Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A shoot sprouting from a plant base, as in the banana, pineapple, or sugar cane.
- intransitive verb To produce or grow as a ratoon.
- intransitive verb To propagate (a crop) from ratoons.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To sprout or send up new shoots from the root after being cropped or cut down: said of the sugar-cane and some other plants.
- noun A sprout or shoot springing up from the root of a plant after it has been cropped; especially, a new shoot from the root of a sugar-cane that has been cut down. Compare
plant-cane . - noun The heart-leaves in a tobacco-plant.
- To induce the growth of young shoots by cutting back (old plants); raise another crop from (the old stools): as, to
ratoon sugar-cane. - In the West Indies, to continue the growth of (plants) after the close of the dry season and after seed has been sown for the new crop: as, to
ratoon cotton.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Same as
rattoon , n. - noun obsolete A rattan cane.
- intransitive verb Same as
rattoon , v. i.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
shoot sprouting from theroot of acropped plant, especiallysugar cane . - verb intransitive, of a plant To sprout ratoons.
- verb transitive To
cut a plant, especially sugar cane, so that it will produce ratoons.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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As the weather wasn't favorable for planting sugar cane seeds, also known as ratoon, in the last two years, it's unlikely that sugar cane output will rise sharply, Mr. Hiremath said.
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"In the last two years, the climate wasn't favorable for ratoon, and farmers have sold the seed to molasses manufacturers at high prices this year," Mr. Hiremath of Karvy Comtrade said.
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"High prices offered by liquor manufacturers have induced farmers to sell even the ratoon," said a north Indian sugar company official.
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Consequently, Dr. Govinden suggests leaving the interrow between newly planted cane for other crops such as potato, beans, and groundnuts that are less competitive than maize and which themselves do better with newly planted cane than in ratoon cane.
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However, maize has less adverse effects on the cane when it is a ratoon cane crop.
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In ratoon cane which is not burned at harvest, the trash must be lined up, usually in alternate interrows.
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[A ratoon crop is a crop that comes up from the roots after a previous crop was harvested.]
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The sweet-stalk pearl millet is used as a fodder that is usually harvested in September, and a subsequent ratoon crop can be taken for grain and straw.
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In Mauritius, whether in plant or ratoon cane, one row of maize is planted in alternate interrows of cane [i.e. as you walk across the field you encounter cane, cane, maize, cane, cane, ...].
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The maize would then be intercropped with the ratoon cane.
bilby commented on the word ratoon
I think we can crank up the figurative use of this.
"My new list ratooned from words I jotted down while waiting for the bus."
July 21, 2008
reesetee commented on the word ratoon
I like it. Let's hope its figurative usage ratoons.
July 28, 2008
hernesheir commented on the word ratoon
I prefered picking pineapples from first or second ratoon plants when I worked in Hawaii in 1975.
September 30, 2011
qms commented on the word ratoon
Those who forage for lexical loot
Examine the stem and the root.
An old word that's hewn
May spread by ratoon
And sprout many a succulent shoot.
August 25, 2014
hernesheir commented on the word ratoon
Very nicely phrased, qms.
August 25, 2014
qms commented on the word ratoon
Thank you, hernesheir. I am encouraged.
August 25, 2014