vegetable.html - n. & adj.
--n.

1 Bot. any of various plants, esp. a herbaceous plant used wholly or partly for food, e.g. a cabbage, potato, turnip, or bean.
2 colloq. a a person who is incapable of normal intellectual activity, esp. through brain injury etc. b a person lacking in animation or living a monotonous life.

--adj.

1 of, derived from, relating to, or comprising plants or plant life, esp. as distinct from animal life or mineral substances.
2 of or relating to vegetables as food.
3 a unresponsive to stimulus (vegetable behaviour). b uneventful, monotonous (a vegetable existence).

vegetable butter a vegetable fat with the consistency of butter. vegetable ivory see IVORY . vegetable marrow see MARROW 1. vegetable oyster = SALSIFY. vegetable parchment see PARCHMENT 2. vegetable spaghetti 1 a variety of marrow with flesh resembling spaghetti.
2 its flesh. vegetable sponge = LOOFAH. vegetable tallow see TALLOW . vegetable wax an exudation of certain plants such as sumac. [ME f. OF vegetable or LL vegetabilis animating (as VEGETATE)]

vegetable.html - adj.
1 of or having the nature of plants (vegetal growth).
2 vegetative. [med.L vegetalis f. L vegetare animate]

vegetable.html - n. & adj.
--n.

a person who abstains from animal food, esp. that from slaughtered animals, though often not eggs and dairy products.

--adj.

excluding animal food, esp. meat (a vegetarian diet).

vegetarianism n. [irreg. f. VEGETABLE + -ARIAN]

vegetable.html - v.intr.
1 live an uneventful or monotonous life.
2 grow as plants do; fulfil vegetal functions. [L vegetare animate f. vegetus f. vegere be active]

vegetable.html - n.
1 plants collectively; plant life (luxuriant vegetation; no sign of vegetation).
2 the process of vegetating.

vegetational adj. [med.L vegetatio growth (as VEGETATE)]

vegetable.html - adj.
1 concerned with growth and development as distinct from sexual reproduction.
2 of or relating to vegetation or plant life.

vegetatively adv. vegetativeness n. [ME f. OF vegetatif -ive or med.L vegetativus (as VEGETATE)]