cassava

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A shrubby tropical American plant (Manihot esculenta) widely grown for its large, tuberous, starchy roots.
2. n. The root of this plant, eaten as a staple food in the tropics only after leaching and drying to remove cyanide. Cassava starch is also the source of tapioca.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The name of several species of Manihot, a euphorbiaceous genus of stout herbs, extensively cultivated for food in tropical America and on the coast of Africa, from the tuberous roots of which cassava-bread, cassava-starch, and tapioca are made. The kinds that are chiefly used are M. utilissima (bitter cassava), M. Aipi (sweet cassava), and M. Carthaginensis. Also known as mandioc, manioc, or maniocca. See manioc.
2. n. The starch prepared from the roots of the cassava-plant. The roots, which are sometimes a yard in length, are grated, and the pulp is freed from its milky juice. This is done by means of sacks made of matting, which are filled and suspended from a beam, weights being attached to the lower end. The meal thus dried is often made immediately into bread by baking it in broad thin cakes. Starch is obtained by washing the meal in water and allowing the farinaceous portion to settle. This starch, when dried upon heated plates, is converted into tapioca. The juice itself, especially that from the bitter cassava, contains a considerable amount of hydrocyanic acid, and is very poisonous.

Wiktionary

1. n. manioc, the source of tapioca, Manihot esculenta.
2. n. Tapioca, a starchy pulp made with the roots of this tropical plant.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Bot.) A shrubby euphorbiaceous plant of the genus Manihot, with fleshy rootstocks yielding an edible starch; -- called also manioc.
2. n. A nutritious starch obtained from the rootstocks of the cassava plant, used as food and in making tapioca.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a starch made by leaching and drying the root of the cassava plant; the source of tapioca; a staple food in the tropics
2. n. cassava root eaten as a staple food after drying and leaching; source of tapioca
3. n. any of several plants of the genus Manihot having fleshy roots yielding a nutritious starch