wheat

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Any of various annual cereal grasses of the genus Triticum of the Mediterranean region and southwest Asia, especially T. aestivum, widely cultivated in temperate regions in many varieties for its commercially important edible grain.
2. n. The grain of any of these grasses, ground to produce flour used in breadstuffs and pasta.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Present authority tends to include in one botanical species (Triticum æstivum; T. sativum of some authors) all the forms of cultivated wheat except the one-rowed wheat (see einkorn wheat) and the Polish wheat (see below). For the original application of T. æstivum see summer wheat. Two less important subtypes of T ætivum are spelt (which see) and emmer. The remaining varieties (sometimes combined in a subspecies tenax) are divided into four groups, for which see club, durum, poulard, and vulgare wheat. According to the cerealist of the United States Department of Agriculture the United States may be divided into eight wheat-growing districts: the soft wheat district, mainly the Middle and New England States;
2. n. the semi-hard winter wheat district, Ohio to Illinois, Michigan, and a small part of Wisconsin;
3. n. the southern wheat district, approximately the Southern States;
4. n. the hard spring wheat district, the northern States of the plains;
5. n. the hard winter wheat district, the middle States of the plains;
6. n. the durum wheat district, the southern States of the plains;
7. n. the irrigated wheat district, approximately the Rocky Mountain and Basin States;
8. n. the white wheat district, the Pacific coast States.
9. n. An inferior wheat mainly fed to chickens: a bearded variety hardy and early.
10. n. In the United States, commonly any hard-grained variety of the common wheat. Also flint wheat.
11. n. Specifically, a red bearded vulgare variety, a standard in Texas, introduced from the islands of the Mediterranean.
12. n. A red winter wheat of the vulgare type grown in Poland and southwest Russia.
13. n. A hard-grained, beardless, winter vulgare variety of the United States.
14. n. The poulard wheat in some of its forms.
15. n. A cereal grain, the product of species of Triticum, chiefly of T. sativum (T. vulgare). The origin of the plant is not clearly known, but it is thought by many to be derived from a grass, Ægilops ovata, of the Mediterranean region, now classed as a species of Triticum. The wheat-plant is a grass closely related to barley and rye, having a dense four-sided spike, and grains longitudinally furrowed on one side, turgid on the other. In some varieties the palets bear awns, in others not, the varieties being respectively called bearded and beardless or bald. Some are planted in the spring—spring or summer wheat—others in the fall, maturing the next season—winter wheat. The product of the latter was formerly preferred, but with recent methods of manufacture spring wheat is equally valued. The varieties are further classified as white and red or amber, referring to the color of the grain; among winter wheats, at least, the white are more esteemed. The grain is highly nutritious, containing some 67 percent, of carbohydrates, 13 percent, of albuminoids, together with small quantities of the mineral substances, potash, soda, etc., required by the animal system, with only 14 per cent, of water. For use it is chiefly converted into flour; the finest but. not the most nutritious flour is nearest pure starch. The richer elements lie nearest the skin, and these are secured in “Graham” flour, which properly includes the whole grain, and by recent milling processes which appropriate all but the cuticle. Wheat was formerly made in England into a dish called frumenty or furmenty, by boiling it entire in milk, and seasoning. It is now largely used in America in the form of cracked, crushed, or rolled wheat, or wheat-grits. Wheat has been known from antiquity, being mentioned in Scripture; it is traceable to ancient Egypt, and is recorded as introduced into China about 2700 b. c. It now furnishes the principal breadstuff among all civilized nations. It is adaptable to various conditions and widely grown in temperate regions; it is not excluded by cold winters, but requires a mean summer temperature of not less than 57°. Among the principal countries which produce a surplus are the United States, Canada, Russia, Hungary, India, Australia, Egypt, Rumania, and Turkey. The varieties are very numerous, and there are several more or less strongly marked races, one of which is spelt.
16. n. Fagopyrum Tataricum, which is cultivated to some extent in the United States, particularly in the northwest.

Wiktionary

1. n. countable any of several cereal grains, of the genus Triticum, that yields flour as used in bakery.
2. n. uncountable a light brown colour, like that of wheat.
3. adj. wheaten, of a light brown colour, like that of wheat.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Bot.) A cereal grass (Triticum vulgare) and its grain, which furnishes a white flour for bread, and, next to rice, is the grain most largely used by the human race.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a variable yellow tint; dull yellow, often diluted with white
2. n. grains of common wheat; sometimes cooked whole or cracked as cereal; usually ground into flour
3. n. annual or biennial grass having erect flower spikes and light brown grains