rhubarb

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The name rhubarb comes from the Latin rhabarbarum meaning (depending on your viewpoint!) "root of the barbarians".

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Definitions (15)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun Any of several plants of the genus Rheum, especially R. rhabarbarum, having long green or reddish acidic leafstalks that are edible when sweetened and cooked. Also called pie plant.
  2. noun The dried, bitter-tasting rhizome and roots of Rheum palmatum or R. officinale of eastern Asia, used as a laxative.
  3. noun Informal A quarrel, fight, or heated discussion.

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Examples (50)

  • This concert will feature a thrilling Guy Noir adventure and the “Lives of the Cowboys,” plus commercials for ketchup, rhubarb, and Powdermilk Biscuits, and of course the latest news from Lake Wobegon.
  • The name rhubarb comes from the Latin rhabarbarum meaning (depending on your viewpoint!) "root of the barbarians". —  Cook sister!
  • Robert's quaff inspired me to try Cynar and rhubarb, but it was my own warped psyche that led to the tequila, rhubarb, and artichoke delight. —  A Dash of Bitters
  • "I didn't know the rhubarb was grown," said she I managed to get enough for supper," replied her mother, in a casual voice Nobody would have dreamed how day after day she had journeyed stiffly down to the old garden spot behind the house to watch the progress of the rhubarb, and how triumphantly she had brought up those green and rosy stalks. —  Jane Field A Novel
  • Preserved Rhubarb Peel one pound of the finest rhubarb, and cut it into pieces of two inches in length; add three quarters of a pound of white sugar, and the rind and juice of one lemon--the rind to be cut into narrow strips. —  Enquire Within Upon Everything The Great Victorian Domestic Standby
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

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Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

celery ·  broccoli ·  strawberry ·  pumpkin ·  currant ·  pineapple ·  cabbage ·  cinnamon ·  camphor ·  prune ·  apricot ·  mushroom
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English rubarbe, from Old French, from Late Latin reubarbarum, probably alteration (influenced by Greek rhēon) of rhabarbarum : rha, rhubarb (from Greek rhā, perhaps from Rhā, the Volga River) + Latin barbarum, neuter of barbarus, barbarian, foreign; see barbarous.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Early mod English also rheubarb, reubarbe, rubarbe, rewbarbe; from Old French rubarbe, reobarbe, rheubarbe, reubarbare, French rhubarbe = Provencal reubarba = Catalan riubarbarro = Spanish ruibarbo = Portuguese reubarbo, ruibarbo = Italian reobarbaro, rabarbaro, formerly rabbarbaro = Dutch rabarber = German rhabarber = Danish Swedish rabarber (Turkish rubās), from Middle Latin rheubarbarum, rhubarbarum, also reubarbarum, for rheum barbarum, from Greek ῤῆον βάρβαρον, rhubarb, ῤῆον, rhubarb (ῤήον, Middle Latin rheum, being apparently a deriv. or orig. an adjective form of 'Pá, the Rha, or Volga river, whence rhubarb was also called rha Ponticum, ‘Pontic rha’ (see rhapontic), and rha barbarum, ‘barbarous (i. e. foreign) rha’): see rha, Rheum, and barbarous.
 

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/ˈrubɑrb/
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