mashed potato

mashed potato noun: a single potato prepared in this manner. Also the alternative form of mashed potatoes.

Noun

mashed potato (countable and uncountable, plural mashed potatoes)

(countable, rare) A single potato prepared in this manner.
- But what God wants is mashed potatoes. Not many potatoes—one mashed potato. No potato can stand up and say, “Here I am! I’m a potato.” The word must be we.1975 May, Juan Carlos Ortiz, “Mashed Potato Love”, in Disciple, Carol Stream, Ill.: Creation House, published November 1975, →ISBN, part 1 (The New Wine), page 62
- I have a vivid early memory of eating a meal of boiled shredded cotton flannel mixed with one mashed potato, as a soup which served our family for our one daily meal.1979 July, Janet Frame, chapter 24, in Living in the Maniototo, New York, N.Y.: George Braziller, published August 1979, →ISBN, page 147
(countable, usually preceded by definite article) A dance or a dance move popular in Western culture the 1960s.
- A Mashed Potato started long time ago
  With a guy named Sloppy Joe
  You'll find this dance is so cool to do
  Come on baby, wanna teach it to you.1962, Kal Mann, Bernie Lowe, “Mashed Potato Time”, in It's Mashed Potato Time, performed by Dee Dee Sharp, Cameo Records
- Well, let's dance, well let's dance.
  We'll do the twist, the stomp, the mashed potato too
  Any old dance that you want to do
  But let's dance.1962, Jim Lee, “Let's Dance”, performed by Chris Montez

Mashed Potato

mashed potato is also the alternative form of mashed potatoes.

One mashed potato has a glycemic index of 104 and 37 grams of carbohydrates, so its glycemic load is (1.04 x 37), or just over 38.2012, JJ Virgin, “Your Glycemic Load”, in The Virgin Diet: Drop 7 Foods, Lose 7 Pounds, Just 7 Days, Toronto, Ont.: Harlequin, →ISBN, part...
The band spent several days at Miami; they visited the Mau Mau Nightclub (where they danced the Mashed Potato), and were taken on a yacht cruise through the inland waterway.1964 April 15, The Australian Women's Weekly, page 4, column 1:
It's not everybody's shampoo and set, but the music, the humour and the dancing will strike a chord with all those old enough to remember Chubby Checker, The Madison and The Mashed Potato.1989 June 19, The Canberra Times, page 14, column 1:

plural	mashed potatoes

What does mashed potato mean?: Mashed potato means a single potato prepared in this manner.
How do you use mashed potato in a sentence?: One mashed potato has a glycemic index of 104 and 37 grams of carbohydrates, so its glycemic load is (1.04 x 37), or just over 38.
What part of speech is mashed potato?: Mashed potato can be a noun or a proper noun.
What is the plural of mashed potato?: The plural of mashed potato is mashed potatoes.

Adapted from Wiktionary: mashed potato (page history and authors); Mashed Potato (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “mashed potato.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mashed_potato. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.