beet

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A biennial Eurasian plant (Beta vulgaris) grown as a crop plant for its edible roots and leaves.
2. n. The swollen root of this plant eaten as a vegetable, typically having reddish flesh.
3. n. The sugar beet.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A plant of the genus Beta, natural order Chenopodiaceœ. The various forms are generally referred to a single species, B. vulgaris, the slender-rooted variety of which, known as the sea-beet, is found wild in Europe and western Asia, and is occasionally used for greens. The common beet is extensively cultivated in many varieties for the use of its sweetish succulent root as a vegetable and as feed for cattle. The mangel-wurzel is a large coarse form raised exclusively for cattle. The sugar-beet is a large, white, and very sweet variety, from the root of which large quantities of sugar (called beet-root sugar) are manufactured in France, Germany, etc. The white or Sicilian beet and the chard-beet are cultivated for their leaves only.
2. To make better; improve; alleviate or relieve (hunger, thirst, grief, the needs of a person, etc.).
3. To mend; repair; put to rights.
4. To make or kindle (a fire); hence, to fire or rouse.
5. To mend or replenish (a fire); add fuel to.
6. n. Same as beat.
7. n. Same as beat.

Wiktionary

1. n. Common name of Beta vulgaris, a plant with a swollen root which is eaten or used to make sugar.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A biennial plant of the genus Beta, which produces an edible root the first year and seed the second year.
2. n. The root of plants of the genus Beta, different species and varieties of which are used for the table, for feeding stock, or in making sugar.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. round red root vegetable
2. n. biennial Eurasian plant usually having a swollen edible root; widely cultivated as a food crop