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cabbage

 - 5 dictionary results

cab⋅bage

1[kab-ij]
–noun
1. any of several cultivated varieties of a plant, Brassica oleracea capitata, of the mustard family, having a short stem and leaves formed into a compact, edible head.
2. the head or leaves of this plant, eaten cooked or raw.
3. Slang. money, esp. paper money.
4. Chiefly British Informal.
a. a stupid, dull, or spiritless person.
b. a mentally impaired person who is unable to live independently; vegetable.

Origin:
1350–1400; ME caboche, caboge, cabage head of cabbage < dial. OF (Picardy, Normandy) lit., head, noggin, equiv. to ca- formative in expressive words, of uncert. orig. + boche; see boss 2 , botch 2


cab⋅bage⋅like, adjective

cab⋅bage

2[kab-ij] noun, verb, -baged, -bag⋅ing.
–noun
1. Chiefly British.
a. cloth scraps that remain after a garment has been cut from a fabric and that by custom the tailor may claim.
b. Also called cab. such scraps used for reprocessing.
–verb (used with object), verb (used without object)
2. to steal; pilfer: He cabbaged whole yards of cloth.

Origin:
1615–25; earlier carbage shred, piece of cloth, appar. var. of garbage wheat straw chopped small (obs. sense)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To cabbage
cab·bage   (kāb'ĭj)   
n.  
  1. Any of several forms of a European vegetable (Brassica oleracea var. capitata) of the mustard family, having a globose head consisting of a short stem and tightly overlapping green to purplish leaves.

  2. Any of several similar or related plants, such as Chinese cabbage.

  3. The terminal bud of several species of palm, eaten as a vegetable.

  4. Slang Money, especially in the form of bills.

  5. Informal Sweetheart; dear. Used as a term of endearment.


[Middle English caboche, from Old North French, head, possibly from alteration of Latin caput; see capital1.]
cab'bag·y adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
cabbage

  1. n.
    money. (Originally underworld. See also green; spinach.) : How much cabbage you want for this heater?
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

cabbage 
c.1440, from M.Fr. caboche "head" (in the Channel Islands, "cabbage"), from O.Fr. caboce "head," from L. caput "head" (see head). Introduced to Canada 1541 by Jacques Cartier on his third voyage. First written record of it in U.S. is 1669. The decline of "ch" to "j" in the unaccented final syllable parallels the common pronunciation of spinach, sandwich, Greenwich, etc.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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