Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A biennial Eurasian plant (Campanula rapunculus) having bell-shaped lilac flowers and an edible root.
  • noun Any of various perennial plants of the genus Phyteuma, having dense heads or spikes of bell-shaped blue or violet flowers.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One of the bellflowers, Campanula Rapunculus, a native of central and southern Europe, formerly much cultivated in gardens for its white tuberous roots, which were used as a salad. More fully garden rampion.
  • noun A name of several plants of other genera

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Bot.) A plant (Campanula Rapunculus) of the Bellflower family, with a tuberous esculent root; -- also called ramps.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any of several flowering plants of the genus Phyteuma, within the family Campanulaceae.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun bellflower of Europe and Asia and North Africa having bluish flowers and an edible tuberous root used with the leaves in salad

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably alteration of French raiponce, from Old French responce, from Old Italian raponzo, probably from rapa, turnip, from Latin rāpum.]

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Examples

  • ” “Ah, ” she replied, “if I can’t get some of the rampion, which is in the garden behind our house, to eat, I shall die.

    Rapunzel 1909

  • "Ah," she replied, "if I can't get some of the rampion, which is in the garden behind our house, to eat, I shall die."

    Household Tales by Brothers Grimm Jacob Grimm 1824

  • 'Ah,' she replied, 'if I can't eat some of the rampion, which is in the garden behind our house, I shall die.'

    Grimm's Fairy Tales Wilhelm Grimm 1822

  • "Ah," she replied, "if I can't get some of the rampion which is in the garden behind our house, to eat, I shall die."

    Grimm's Fairy Stories Gebr��der Grimm 1909

  • “Ah,” she replied, “if I can’t get some of the rampion, which is in the garden behind our house, to eat, I shall die.”

    Household Tales 2003

  • Or it may be Campanula rapunculus, known in Germany as rampion or Rapunzel-Glockenblume.

    The Girl in the Tower Lurie, Alison 2008

  • Salad of endive, radish, rampion, and lemon. 104 small plates.

    Delizia! John Dickie 2008

  • The Grimms, who were eager to avoid sexual innuendo in their revisions, might have preferred rampion to parsley on account of the herbs 'different popular uses and sought to bury a different story, one uncomfortably close to daily life.

    Rapunzel, Parsley & Pregnancy Warner, Marina 2008

  • And in the kitchen-garden at Castlewood no rampion would she allow while she lived.

    Erema Richard Doddridge 2004

  • The man, who loved her, thought, “Sooner than let thy wife die, bring her some of the rampion thyself, let it cost thee what it will.”

    Household Tales 2003

Comments

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  • "Rampion features prominently in some versions of the story of Rapunzel. In the Grimm's brothers' fairy tale 'Rapunzel' it is noted that 'rapunzel' is the name given to a local form of rampion."

    _Wikipedia

    January 25, 2008