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lettuce - 4 dictionary results

let⋅tuce

[let-is]
–noun
1. a cultivated plant, Lactuca sativa, occurring in many varieties and having succulent leaves used for salads.
2. any species of Lactuca.
3. Slang. U.S. dollar bills; greenbacks.

Origin:
1250–1300; 1925–30 for def. 3; ME letuse, appar. < OF laitues, pl. of laitue < L lactūca a lettuce, perh. deriv. of lac, s. lact- milk, with termination as in erūca rocket 2 (or by assoc. with Gk galaktoûchos having milk)
let·tuce   (lět'əs)   
n.  
    1. Any of various plants of the genus Lactuca, especially L. sativa, cultivated for their edible leaves.
    2. The leaves of L. sativa, used especially in salads.
  1. Slang Paper money.

[Middle English lettuse, from Old French laitues, pl. of laitue, from Latin lactūca, from lac, lact-, milk (from its milky juice); see melg- in Indo-European roots.]

Lettuce

Let"tuce\ (l[e^]t"t[i^]s), n. [OE. letuce, prob. through Old French from some Late Latin derivative of L. lactuca lettuce, which, according to Varro, is fr. lac, lactis, milk, on account of the milky white juice which flows from it when it is cut: cf. F. laitue. Cf. Lacteal, Lactucic.] (Bot.) A composite plant of the genus Lactuca (L. sativa), the leaves of which are used as salad. Plants of this genus yield a milky juice, from which lactucarium is obtained. The commonest wild lettuce of the United States is L. Canadensis.

Hare's lettuce, Lamb's lettuce. See under Hare, and Lamb.

Lettuce opium. See Lactucarium.

Sea lettuce, certain papery green seaweeds of the genus Ulva.
Language Translation for : lettuce
Spanish: lechuga,
German: der Kopfsalat,
Japanese: レタス

lettuce 
c.1290, from O.Fr. laitues, pl. of laitue, from L. lactuca "lettuce," from lac (gen. lactis) "milk" (see lactation); so called in allusion to the milky juice of the plant.
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