Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A bulbous plant (Allium cepa) cultivated worldwide as a vegetable.
- n. The rounded edible bulb of this plant, composed of fleshy, tight, concentric leaf bases having a pungent odor and taste.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. An esculent plant, Allium Cepa (see Allium), especially its bulbous root, the part chiefly used as food. It is a biennial herbaceous plant with long tubulated leaves, and a swelling pithy stalk. The bulb is composed of closely concentric coats (tunicated), and, with situation and race, varies much in size, in color, which runs from dark-red to white, and in the degree of the characteristic pungency, which is greater in the small red onions than in the larger kinds. The raw onion has the properties of a stimulant, rubefacient, etc., and is whole-some in small quantities. These properties and its pungency depend upon an acrid volatile oil which is expelled by boiling. The native country of the onion is unknown. It has been in use from the days of ancient Egypt, and is said to be more widely grown for culinary purposes than almost any other plant. It endures tropical heat and the coolest temperate climate. Its varieties are very numerous. The onions of Italy, Spain, Mexico, California, and the Bermudas are specially noted for size and quality.
- To affect by or with onions: To flavor with onions.
- To rub with onion; produce by the presence of onion, as tears.
Wiktionary
- n. A monocotyledonous plant of genus Allium allied to garlic, used as vegetable and spice.
- n. The bulb of such a plant.
- n. uncountable The genus as a whole.
- n. A ball.
- n. colloquial A person from Bermuda or of Bermudian descent.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Bot.) A liliaceous plant of the genus Allium (Allium cepa), having a strong-flavored bulb and long hollow leaves; also, its bulbous root, much used as an article of food. The name is often extended to other species of the genus.
- n. The flavor of an onion{1}.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the bulb of an onion plant
- n. bulbous plant having hollow leaves cultivated worldwide for its rounded edible bulb
- n. an aromatic flavorful vegetable
Etymologies
- Middle English oinyon, from Old French oignon, from Latin uniō, uniōn-. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The Latin for a pearl and onion is _unio_, and the pun refers to Cleopatra giving her _pearl_ (or _onion_) to Antony in a draught of wine, or, as some say, drinking it herself in toasting her lover.”
“Commonly known as nigella, this spice is also found under the name "onion seeds.”
“Inquiring into their history, I surprisingly found the origin of the term onion dome has eluded historical record, as has the date and origin of the design.”
“Little Missouri the great Missouri is upwards of a mile in width, tho immediately at the entrance of the former it is not more than 200 yards wide and so shallow that the canoes passed it with seting poles. at the distance of nine miles passed the mouth of a creek on the Stard. side which we called onion creek from the quantity of wild onions which grow in the plains on it's borders.”
“Whether eaten hot or cold, the combination of sweet spices and bitter-sweet onion is as comforting as can be.”
“It's like you're peeling back the layers of an onion," is how Lee, of Children's Hospital Los Angeles, describes a mysterious disease's damage to the tot's eye.”
“Cook, stirring frequently, for about 8 minutes, until the onion is translucent.”
“Heat about 4 Tbs olive oil in a deep, heavy, lidded pot over medium-high heat until hot and sizzling when a piece of onion is dropped in.”
The Huffington Post: Jamie Schler: Ossobuco: A Taste of Italy
“Part of my problems in onion routing is getting things set-up right for effective speed.”
“CowboyCooler said ... tanenblatt, the onion is mentioned under Method:, 1st sentence of the 2nd paragraph.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘onion’.
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IMCO - EU nomenclature
includes words of the "Prodcom list"
abaca, abdominal, abrasive, absorbent, absorber, accelerator, accessory, account book, accumulator, acebutolol, acetaldehyde, acetamide and 4515 more...
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bad memory
copper, anvil, oblique, thrust, shrine, welfare, farewell, bitter, faction, sectarian, tangible, spectacle and 134 more...
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FUN - Beatles song titles
Typical words from Beatles song titles. Can you recreate the titles?
(Grammatical words have been omitted)polythene, Sun King, rhythm and blues, taxman, tripper, monkey business, mailman, matchbox, rock and roll, ooh, blue jay, reprise and 388 more...
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Gas-Inducing Foodstuffs
Foods that produce flatulence. List title a shameless filching of a fortuitous phrase yarb introduced in his definition of scotch egg. I know everyone has a few foods they avoid at certain times ...
scotch egg, cabbage, chili beans, garbanzo beans, chickpeas, hummus, pickled eggs, rutabaga, radish, jerusalem artichoke, brussels sprouts, cauliflower and 42 more...
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Twitter favourites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
thunderfuck, incredible, merp, sara, flopparoo, smother, fugly, buer, plum, canny, nefelibata, cuntbucket and 1972 more... -
slumry's Words
cattywampus, ingratiate, lackadaisical, exactitude, exfoliate, fulminate, circumnavigation, circuitous, debride, sidle, sequester, chicory and 1002 more...
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Groceries
strawberries, baby spinach, black beans, cinnamon, oranges, apples, fstg multigrain t..., olive oil, simply orange juice, tomato sauce, wholly guacamole, salt sense and 115 more...
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kimo2000's Words
pakalolo, miliated, voodoo, vindaloo, hacienda, acquiesce, addlepated, olio, akimbo, apropos, oogenesis, arugula and 181 more...
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jagosaurus's favorites
Words I like mostly because of the way they sound and feel.
ticonderoga, petulance, snark, estimable, chickahominy, feline, gezellig, gneiss, shit, willy-nilly, shelter, coda and 366 more...
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spoon
being items relating to food, cooking and the kitchen.
spoon, fork, beef, slice, dozen, eggs, simmer, broil, salad, soup, stock, lard and 287 more...
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Basic English Vocabulary
Very basic words for ESL students.
contemplate, container, consumer, consultant, consensus, conscious, conscience, connection, confusion, confront, conflict, confident and 4334 more...
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food
food, chef, spice, salt, sugar, pumpkin, apples, fruit, vegetable, savory, soup, sauce and 280 more...
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Favorite Five-Letter Words
Just what it sounds like. My favorites. Five letters.
ennui, barfy, samba, schwa, beefy, chunk, queef, spasm, skulk, bowel, elbow, fruit and 235 more...
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What Is the Sound of One Hand Typing?
Words you can type with one hand--if you learned how to type formally. Hunt-and-peck method doesn't count. ;-) I'm keeping it to five or more letters to avoid an excessively lengthy list.
<...racecar, start, create, desert, dessert, secret, secrete, sweet, tresses, poppy, puppy, homonym and 141 more...
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hairstyles
bun, bobtail, ponytail, cornrow, odango*, updo, bouffant, plait, braid, bunches, buzzcut, combover and 331 more...
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precious
coin, waiflike, zoo, captain, difference, diet, automagical, olive, noanoa, dusk, cookie, monday and 221 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for onion.
yarb "Know, also, the celebrated formulary of the onion. It is a great panacea of many distempers. Roasted under hot ash, after the embers have died, and blended with honey and rue, the electuary breaks tough phlegm, palliates gripes, acts as a laxative in the day and an astringent by night, purges the head of noises and clears the blood. The same vegetable, bruised and scrambled in syrup of the ripe red pomegranate, and mixed with laudanum, that is sublimed by slow fire, is right good for horror dreams of the young. The onion is an opener, and if cooked in jackets of corn-flour dough, and eaten with sea-dust and pepper to taste, it promotes the courses, dissolves the tumours, clears the complexion, and softens chapped hands. It is the king of medicaments, my dear."
- G.V. Desani, All About H. Hatterr, (1945), pp. 212-213 of NYRB 2008 edition. Jan 1, 2009