9 results for: Pabulum

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

pab·u·lum

Audio Help [pab-yuh-luh

–noun

1.	something that nourishes an animal or vegetable organism; food; nutriment.

2.	material for intellectual nourishment.

pablum.

[Origin: 1670–80; < L pābulum food, nourishment, equiv. to pā(scere) to feed (akin to food) + -bulum n. suffix of instrument

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Pabulum

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

pab·u·lum Audio Help (pāb'yə-ləm) Pronunciation Key
n.

A substance that gives nourishment; food.
Insipid intellectual nourishment: "TV . . . gobbled up comedy material and spat it out as pabulum" (Richard Corliss).

[Latin pābulum; see pā- in Indo-European roots. Sense 2, by confusion with pablum.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
pabulum

"food," 1678, from L. pabulum "fodder, food," from PIE base *pa- "to protect, feed" (see food) + instrumentive suffix *-dhlom. Pablum (1932), derived from this, is a trademark (Mead Johnson & Co.) for a soft, bland cereal used as a food for weak and invalid people, hence fig. use (attested from 1970, first by U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew) in ref. to "mushy" political prose.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

pabulum
noun
1.	any substance that can be used as food [syn: comestible]
2.	insipid intellectual nourishment

Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Main Entry: pab·u·lum
Pronunciation: 'pab-y&-l&m
Function: noun
: FOOD; especially : a suspension or solution of nutrients in a state suitable for absorption

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Pabulum

Pab`u*la"tion\, n. [L. pabulatio, fr. pabulari to feed, fr. pabulum food. See Pabulum.]

1. The act of feeding, or providing food. [Obs.] --Cockeram.

2. Food; fodder; pabulum. [Obs.]

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Pabulum

Pab"u*lum\, n. [L., akin to pascere to pasture. See Pastor.] The means of nutriment to animals or plants; food; nourishment; hence, that which feeds or sustains, as fuel for a fire; that upon which the mind or soul is nourished; as, intellectual pabulum.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Pabulum

Pas"tor\, n. [L., fr. pascere, pastum, to pasture, to feed. Cf. Pabulum, Pasture, Food.]

1. A shepherd; one who has the care of flocks and herds.

2. A guardian; a keeper; specifically (Eccl.), a minister having the charge of a church and parish.

3. (Zo["o]l.) A species of starling (Pastor roseus), native of the plains of Western Asia and Eastern Europe. Its head is crested and glossy greenish black, and its back is rosy. It feeds largely upon locusts.

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