citation).

That same bunch which is seen on the foreside of the Neck, is called Adams Apple, because the common people have a beliefe, that by the judgement of God, a part of that fatal Apple, abode sticking in Adams Throat, and is so communicated to his posterity

1662 [1651], Nicholas Culpeper, Abdiah Cole, transl., Bartholinus Anatomy, London: Peter Cole, translation of Protuberantia illa in collo anterius conspicua, dicitur Pomum Adami; [quia vulgo persuasum in Adami faucibus pomi fatalis partem ex pœna Divina remansisse, & ad posteros translatam] by Thomas Bartholin, page 123:

He was seated some way down a table at right angles to the one at which I sat, a man of mean appearance with a greyish complexion, thin, with a square nose, a heavy wiry moustache and a big Adam's apple sticking out between the wings of his collar.

1911, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, The New Machiavelli, London: John Lane; The Bodley Head […], →OCLC:

The thickness of his wrist and the greatness of his fingers made authentic the mighty frame of him hidden under loose dungaree pants and cotton shirt, buttonless, open from midriff to Adam’s apple, exposing a chest matted with a thatch of hair as white as that of his head and face.

1919 September, Jack London, “The Bones of Kahelili”, in On the Makaloa Mat, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →OCLC, pages 42–43:

A barber shop and pool room. A man in shirt sleeves, presumably Del Snafflin the proprietor, shaving a man who had a large Adam's apple.

1920, Sinclair Lewis, Main Street: The Story of Carol Kennicott, New York, N.Y.: Harcourt, Brace and Howe, →OCLC:

laryngeal prominence
laryngeal prominence

(anatomy) The lump in the throat, usually more noticeable in men than in women; the laryngeal prominence.

Tabernaemontana divaricata
Tabernaemontana divaricata#Translingual

Any of species Tabernaemontana divaricata of fragrant houseplants, native to southeast Asia.

Musa × paradisiaca
Musa × paradisiaca#Translingual

Any of hybrid species Musa × paradisiaca, of cultivated bananas.

The fourth [name of the citron] is named of diuers Pomum Assyrium, or Citron of Assyria, and may be Englished Adams apple, after the Italian name, and among the vulgar sort of Italians Lomie, of whom it is also called Pomum Adami, or Adams apple, and that came by the opinion of the commom rude people, who thinke it to be the same Apple, of which Adam did eate in Paradise when he transgressed Gods commandement

1597, John Gerarde, The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes, London: John Norton, page 1281:

Citrus limetta
Citrus limetta#Translingual

Citrus medica
Citrus medica#Translingual

A citron (Citrus limetta, syn. of Citrus medica).


coconut palm

Cocos nucifera
Cocos nucifera#Translingual

The tropical palm tree Cocos nucifera, having feathery leaves and bearing coconuts.


bluegrass

en-noun

bluegrass (countable and uncountable, plural bluegrasses)

From blue + grass, from the bluish appearance of the massed grass in late Spring.

Poa pratensis
Poa pratensis#Translingual


jake

jake (countable and uncountable, plural jakes)

It is possible that the governments have found the cause of the poisoned “jake” in their investigations into the Jamaica ginger deaths throughout the South and Southwest.

1930, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, Administration of Federal Food and Drugs Act: Hearings..., page 1854:

(US, slang, uncountable) Jamaica ginger.


cane brake

But the long cactus-strewn levels still stretched away, empty and bare, to the distant line of the cane-brake.

1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

I was born one mornin', it was drizzlin' rain
Fightin' and trouble are my middle name
I was raised in the canebrake by an ol' mama lion

A dense thicket of sugar-canes or bamboos.


cockle

Wikispecies
Wikispecies
From Middle English cockil, cokil, cokylle, from Old English coccel (“darnel”), of unknown origin, perhaps from a diminutive of Latin coccus (“berry”).

But cockle, spurge, according to their law / Might propagate their kind, with none to awe, / You'd think; a burr had been a treasure trove.

1855, Robert Browning, Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came, section X:

Agrostemma githago
Agrostemma githago#Translingual

Lolium temulentum
Lolium temulentum#Translingual

Any of several field weeds, such as the common corncockle (Agrostemma githago) and darnel ryegrass (Lolium temulentum).

къклица

any of several weeds, such as the corn cockle


musaceous

en-adj

musaceous (comparative more musaceous, superlative most musaceous)

more musaceous (comparative)
most musaceous (superlative)

Now there grows among all the rooms, replacing the night’s old smoke, alcohol and sweat, the fragile, musaceous odor of Breakfast: flowery, permeating, surprising

1973, Thomas Pynchon, Gravity's Rainbow:


dragon's blood

For black magic, assafœtida, garlic, dragon's blood, sulphur, and such-like vile-smelling concoctions were used.

1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 155:

Another ancient vegetable relic surviving in Macaronesia is the legendary dragon tree, whose sap, marketed as dragon’s blood, was in past times much prized as a medicine, as incense and as a dye.

2018, Tim Flannery, Europe: A Natural History, page 97:

A bright red resin, obtained from different species of a number of distinct plants Calamus rotang and genera Croton, Dracaena, Daemonorops, and Pterocarpus, used in the manufacture of varnishes, lacquers, medicines, and incenses.


cornstarch

en-noun

cornstarch (usually uncountable, plural cornstarches)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-cornstarch.wav

A very fine starch powder derived from corn (maize) used in cooking as a thickener, to keep things from sticking, or as an anti-caking agent.


corn syrup

corn syrup (countable and uncountable, plural corn syrups)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-corn syrup.wav

A sticky sweet liquid, consisting of sugars dissolved in water, produced from corn (maize). Used as a sweetener in cooking, especially in commercial kitchens but also in candy making.


grama

grama (countable and uncountable, plural gramas)

Borrowed from Spanish grama (“grass”), from Latin grāmina, plural of grāmen (“grass”).

To understand the exquisite beauty of simple green grass, you must travel through eight hundred miles of sage-brush and grama...the latter, a stunted species of herbage, growing in ash tinted spirals, only two inches from the ground, and giving the Plains an appearance of being matted with curled hair or gray corkscrews. Its other name is “buffalo grass”; and in spite of its dinginess, with the assistance of the sage, converting all the Plains west of Fort Kearney into a model Quaker landscape, it is one of the most nutritious varieties of cattle fodder, and for hundreds of miles the emigrant drover’s only dependence.

Every few years, Ingrid goes back to take a look, even though all that’s left is the old bleached shell of a house, surrounded by blue grama grass and tall trees with pale bark and waxy leaves.

2005 October 17, Tom Drury, “Path Lights”, in The New Yorker:

The grass was thick around us, grama and bluestem, more than could ever be eaten.

2013, Philipp Meyer, The Son, Simon & Schuster, published 2014, page 95:

Various species of grass in the genus Bouteloua, including Bouteloua gracilis (blue grama)


brown rice

brown rice (usually uncountable, plural brown rices)

As an unabashed health nut, she always asked for brown rice to go with her vegetarian entrees.

Rice with the brownish hull not polished off as in white rice. The hull contains important vitamins, including vitamin B complex, which are missing in white rice.


white rice

white rice (usually uncountable, plural white rices)

She always ordered white rice at Chinese restaurants, even though she knew the brown rice was healthier.

Rice which has had the brownish hull polished off, leaving a white-colored grain.


pudding rice

(chiefly British) a short-grained rice used to make rice pudding; also makes reasonable risotto


skeg

From a dialectal term for a stump, branch, or wooden peg; compare Swedish skog. Compare also shaw.

(Australia, slang) A surfer; a person who leads a surfing lifestyle.


zizania

Borrowed from Latin zizania (“cockle, tares”).

Any of several aquatic North American grasses, of the genus Zizania, grown for their edible grain; wild rice.


achira

A canna lily (Canna indica, syn. Canna edulis), similar to arrowroot, the seeds of which yield a purple dye.


masa

masa (usually uncountable, plural masas)

From Spanish masa (“dough”). Doublet of mass.

The chef Fermín Núñez of Suerte, in Austin, Texas, considers masa “the canvas of what Mexican cooking is all about.” “Without masa,” he said, “there’s no tortillas, and, without tortillas, there’s no tacos!”

2023 July 7, Rick A. Martínez, quoting Fermín Núñez, “For the Best Tortillas (and Gorditas and Tetelas), You Need Fresh Masa”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(US) Maize dough made from freshly prepared hominy, used for making tortillas, tamales, etc.


esparto

From Spanish esparto, via Latin spartum from Ancient Greek σπάρτον (spárton, “rope, cable; esparto or halfah grass”), valued for its high tensile strength, used for cords and wicker, and exported by Spanish Greek colonies throughout the Mediterranian.

der

Either of two species of perennial grasses used for fibre production, and for making paper:


kaoliang

en-noun

kaoliang (countable and uncountable, plural kaoliangs)

From the Wade-Giles romanization of the former pronunciation of Mandarin 高粱 (gāoliáng).

高粱酒

こうりゃんしゅ, kōryanshu, こうりょうしゅ, kōryōshu


chico

Perhaps from Spanish choclo, influded by chico.

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-chico.wav

(American Southwest, chiefly in the plural) Sweet corn that has been cooked and dried on the cob.


timothy

timothy (usually uncountable, plural timothies)

Named after Timothy Hanson, who carried the seed from New England to Maryland about 1720.

Phleum pratense
Phleum pratense#Translingual

Phleum pratense, timothy-grass, native to Europe, but introduced widely and naturalized in US.

Phleum alpinum, mountain timothy, native to North America.


bird of paradise

bird of paradise (plural birds of paradise)

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The first Europeans to encounter their skins were the voyagers in Ferdinand Magellan's circumnavigation of the Earth. Antonio Pigafetta wrote that "The people told us that those birds came from the terrestrial paradise, and they call them bolon diuata, that is to say, 'birds of God"."

A showy tropical flower of the genus Strelitzia, native to South Africa.


buckwheat

buckwheat (usually uncountable, plural buckwheats)

Ultimately from Middle Low German bōkwête (“beech-wheat”) (so called because of its triangular seeds, which resemble the much larger seeds of the beech nut from the beech tree, and the fact that it is used like wheat), probably via Middle Dutch boecweit, boecweite. Compare German Buchweizen.
Despite the name, buckwheat is not related to wheat, as it is not a grass.

der

(Western US) Any of the wild buckwheats in the genus Eriogonum.


bajra

From Hindi बाजरा (bājrā). Compare bajri from Gujarati બાજરી (bājrī).

When food was scarce, the children would subsist on a lump of jaggery and one bajra roti each.

2023, Radhika Iyengar, Fire on the Ganges, Fourth Estate, page 94:

Cenchrus americanus
Cenchrus americanus#Translingual

Pennisetum glaucum
Pennisetum glaucum#Translingual

(India) Pearl millet (Cenchrus americanus, syn. Pennisetum glaucum).


date palm

Phoenix dactylifera
Phoenix dactylifera#Translingual

A palm tree, Phoenix dactylifera, whose fruit is the date.


Indian corn

→ Welsh: india-corn

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-Indian corn.wav

a variety of candy corn that contains chocolate in addition to honey-based candy


babassu

Etymology tree
Proto-Tupi-Guarani *ʔɨβ
Proto-Tupian *ʔa
Proto-Tupi-Guarani *ʔa
Proto-Tupi-Guarani *ɨˀβa
Old Tupi 'ybá
Proto-Tupian *-at͡ʃu
Proto-Tupi-Guarani *-wat͡ʃu
Old Tupi -gûasu
Old Tupi 'ybagûasu
Nheengatu babasúbor.
Portuguese babaçubor.
English babassu
Borrowed from Brazilian Portuguese babassu /babaçu.

bor+

A tall Brazilian feather palm, Attalea speciosa, having hard-shelled nuts that yield an edible oil.

babassu

Attalea speciosa, a tall Brazilian feather palm


ladyfinger

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-ladyfinger.wav

Ladyfingers soaked in liqueur are the base of tiramisu, but I suppose you could just cut up a sponge cake instead.

A small sponge cake, shaped approximately like a finger.


red rice

A dish of rice made with tomatoes, soul food from South Carolina.

Certain species of Oryza
Oryza longistaminata

Certain species of Oryza
Oryza rufipogon


wheatgrass

en-noun

wheatgrass (usually uncountable, plural wheatgrasses)

A grass of the genus Agropyron, commonly known as crested-wheat grass.


corn dog

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A hot dog coated in cornbread batter and deep-fried in hot oil.


graminivorous

en-adj

graminivorous (comparative more graminivorous, superlative most graminivorous)

more graminivorous (comparative)
most graminivorous (superlative)

/ɡɹæmɪˈnɪvəɹəs/

From Latin graminivorus, from gramen (“grass”) + -vorus.

“Bitzer,” said Thomas Gradgrind. “Your definition of a horse.” / “Quadruped. Graminivorous. Forty teeth; namely, twenty-four grinders, four eye-teeth, and twelve incisive. Sheds coat in the Spring; in marshy countries, sheds hoofs, too. Hoofs hard, but requiring to be shod with iron. Age known by marks in mouth.” Thus (and much more) Bitzer.

1854, Charles Dickens, “(please specify the chapter name)”, in Hard Times. For These Times, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], →OCLC:

If woman had a free hand in the world's marketing the race would become graminivorous.

1906, Ambrose Bierce, “Abdomen”, in The Cynic’s Word Book, London: Arthur F. Bird […], →OCLC, page 4:

(entomology) That eats grasses and seeds.


molasses grass

en-noun

molasses grass (usually uncountable, plural molasses grasses)

A spreading perennial forage grass, Melinis minutiflora, native to tropical Africa, that is covered with hairs which exude a sweet substance having the odour of molasses.


bison grass

Hierochloe odorata
Hierochloe odorata#Translingual

Anthoxanthum nitens
Anthoxanthum nitens#Translingual

Hierochloe odorata (syn. Anthoxanthum nitens), an aromatic herb native to North America and Eurasia, so called principally when used to flavor a Polish vodka.


arrowroot

arrowroot (countable and uncountable, plural arrowroots)

/ˈæɹə(ʊ)ɹuːt/

From Lokono aru-aru (literally “meal of meals”), influenced by arrow + root because the plant’s “roots” (more accurately rhizomes) are used on wounds from poison darts to absorb the poison.

refn

In the Brisbane Botanic Gardens, Mount Coot-tha, in Toowong, Queensland, Australia.

der

The East India arrowroot was considered the best; and the French West India arrowroot not so good. The East India arrowroot had the finest grains; the second finest were those from the potato; and third the tous les mois or French West India arrowroot; […]

1845, Edwin Lankester, “Lecture II. Starch—Potato—Arrow-root—Tapioca—Protein—Wheat—Maize—Rice.”, in Report of Lectures on the Natural History of Plants Yielding Food; […], London: John Churchill, […], →OCLC, page 16:

Arrowroots were introduced into the area in early 1983 by an elderly citizen known as Mr. Awondo, who brought it from Central Kenya where it is planted in the moist river beds. […] Arrowroots thrive where there is enough moisture in the soil for its normal growth and development.

2018, Serena A. A. Nasongo, Charlotte de Fraiture, J. B. Okeyo-Owuor, “Trade-offs between Crop Production and Other Benefits Derived from Wetland Areas: Short-term Gain versus Long-term Livelihood Options in Ombeyi Watershed, Kenya”, in John Abbink, editor, The Environmental Crunch in Africa: Growth Narratives vs. Local Realities, Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, →DOI, →ISBN, page 68:

Maranta arundinacea
Maranta arundinacea#Translingual

(countable, uncountable) Maranta arundinacea from the Marantaceae family, a large perennial herb native to the Caribbean area with green leaves about 15 centimeters long.


moha

Setaria italica
Setaria italica#Translingual

(dated) foxtail millet (a kind of millet, Setaria italica


lemongrass

en-noun

lemongrass (usually uncountable, plural lemongrasses)

You could just use ordinary shop-bought kecap manis to marinade the meat, but making your own is easy, has a far more elegant fragrance and is, above all, such a great brag! Flavouring kecap manis is an intensely personal thing, so try this version now and next time cook the sauce down with crushed, split lemongrass and a shredded lime leaf.

2015 October 27, Matt Preston, The Simple Secrets to Cooking Everything Better, Plum, →ISBN, page 192:

Cymbopogon citratus
Cymbopogon citratus#Translingual

One of various species of grass of the genus Cymbopogon, especially Cymbopogon citratus, which have a lemon-like taste and aroma, and are used in cooking, for tea, and for fragrance.


canes

Bamboo plants of genus Arundinaria, the sole temperate genus of bamboo native to the New World.


galingale

galingale (countable and uncountable, plural galingales)

/ˈɡælɪŋɡeɪl/

From Middle English galingale, from Old French galingal, from Arabic خَلَنْجَان (ḵalanjān), from Persian قولنجان (qulenjân, qulanjân), from Sanskrit कुलञ्जन (kulañjana), perhaps from Chinese 高良薑／高良姜 (gāoliángjiāng), from 高涼 /高凉 (Gāoliáng) (a prefecture or county in China) + 薑 /姜 (jiāng, “ginger”).

One of several species of Cyperus sedges with aromatic rhizomes.


plume grass

plume grass (countable and uncountable, plural plume grasses)

A kind of grass, Bothriochloa saccharoides), having spikelets arranged in long silky plumes. It grows in swamps in the Southern United States.


zinziberaceous

Belonging to or resembling the ginger family, the Zingiberaceae.


mielie

mielie (countable and uncountable, plural mielies)

From Afrikaans mielie, from Portuguese milho.

"Throughout most of the country, however, South African cuisine relies on meat and mielies. Many South Africans, black and white, would cheerfully go through their lives eating little else. Up to half the arable land in South Africa is planted with maize, which was grown by tribes across Southern African long before the colonists arrived. https://web.archive.org/web/20060720101224/http://www.southafrica.info/plan_trip/holiday/food_wine/920091.htm


rattan

rattan (countable and uncountable, plural rattans)

Any of several species of climbing palm of the genus Calamus.


coco-de-mer

/ˌkəʊkəʊdəˈmɛː/

Borrowed from French coco de mer (“nut of the sea”), because it was originally known only from its nuts found floating in the water.

A tall palm tree, Lodoicea maldivica, found in the Seychelles.


pupusa

From Spanish pupusa, from Pipil pupusawa (“swollen”).


grits

Southern United States
Southern United States

(Western Hemisphere) Coarsely ground hominy which is boiled and eaten, primarily in the Southern United States.


chufa

chufa (countable and uncountable, plural chufas)

Borrowed from Spanish chufa, possibly from Latin cȳphi (“gallingale perfume”), from Ancient Greek κῦφι (kûphi, “a kind of Egyptian incense”), from Egyptian kꜣpt (“incense”), a nominal derivative of kꜣp (“to cense”).

der

Chufa is most popular in two places in the Mediterranean, Spain and Egypt (especially around Damietta). In Spain, especially in the region of Valencia, chufa is used to make a drink called horchata.

2001, Clifford A. Wright, Mediterranean Vegetables, Harvard Common Press, →ISBN, page 119:

The chinese water chestnut and the tiger nut, or chufa, are both members of the sedge family, a group of water grasses that includes papyrus.

2004, Harold McGee, chapter 6, in On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, Scribner, →ISBN:

Cyperus esculentus
Cyperus esculentus#Translingual

Cyperus esculentus, a species of sedge native to warm temperate to subtropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere having small edible tubers (tiger nuts).


carnauba wax

en-noun

carnauba wax (countable and uncountable, plural carnauba waxes)

A yellow-brown wax obtained from the leaves of the Brazilian carnauba palm (Copernicia prunifera); used in cosmetics, polishes etc.


polenta

polenta (countable and uncountable, plural polentas)

Any of various types and consistencies of a starchy accompaniment to a meal made from coarse maize-meal porridge, sometimes fried or grilled.


palmetto

palmetto (plural palmettos or palmettoes)

From Spanish palmito, diminutive of palma (“palm tree”), from Latin palma.

Broad o'er my Head the verdant Cedar wave, / And high Palmetos lift their graceful Shade.

a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Summer”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC:

[O]n the flat coastal swamps of South Florida, where the palmettos once blew over the detritus of a dozen failed booms and the hotels were boarded up six months a year, there has evolved […] a settlement of considerable interest […].

1987, Joan Didion, Miami, Granta, published 2005, page 13:

Any of various fan palms of the family Arecaceae, especially Sabal palmetto or the saw palmetto, Serenoa repens.


corn salad

corn salad (countable and uncountable, plural corn salads)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-corn salad.wav

From corn + salad; plant so called from being commonly found as a weed in grain fields.

Valerianella locusta
Valerianella locusta#Translingual

Any of the small plants in genus Valerianella, used in salads and as a herb, especially Valerianella locusta.


cornstalk

He's a bloody cornstalk.

(Australia, slang, derogatory) a non-indigenous native of New South Wales.


johnnycake

From johnny, alteration of journey, + cake.

Next mornin' I was up early and when the banker turned out I was fryin' a couple of slices of the pork and had some coffee b'ilin'. Likewise there was a pan of johnnycake in the oven.

1910, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter II, in The Depot Master:

(US) A dense, baked or fried flatbread made of cornmeal.


kaffir corn

Sorghum bicolor
Sorghum bicolor#Translingual

The cultivated species of sorghum, Sorghum bicolor, used as a food for people and animals and in ethanol production.


hominy

hominy (usually uncountable, plural hominies)

harmony (non-rhotic, father-bother merger, weak vowel merger)

First recorded in 1629. From Powhatan ("Virginia Algonquian"), though the exact source word is in question: suggestions include uskatahomen, appuminnéonash (“parched corn”), and rokohamin (“parched, ground corn”), the last yielding also the unclipped rockahominy.

Then his plate was put before him: hominy grits and a scrap of bacon. He wanted to cry, like a child: ‘But, Mama, it's my birthday!’

1953, James Baldwin, “The Seventh Day”, in Go Tell It on the Mountain (Penguin Classics), London: Penguin Books, published 2001, →ISBN:

A food made from hulled corn (maize) kernels soaked in lye water, rinsed, then cooked and eaten; or, the rinsed kernels are dried and coarsely ground into hominy grits.


redtop grass

any of several bent grasses, of the genus Agrostis, that occur in cool, humid areas of the United States.


bent grass

bent grass (usually uncountable, plural bent grasses)

A secondary protective device used near Greystones consists in the planting of bent grass and sea couch grass to aid reclamation of certain areas. Unfortunately, bent grass lends itself to the formation of dunes, which are very vulnerable. Sea couch grass has proved the best so far.

1952 May, Frank Jeffares, “Irish Railway Coastal Defence”, in Railway Magazine, page 304:

Any of several grasses, of the genus Agrostis, native to temperate climates; grown for pasture, turf and for putting greens and golf courses.


grain whisky

grain whisky (countable and uncountable, plural grain whiskies)

Whisky made from unmalted barley mixed with maize or rye.


buffalo grass

buffalo grass (countable and uncountable, plural buffalo grasses)

Hierochloe odorata (syn. Anthoxanthum nitens), sweetgrass.

Anthoxanthum odoratum
Anthoxanthum odoratum#Translingual

Anthoxanthum odoratum, sweet vernal grass, vanilla grass.

Stenotaphrum secundatum, Saint Augustine grass.


crabgrass

crabgrass (countable and uncountable, plural crabgrasses)

Those members of the genus Digitaria, grasses of tropical to temperate climates, which are pests of lawns, mainly from their invasive habits and the fact they die off in the fall and winter, leaving bare patches.


corn on the cob

corn on the cob (usually uncountable, plural corns on the cob)

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[…] we ate grilled corn on the cob from street vendors in the colonnades.

2013, Henriette Lazaridis Power, The Clover House: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books Trade Paperbacks, →ISBN, page 405:

Every day I ordered a salad, two corns on the cob, and some vegetable stirfry (which wasn’t too bad, but also had to be rinsed), but the bulk of my meal would be fruit.

2014, Shani Krebs, Dragons & Butterflies: Sentenced to Die, Choosing to Live, Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball Publishers, →ISBN, page 621:

Cooked ears of corn (maize, specifically sweet corn).


talipot

From Sinhalese [script needed] (talapata), Malayalam [script needed] (tālipat), from Sanskrit [Term?].

On Sunday, Oct. 12. being ſtored vvith all things needful for their Journey, viz. Ten Days Proviſion, a Baſin to boil their Provision in, two Calabaſhes to fetch VVater in, and tvvo great Tallipat Leaves for Tents, with Jaggory, Svveet-meats, Tobacco, Betell, Tinder-Boxes, and a Deer-Skin for Shoes, to keep their Feet from Thorns, becauſe to them they chiefly truſted.

1720, [Daniel Defoe], The Life, Adventures, and Pyracies, of the Famous Captain Singleton, London: […] J[ohn] Brotherton, […], J[ohn] Graves […], A[nne] Dodd, […], and T[homas] Warner, […], →OCLC, page 304:

The leaves of the talipot or palmyra tree were rolled and boiled and oiled so as to prepare them for use in the writing of a manuscript.

2020, Sujit Sivasundaram, Waves Across the South, William Collins, published 2021, page 347:

A tall palm tree, Corypha umbraculifera, from Sri Lanka and southern India, having very large leaves which were used as a material to write on.


talipot palm

A tall palm tree, Corypha umbraculifera, from Sri Lanka and southern India, having very large leaves and flowers


bulrush

From Middle English bulrish, perhaps from bule (“bull”) (in the sense of "large") plus rish (“rush”).

Cyperus papyrus
Cyperus papyrus#Translingual

(biblical) A plant referred to in the story of Moses as growing along the banks of the Nile, which is believed to be the papyrus (Cyperus papyrus).

Any of various tall, narrow-leaved plants growing near water, especially cattail or reedmace, in the genus Typha.

(Americas) Sedges in the genera Bolboschoenus or Schoenoplectus (formerly considered Scirpus), having clusters of spikelets.

Explorers Eyre, Kreft, and George Moore all refer to the importance of bulrush starch in different parts of the continent.

2018, Bruce Pascoe, Dark Emu, Scribe, published 2020, page 56:

(Australia) Any of various reed-like plants growing near water, especially Typha domingensis and Typha orientalis; cumbungi, wonga.


aegilops

From Latin aegilōps, from Ancient Greek αἰγίλωψ (aigílōps, “haver-grass (Aegilops neglecta)”).

der

(obsolete) Goatgrass (Aegilops spp.) or other grass found as a corn-weed.