Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A widely cultivated tropical Asian plant (Colocasia esculenta) having broad peltate leaves and a large starchy edible tuber.
- n. The tuber of this plant.
- n. A similar plant of the genus Xanthosoma.
- n. The large starchy tuber of this plant. Also called cocoyam.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A gold coin of the Arab emirs of Sicily of the tenth and eleventh centuries; of the Lombard dukes of the seventh century; of the Two Sicilies under Norman rule in the fourth century; of Amalfi in the eleventh century.
- n. A food-plant, Colocasia antiquorum, especially the variety esculenta, a native of India, but widely cultivated in the warmer parts of the globe, particularly in the Pacific islands. It is a stemless plant with the general habit of the caladiums of house and garden culture. The leaves are heart-shaped and about a foot long. Its chief value lies in its stem-like tuberous starchy root, which is eaten boiled or baked, made into a bread or pudding, or in the Sandwich Islands, where it is the staple food of the natives, in the form of poi (which see). The tubers, when baked, pouuded, and pressed, keep fresh many months. An excellent starch can be had from them. The leaves and leafstalks are also edible, with the character of spinach or asparagus. All parts of the plant are acrid, but this quality is removed by cooking. Taro is propagated by a cutting from the top of the tuber, which, in the Fiji Islands at least, is planted as soon as the crop is gathered. About flfteen months are required to mature the root. See
Colocasia (with cut), also cocco, eddoes, and tanya. - n. A money of account and coin of silver, and also of copper, formerly used in Malta under the Grand Masters. The silver taro of 1777 weighed about 15 grains, and the copper taro of 1786 about 118 grains.
Wiktionary
- n. Colocasia esculenta, raised as a food primarily for its corm, which distantly resembles potato.
- n. Any of several other species with similar corms and growth habit in Colocasia, Alocasia etc.
- n. Food from a taro plant.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Bot.) A name for several aroid plants (Colocasia antiquorum, var. esculenta, Colocasia macrorhiza, etc.), and their rootstocks. They have large ovate-sagittate leaves and large fleshy tuberous rootstocks, which are cooked and used for food in tropical countries.
WordNet 3.0
- n. herb of the Pacific islands grown throughout the tropics for its edible root and in temperate areas as an ornamental for its large glossy leaves
- n. edible starchy tuberous root of taro plants
- n. tropical starchy tuberous root
Etymologies
- Maori taro, in turn from Proto-Polynesian *talo. (Wiktionary)
- Probably Tahitian. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Querétaro is a gem, worth a couple of night's visit.”
“The state capital of Querétaro, is a wonderful city.”
“Bernal, Querétaro is a delightfully charming 16th century colonial village, whose buildings are painted in the colors of a Mexican sunset - ocher, soft yellow, sienna, rich orange and dusty rose.”
The magic of Bernal, Queretaro: wine, opals and historic charm
“Tupátaro is about 4 kilometers south of the major divided highway (federal highway 14) that links the town of Patzcuaro to the city of Morelia, the state capital of Michoacán.”
“The side road to Tupátaro is signposted about 50 kilometers west of Morelia or 15 kilometers east of Pátzcuaro.”
“Contenido for November of 2006 says on page 142: "The small village of Bernal, a little more than 50 kilometers from the city of Querétaro, is outstanding not only for its tourist attractions, but because many of its inhabitants live to be 100 years old, probably from inherited genes, in addition to the tranquil life style and their healthful eating habits.”
“Querétaro is a prime location for such a center given its rapid growth (more than 5% annually) in industry and services over the past few years.”
“Served by the locals, the carrots are enveloped in taro leaves; however, the dish may be successfully prepared using spinach leaves instead.”
Steamed Carrots with Vanilla: Zanahorias al Vapor con Vainilla
“Vidriera de Querétaro is investing 21 million dollars to increase the capacity of its bottle-manufacturing plant from 150 million containers a month to 165 million a month.”
“The taro, which is carefully cultivated, averages two or three feet high, and has fine large leaves and tubers like those of the potato, but not so good when roasted.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘taro’.
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root tips and other ends
stolon, circinate, calyptrogen, meristem, verticil, fusiform, telomere, skirret, relbun, turpeth, galangal, vetiver and 54 more...
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Things from my memory
nigger baby, mexican jumping bean, puddle jumper, mood ring, pet rock, cat scratch fever, taxman, hippie, vaseline, argyrol, mercurchrome, methiolade and 655 more...
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cross words
the good ole boys of the nyt crossword puzzle
oleo, oreo, stlo, amie, ares, eros, erato, sloe, ogee, apse, enola, ecru and 94 more...
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Permutations
There are 17576 different sequences of three letters (26 x 26 x 26). How many of them occur in words? General rules of engagement: mononyms only, lower case preferred to upper case, short preferred...
aaargh, niqaabi, Isaac, raad, baaed, haaf, laager, aah, kamaaina, Naajaat, aak, aalii and 637 more...
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stanton's Words
msg, sushi, taro, lychee, no big deal, the denver nuggets, swamp, aid-the-poor, rural labourer, toothpick, firecracker, clothes rack and 84 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for taro.
treeseed Taro (from Tahitian or other Polynesian languages), more rarely kalo (from Hawaiian), is a tropical plant grown primarily as a vegetable food for its edible corm, and secondarily as a leaf vegetable. It is believed to be one of the earliest cultivated plants. Taro is closely related to Xanthosoma and Caladium, plants commonly grown as ornamentals, and like them it is sometimes loosely called elephant ear.
_Wikipedia Feb 19, 2008