Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A widely cultivated Eurasian plant (Brassica rapa) of the mustard family, having a large rounded edible whitish root and edible leaves.
- noun The root of this plant, eaten as a vegetable.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The thick fleshy root of the plant designated by Linnæus as Brassica Rapa, but now believed to be a variety, together with the rape (which see), of B. campestris, a plant found wild, in varieties corresponding to these plants, in Europe and Asiatic Russia (see
navew ); also, the plant itself, a common garden and field crop. - noun Same as
Indian turnip . - noun (See also lion's-turnip, prairie-turnip.)
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Bot.) The edible, fleshy, roundish, or somewhat conical, root of a cruciferous plant (
Brassica campestris , var.Napus ); also, the plant itself. - noun (Bot.) a kind of turnip. See
Ruta-baga . - noun (Zoöl.) a small flea-beetle (
Haltica, striolata syn.Phyllotreta striolata ), which feeds upon the turnip, and often seriously injures it. It is black with a stripe of yellow on each elytron. The name is also applied to several other small insects which are injurious to turnips. SeeIllust. underFlea-beetle . - noun (Zoöl.) A two-winged fly (
Anthomyia radicum ) whose larvæ live in the turnip root.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The white
root of a yellow-floweredplant , Brassica rapa, grown as avegetable and asfodder for cattle. - noun Scotland, Ireland, Cornish, Atlantic Canada The yellow root of a related plant, the
swede or Brassica napus.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun widely cultivated plant having a large fleshy edible white or yellow root
- noun root of any of several members of the mustard family
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Indian demurred; but opposition had only increased her craving for the turnip in a tenfold degree; and, after a short mental struggle, in which the animal propensity overcame the warnings of prudence, the squaw gave up the bowl, and received in return _one turnip_.
Life in the Backwoods Susanna Moodie 1844
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In guidelines which stated that minced or diced beef, sliced potato, onion and swede were the only ingredients permitted in the traditional snack, officials were forced to allow the word "turnip" in ingredient lists - though not in the pasties themselves - because the Cornish confusingly use the word to refer to Swedes.
Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph Nick Collins 2011
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You could put in turnip, buttersquah, swede or mushrooms in this too
Archive 2006-10-01 Mrs Frog 2006
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You could put in turnip, buttersquah, swede or mushrooms in this too
Rabbit stew with lentils Mrs Frog 2006
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But Lisa Lu, the Taiwan native and principal of the Pomona Valley Chinese School, said turnip cake is common in her family because the word turnip in the Taiwanese language sounds like the words good luck.
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But Lisa Lu, the Taiwan native and principal of the Pomona Valley Chinese School, said turnip cake is common in her family because the word turnip in the Taiwanese language sounds like the words good luck.
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* An elderly "turnip" - style pocket watch -- not working
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The priestess, whose clear-cut features and two lovely black eyes betrayed a mixture of Semitic blood, was examining the 'turnip' -- as she called the watch -- when Leonora, saying 'Mum's the word,' rather violently called my attention (with her elbow) to a strange parcel lying apart from the rest.
He Andrew Lang 1878
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It will have to be acknowledged that as long as the black rats were in power they were as much shunned by all other living creatures as the gray rats are in our day – and for just cause; they had thrown themselves upon poor, fettered prisoners, and tortured them; they had ravished the dead; they had stolen the last turnip from the cellars of the poor; bitten off the feet of sleeping geese; stolen eggs and chicks from the hens; and had committed a thousand depredations.
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We're at least as important to the economy as detecting whether that turnip is really organic or not!)
You Don't Know Me Matthew Guerrieri 2008
bilby commented on the word turnip
Hippy slang - an inexperienced person, a newbie who would 'turn up' at a gathering, festival, retreat, etc. without any equipment or clothes for living rough.
April 3, 2008
knitandpurl commented on the word turnip
A (clunky) watch - see http://thesaurus.com/browse/clock
"So she put her fur wrapper back on, looked at the time on an enormous old turnip which she took out of a carpetbag, paid for her camomile tea, leaving a most ungratifying gratuity for the waiter, and left, in despair."
Witch Grass by Raymond Queneau, translated by Barbara Wright, p 29 of the NYRB paperback
November 5, 2010
relishandbeans commented on the word turnip
A person with a humorless, lifeless and ignorant personality (as in a vegetable).
June 14, 2014
yarb commented on the word turnip
I don't understand why a vegetable as hypnotic, as vibrant as the turnip has come to refer to a dull person.
June 15, 2014
chained_bear commented on the word turnip
Interesting usage/historical note can be found in comment on November.
December 2, 2016
chained_bear commented on the word turnip
usage/historical note in comment on vegetables.
November 27, 2017