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VEGETABLE. 73 VEGETABLE.
Vegetable (ve'd^rtab'I), sb. Also 6 vegitable.
[f. the adj.]
1. A living organism belonging to the vegetable
kingdom or the lower of the two series of organic
beings; a growth devoid of animal life ; a plant in
the widest or scientific sense ( = Plant sd.^ a).
158* J. Hester Compendium Ration. Seer, (title-p.), The
Hidden Vertues of sondrie Vegitables, Animalles, and
Mineralls. 1598 R. Haydocke tr. Lomazzo 11. 125 Some oj
them are taken from minerals.., some from the vegetables,
and wme from the animals. 1653 W. Ramesev Astrol.
Restored 12, 1 suppose there is none will .. deny .. the
Heavens and Planets to have influence over Herbs, Corn,
Plants, and all Vegetable?. 1690 Locke Www. Und. iv. vi.
(1695) 337 In Vegetables, which are nourished, grow, and
produce Leaves, Flowers, and Seeds, in a constant Succession.
1737 Gray Lett. Poems (1775) 24 Both vale and hill
are covered with most venerable beeches, and other very
reverend vegetables. 178a V. Ksox Ess, cUi. (1819) \\\. 169
They [/. e. speeches] are like vegetables of a night, or insects
of a day. 1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. \. 387 After
the rushes or other coarse vegetables have been cut down
and carried away. 1822-7 G(30D Study Med. (1829) L 265
The expressed oils of mild vegetables, as the pistachio, olive,
and almond. 1858 O. W. Holmes Aut. Breakf..t. (1883) 205
Both [trees] are pleasant vegetables. 1884 De CandoUe's
Orig. Cultivated PL 4 The Tetragonia^ an insignificant
*
green vegetable.
fig, a 1635 Nauntos Fragm. Reg. (Arb.) 44 He was a meer
vegeUble of the Court, that sprung up at night, and sunk
a^ain at his noon. 1709 Steklk Tatler No. 86 p 3, I met
for
him with all the respect due toso reverend a vegetable ;
you are to know, that is my sense of a person who remains
idle in the same place for half a century.
t b. //. in collective sense : Vegetation. Obs,
r 164S Howell Leiti (1650) IL 43, I have bin al wales
naturally affected to woods and groves, and those kind of
vegetables. 169S Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth vi. (1723)
3Q5 June, July, and August, .exhibit a sltU different Shew
of Vegetables, and Face of Things. 1780 A. Young Tour
frei. I. 18 Their only way is to let it cover itself with such
vegetables as may come. 182X Scorr Pirate xxv, Scrubby
and stunted heath, intermixed with the long bent, or coarse
grass, . . were the only vegetables that could be seen.
tc. Applied to the earth or to a mineral
regarded as capable of growth. Obs. rare,
A 1676 Halr Prim. Orig, Man, i. lii. (1677) 96 Though
the Earth be not animated with a Sensible Soul, yet it is
possible that it may be a great Immortal Vegetable. 1716
Chevke Pkilos. Princ, Nat. Relig. i. 278 A hill is nothing
but the Nest of some Mettle or Mineral, either of Stone.
Iron, Tin, Copper or such like lower Vegetables.
2. A plant cultivated for food; esp. an edible
herb or root used for human consumption and
commonly eaten, either cooked or raw, with meat
or other article of food.
1767 A. Vousc Farmer's Lett, to PeopU (1771) I. 461 The
cultivation of the new -discovered vegetables, and all the
modes of raising the old ones. 1796 Mrs. Inchbald Nature
ftf Art xlvi. (1820) 158 At a stinted repast of milk and vegetables.
1840 Loudon Cottagers Man, 4 in Hiisb. III.
(L.U.K.), To supply the cottager's family, .with vegetables,
potatoes, and faggots. 1846 Sover Cookery 450 Where a
dish of vegetables are required for second course. 1873
JowETT Plato (ed. 2) III. 243 Cabbages or any other vegetables
which are fit for boiling.
3. attrib. and Comb. a. Simple attrib. in sense 2,
^%7je^elabU-bastn, dishy food, garden^ -market^ etc.
i7»8 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Vegetation, The common Opinion.,
is, that Water is the great vegetable Food. i8a5 T.
Hook Sayings Ser. 11. III. 15 Two vegetable dishes. 1853
HicKiE Aristoph. (Bohn) 11. 416 In the pottery-market and
the vegetable- market alike, a x86o Alb. SmiYh Med. Student
(1S61) 17 Threading their way through the crowd of
the vegetable-waggons arriving for to-morrow's market.
1898 F. G. Ler Negl. BaSt. 11 A vegetable- basin or a soapdish
was used instead of the font. 1898 Cent. Mag. Jan.
337/1 May I tell him.. about your vegeuble garden?
b. Objective or obj. genitive, as vegetabU-eaier^
vegetable-eatings -feeding adjs.
-feeder^ -seller ;
Also with the names of instruments, as vegeted^U-cfwpper^
cutter, -grater^ -slicer^ctc. (Knight Diet. Meek.)
(a) 179a \. VoUNG Trent, France 28 There are both sorts
[of bears], carnivorous and vegetable-eaters. 1851-6 S. P.
Woodward Mollusca {1858) 12 All the land-snails are vegetable-feeders.
1867 M. Arnold Celtic Lit. 4 Bathing people,
vci^e table-sellers, and donkey boys, 1875 C. C. Blake Zool,
54 The cheiroptera are, however, vegetable- feeders,
{b) 1838 Penny Cycl. XII. 493/5 I" a vegetable-feeding
insect the stomach is very voluminous. 1874 J. W. Long
Amer. Wild-foivl xxv. 262 They are exceedingly expert
divers, and can swim under water to much longer distances
than any others of the vegetable-eating ducks, ittyj Ailhutt's
Syst. Med. III. 966 These stony masses are found in the
inte-^tines of many vegetable -feeding animals.
Vegetable (ve-d.^ftab'!), a. Also 6 vegitabile,
7 -able. [&. 0¥. vegetable {mod,V,v^g^lable,
^It, vegelabile, Sp. vegetable , Pg. vegetavel),
or ad. L. vegetdbilis animating^ vivifying, f.
vegetdre :
see Vkgetate v.
In some instances the adj. cannot be clearly distinguished
from the attributive uses of the sb.]
fl. Having the vegetating property of plants;
living and growing as a plant or organism endowed
with the lowest form of life. (Cf. Vegetal a. i.)
c 1400 tr. Secreta Secret.^ Got*. Lordsh. 90 W^hat ^inge
vegetable ^rat-.tnakys fruyt, to J»e sonne ys apropird.
i4iz-ao LvDC. Ckron. Troy 11. 674 Zephirus, |>at is .so
comfortable For to norysche ^inges vegetable. x4Sx-so tr.
Higden (Rolls) I. 73 Hit may be concludede Panidise not to
be there, sythc noo thynge vegetable may haue lyfe l»er,
CIS3S Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 1053 All thynges
created of God under the moone . , ben elemented vegetables
Vol. X.
and sensytyves.. 1604 R. Cawdrey Table Alph.^ Vegetable^
springing, or growing as hearbes. 1629 H. Burton TnttfCs
Tri. 197 How far themselues differ from senslesse stockes, or
come short of the vegetable trees, a 1676 Hale Prim. Orig.
Man, III. iv. (1677) 266 Things vegetable, that have simply
Life, with those operations incident to Life.
Jig, 1641 W. Cartwright Lady.Errant I. ii. The other
counts her apricots, .. lays 'em naked And open to the sun,
that it may freely Smile on her vegetable embraces, a 1678
3Iarvell Poems, To coy Mistress 11 My vegetable love
should grow Vaster than empires and more slow,
+ b. Of the soul. Obs,
1412-20 LvDc. Chron._ Troy iii. 5686 Comparysownyd, as
it were semblable, To a sowie l>at were vegetable, I>e whiche,
with-oute sensibilile, Mynystreth lyf in herbe, flour, and
tre. c 1532 Du Wes Introd, Fr. in Palsgr. 1053 in the
whiche [body] our Lorde hath planted the soule vegetable
by the whiche it groweth. 1610 Healey St. Aug. Ciiie of
God XXII. iv. (1620) 821 The earth is full of vegetable soules,
strangely combined with earthly bodies. 1610 Guillim
Heraldry iir, vi. (1611) 101 A vegetable Soul is a facultie or
power that giueth life vnto bodies.
t c. Vegetablepower^A^i^^^TXxm.'^^ of simple life
and growth, Obs,
1601 Dolman La Primaud. Fr. Acad. (1618) in. 672 The
vegetable power common to men and plants. 1625 Hart
Anat. Ur. i. ii. 20 The state of the nourishing or vegetable
power ouer the whole bodie.
f d. Vegetable stone^ one of the three varieties of
the philosophers^ stone, supposed to possess healthpreserving
properties. Obs.
After med.L. lapis vegetabilis'. cf. Cower Conf. II. 86.
165* AsHMOLE Theatr. Ghent. Brit. Proleg. 7 By the
Vegitable [Stone] may be perfectly known the Nature of
Man.
2. Of or pertaining to, composed or consisting of,
derived or obtained from, plants or their parts ; of
the nature of or resembling a vegetable. Freq, as
contrasted with animal or mineral products.
a. Of material substances.
158a Hester Seer. Phiorazu \, xxxiii. 39 You shall giue
them 5j of our Vegitabile Sirrup, 1594 Plat Je^veU-ho. \, 3
All sorts of soyle.-do draw their generatiue & fructifying
vertue from that vegetable salt. 1695 Woodward Nat,
Hist. Earth II. (1723) 101 By Retrenching a considerable
Quantity of the vegetable Matter. 1721 Mortimer
Husbandry II. 207 Statues are a lasting Ornament when
vegetable Ornaments are out of Season. 1715 Pope Odyss.
IV. 320 The direful bane Of vegetable venom. 1755 Diet.
Arts ^ Sci. IV. 2679/1 Almost all concretes that abound
either with mineral or vegetable sulphur. 1800 Hull
Advertiser 31 May 2/2 The superiority of coal to vegetable
tar. 1857 Miller Elem. Clum.^ Org, ii. § 3. 84 The insoluble
pectose contained in the vegetable tissue. 1875 Scrivener
Leet. Greek Test. 18 The ancient ink was purely vegetable,
without any metallic base.
poet. 1667 Milton P. L. iv. 220 And all amid them stood
the Tree of Life, High eminent, blooming Ambrosial Fruit
Of vegetable Gold. tSso Shelley Prometk. Unh, iii, iv.
I to My coursers sought their birthplace in the sun,.. Pasturing
flowers of vegetable fire. 1857 Emerson Poems giThe
zephyr in his garden rolled From plum-trees vegetable gold.
b. Of conditions, actions, qualities, etc.
1690 Locke Hum. Und, 11. xxvii. $ 4 The wood, bark, and
lea\'es. &c. of an oak, in which consists the vegetable life.
1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 178 My Song to flow'ry
Gardens might extend. To teach the Vegetable Arts. 1712
Pope Vertnmnus ^ Pomona 4 None taught the trees a
nobler race to bear, Or more improv'd the vegetable care.
«733 .'Vrbuthnot Ess. Effects Air i. 9 The Heat arising
rom vegetable P^-rspiration is very sensible in a hot Day
near a Field of Corn. 1788 Gibbon Decl. f^ F. C V.^ 172 The
lonesome traveller derives a sort of comfort and society from
the presence of vegetable life. x8o6 Med. Jmi, XV. 571
The learned President begins this paper by a theory of
animal and vegetable processes, deriving them,. from fermentation.
18^2 Loudon Suburban Hort. 25 This short
passage comprehends the essence of all that can be said on
the subject of vegetable development 1874 Spurceon Treas.
David Ps. xcii. 10 The brutish men grow with a sort of
vegetable vigour of their own.
c. Of earth, mould, etc. : (see later quots.).
x;r74 Golusm. Nat. Hist. i. vi. (1776) I. 55 In regions
which are uninhabited, . .where the forests arc not cut
down, . . the bed of vegetable earth is constantly encreasing.
x8ta New Botanic Gard. !. 53 Beds of light vegetable
earth, ibid, Good light vegetable mould. 1830 M.
Donovan Dam. Econ. I. 137 What remains, when the
decomposition has totally broken down the structure of the
vegetable, is a black pulverulent substance. ..This constitutes
what is called vegetable mould, and is also the chief
ingredient in vegetable manure. 18^55 Orr's Circ. Sci.,
Inorg. Nat. 185 Whatever rocks may be composed of, they
are sure to be covered, after a time, with debris,.. until at
last there is a covering of vegetable soil.
3. Vegetable creation^ kingdom^ worlds etc., that
division of organic nature to which plants belong.
1668 Cowley Ess. Prose 9f Verse, Garden (1906) 427 Who
would not joy to see his conquering hand Ore all the Vegetable
World command ? 169a- [see Kingdom 5]. 1718 Prior
Solomon x. 49 The Vegetable World, each Plant, and Tree,
. . ! am allow'd, as Fame reports, to know. 1823 J. Badcock
Dofit. Amusem. 206 This extends in more or fess degree to
every part of vegetable creation. 1843 Penn^ Cycl, XXVI.
180/2 The distinction given between the animal and vegetable
kingdoms is the possession of sensation by the former.
1878 Huxley Pkysiogr, 84 To supply the vegetable world
with its carbon.
4. Of, composed or consisting of, made from,
esculent vegetables.
1746 Francis tr. Horace, Sat. ii. v. 32 What your Garden
yields, . . To him be sacrific'd, and let him taste, Before your
Gods, the vegetable Feast. 1789 W. Buchan Dom. Med.
C1790) 449 A milk and vegetable diet.. will often perform a
cure, 184a Combe Digestion 305 Vegetable food and fruit
might, with propriety, be used by the middle and richer
classes in this country to a greater extent than it U. 1838
SiMMONDS Diet. Trade, Vegetable-soups, soups made with
green pease, turnips, and carrots cut small, cabbages, &c.
5. Resembling that of a vegetable ; esp. uneventful,
featureless, monotonous, dull.
1854 J. S. C. Abbott Napoleon (1S55) II. ii. 46 The
pauper peasantry, weary of a merely vegetable life, were
glad of any pretext for excitement. 1874 Savce Compar.
Philol. vii. 298 They had no occasion to mark the lapse of
time in their monotonous and vegetable existence.
6. ellipt. Living on vegetables ; vegetarian.
1812 Shelley in Hogg Life (1858) II. 197, I continue
vegetable; Harriet means to be slightly animal, until the
arrival of spring.
7. Special collocations.
Vegetable acid^ an organic add derived from a plant.
Vegetable alkali (see quots. and Alkali 3). Vegetable
brimstone (see quot. and Lycopodium 2). Vegetable
butter (see quot. and Butter sb.^ 3). Vegetable camel (see
quot). Vegetable casein^ = Lecumin. Vegetable caterpillar^
eggy ethiopSy fre-craeker^ Jlannely t./y' (see quots.).
Vegetable gelatin : see Gelatin i b. Vegetable gold, t(^)
saffron (Mayne, 1859); (^) an acid derived from the roots of
the plant Trixis Pipizahuac [Treas. Bot. 1866). Vegetable
hair, the long-beard, Tillandsia usneiodes (Ibid). Vegetable
horse-hair, the fibre of the leaves of the European
palm Ckannerops humilis (Ibid. Suppl. 1874), Vegetable
ivory (see Ivory 2) ; also attrib. Vegetable jelly, = Pectin.
t Vegetable lamb : see Lamb sb. 5 c. Vegetable leather, the
plant Euphorbia punicea (Treas. Bot. 1866). Vegetable
inarro7.v\ see Marrow sb} 3. Vegetable tnummy. see
Mummy jiJ.i 2 c. Vegetable oyster \ (a) i/.5"., salsify ; ((5)
scorzonera. Vegetable parchment \ see Parchment j^. i b.
Vegetable pear, the chocho (see Pear sb. 3). Vegetable sheep,
silk (see quots.J. Vegetable sulphur, vegetable brimstone.
Vegetable tallow, vellum (see quots.). Vegetable "wax, a
wax or wax-like substance obtained from plants or vegetable
growths. Vegetable zvool (see quot.).
1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Alkaly, Since ^Vegetable Acids
are originally no other than Mineral ones. 18x5 J. Smith
Panorama Set. /c^. ^/^^rA. 2695/1
* Vegetable-^annel, a fabric made of a fine fiber obtained
from the leaves of the Pinus sylvesiris. Pine-wool. 1763
Phil. Trans. LIII. 271 The "vegetable fly is found in the
island Dominica, and (excepting that it has no wings) resembles
the drone both in size and colour more than any
other English insect. In the month of May it buries itself
in the earth, and begins to vegetate. 1842- "Vegetable
ivory (see Ivory 2]. x88o C. R. Markham Peruv. Bark 219
A hut was made among vegetable- ivory palms. 1885 Lady
Brassev The Trades 109 The vegetable-ivory plant (Pkyte-
Uphas «mcr^«a»7>