Word.ws English Dictionary

rhubarb

Syllables: rhu·barbUK/ˈɹuːbɑːb//ˈɹuˌbɑɹb/

rhubarb noun: any plant of the genus Rheum, especially Rheum rhabarbarum, having large leaves and long green or reddish acidic leafstalks that are edible, in particular when cooked (although the leaves are mildly poisonous).

rhubarb: any plant of the genus Rheum, especially Rheum rhabarbarum, having large leaves and long green or...
Image: Dieter Weber ( Uellue ), CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

rhubarb (countable and uncountable, plural rhubarb or rhubarbs)

  1. Any plant of the genus Rheum, especially Rheum rhabarbarum, having large leaves and long green or reddish acidic leafstalks that are edible, in particular when cooked (although the leaves are mildly poisonous).
    • If every the cultivation of Rhubarb in this kingdom becomes ſo extenſive as to ſuperſede the neceſſity of its importation; to the Society for the promotion of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, will the community be indebted for an advantage, the magnitude and importance of which cannot be too...1798, Thomas Jones, “The Gold Medal, or Thirty Guineas, at the option of the Candidate, being the Premium offered for cultivating the True Rhubarb, was this Session adjudged to Mr. Thomas Jones, of...
    • [page 265] In addition to the qualities of the rhubarb above mentioned, it is allowed by all medical men to make one of the most cooling, wholesome, and delicious tarts sent to table; many persons prefer it indeed either to green gooseberries or apples. In the early part of the season the stalks of...1839, John Rogers, “RHUBARB.—Rheum.”, in The Vegetable Cultivator: Containing a Plain and Accurate Description of All the Different Species and Varieties of Culinary Vegetables; with the Most...
  2. (attributive, often) The leafstalks of common rhubarb or garden rhubarb (usually known as Rheum × hybridum), which are long, fleshy, often pale red, and with a tart taste, used as a food ingredient; they are frequently stewed with sugar and made into jam or used in crumbles, pies, etc.
    • Rhubarb Tarts. Take the ſtalks off the rhubarb that grows in the garden, peel the ſkin off, and cut them the ſize of a gooſeberry, put them into china or earthen-ware patty-pans, with ſugar over them, and put on a paſte either puff or tart, ice them, and bake them the ſame as green gooſeberries...1788, Richard Briggs, “Pies. [Tarts, Tartlets, and Puffs.]”, in The English Art of Cookery, According to the Present Practice; being a Complete Guide to All Housekeepers, on a Plan Entirely New...
    • June is normally pie time, because it's when the strawberries come in. The summer before Dad died they were unusally plentiful at our local farmers' market, and Mom made almost a dozen of her strawberry rhubarbs—the ones with the tapioca mixed in—because she knew it was his favorite.2014, Lissa Warren, “Spring and Summer”, in The Good Luck Cat: How a Cat Saved a Family, and a Family Saved a Cat, Guildford, Conn.; Helena, Mont.: Lyons Press, Rowman & Littlefield, →ISBN, page 142
    Synonyms:
    tusky
  3. The dried rhizome and roots of Rheum palmatum (Chinese rhubarb) or Rheum officinale (Tibetan rhubarb), from China, used as a laxative and purgative.
    • The running of the reines or gonorrhœa, which is an exceſſive and involuntary profuſion of ſperm, cauſed, by its proper vice, and that of the ſpermatick parts; it's cured, […] if the ſperm be hot & ſharp, by phlebotomy, rhubarb, myrobalans, ſuccory, the foure greater cold ſeeds, anointing the ſpine...1661, Robert Lovell, “Anthropologia, &c. Of Man. &c.”, in ΠΑΝΖΩΟΡΥΚΤΟΛΟΓΙΑ [PANZŌORYKTOLOGIA]. Sive Panzoologicomineralogia. Or A Compleat History of Animals and Minerals, Containing the Summe of All...
    • […] If you would have them Purging, put Honey to them inſtead of Sugar; and if more Laxative, for Choler, Rhubarb; for Flegm, Turbith, for watry Humours, Scammony: but if more forcibly to bind, uſe the unripe Quinces with Roſes, and Acacia, or Hypociſtis, and ſome torrefied Rhubarb.1666, Nich[olas] Culpeper, “The Quince-Tree”, in The English Physitian Enlarged: With Three Hundred, Sixty, and Nine Medicine, Made of English Herbs that were Not in Any Impression untill This. Being...
  4. (UK, historical) A Royal Air Force World War II code name for operations by aircraft (fighters and fighter-bombers) involving low-level flight to seek opportunistic targets.
    • On 13 December 1942, Squadron Leader [Brian] Lane made his first flight from Ludham, a local familiarisation flight. That afternoon, he led a section of Spitfires low over the North Sea on a ‘Rhubarb’, a low-level sweep over the Dutch coast, looking for targets of opportunity.2009, Dilip Sarkar, “Foreword”, in Brian Lane, edited by Dilip Sarkar, Spitfire!: The Experiences of a Battle of Britain Fighter Pilot, Stroud, Gloucestershire: Amberley Publishing, →ISBN, page 11
  5. (Saskatchewan, Ottawa Valley) A ditch alongside a road or highway.
    • Driving home yesterday, I almost hit the rhubarb.

Adjective

rhubarb (not comparable)

  1. Of the colour of rhubarb: either brownish-yellow (the colour of rhubarb rhizomes and roots used for medicinal purposes), or pale red (often the colour of the leafstalks of common rhubarb).
    • I just can't see her face. Sometimes I actually picture two enormous X's stamped over her eyes. Something from the Sunday comics. I change her hair color on a daily basis. She was a rhubarb blonde. No, she wasn't, she was a redhead and she had tortellini-like curls. She had straight brown hair. She...2001, Adam Rapp, Nocturne: A Play, New York, N.Y.: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN, page 26

Verb (1)

rhubarb (third-person singular simple present rhubarbs, present participle rhubarbing, simple past and past participle rhubarbed)

  1. (UK) Of fighter aircraft: to fire at a target opportunistically.

Noun (2)

rhubarb (countable and uncountable, plural rhubarbs)

  1. (uncountable) General background noise caused by several simultaneous indecipherable conversations, which is created in films, stage plays, etc., by actors repeating the word rhubarb; hence, such noise in other settings.
    • It [the film The Picnic] wasn't actually a silent film; there were sound effects, but the dialogue was a rhubarb-ish series of grunts and mutters.2001, Ronnie Corbett, High Hopes: My Autobiography, London: Ebury Press, published 2016, →ISBN, page 253
    • Back in the bedroom next door, the conversation is moving from subdued rhubarb to a cackle.2025 May 31, Jo Ellison, “The beguiling charm of a bedtime phone call”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 20
  2. (UK, broadly, uncountable) Nonsense; false utterance.
    • MADAME JOURDAIN: No, it’s all complete rhubarb. MONSIEUR JOURDAIN: Dara dara bastonnara! He begins to dance and chant. MADAME JOURDAIN: Don’t think that’s going to make things any clearer.1992, Moliere, translated by Nick Dear, Le Bourgeous Gentilhomme: A New Version by Nick Dear, U.K: Bloomsbury Publishing, page 70
    • On my second day in the market garden our group spent all day moving empty rhubarb boxes to one side of a courtyard and all afternoon moving them back again. ‘Makes a change from talking rhubarb in the House of Commons I expect,’ said one of my fellow labourers.2005, Jonathan Aitken, “Difficult days at Stanford Hill”, in Porridge and Passion, U.K: Continuum International Publishing Group, page 97
  3. (US, countable) An excited, angry exchange of words, especially at a sporting event.
    • Out in the bullpen, Chip Hilton and Soapy Smith had stopped throwing to watch the argument—what ballplayers call a "rhubarb."1953, Clair Bee, “The Fireman Arrives”, in Fence Busters (Chip Hilton Sports Series; 11), New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, →OCLC; republished as Clair Bee, Randall K. Farley, Cynthia Bee Farley...
    • Richie Ashburn slid into third, and Billy Cox, Dodger third baseman, made the tag, [Umpire Beans] Reardon yelled "safe" but raised his hand in the "out" sign. Naturally, a rhubarb.1960, Joe Garagiola, “The Loners”, in Baseball Is a Funny Game
  4. (US, broadly, countable) A brawl.
    • But damned if it don't seem like killin' him would stir up an even bigger political rhubarb. I mean, it ain't like nobody'd have to be told who did it.1973, Matthew Braun, El Paso, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin's Paperbacks, published July 1999, →ISBN, page 142

Verb (2)

rhubarb (third-person singular simple present rhubarbs, present participle rhubarbing, simple past and past participle rhubarbed)

  1. (intransitive) Of an actor in a film, stage play, etc.: to repeat the word rhubarb to create the sound of indistinct conversation; hence, to converse indistinctly, to mumble.
    • At Rick's side our local Liberal Party Chairman is smacking his yeoman's paws together and rhubarbing ecstatically in Rick's ear.1986, John le Carré [pseudonym; David John Moore Cornwell], chapter 11, in A Perfect Spy, London: Hodder & Stoughton, →ISBN; 1st Pocket Books trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Pocket Books...
    • I suspect it's these pictures that —— and his cronies have in mind when they rhubarb on about iconicity and retro imagery and the 'solid, uncomplicated, talismanic Englishness' (that is, counterfeit Americanness) of the immediate post-war years that I'm supposed to represent.1991, Gordon Burn, chapter 5, in Alma Cogan, London: Vintage Books, →ISBN; republished London: Faber and Faber, 2004, →ISBN
  2. (transitive) To articulate indistinctly or mumble (words or phrases); to say inconsequential or vague things because one does not know what to say, or to stall for time.
    • Ordinarily this group of egos rhubarbed about matters as trivial as whose turn it was to order the next round, but tonight they were united in their project, and while men were killing one another all over the world, a strange peace had broken out among America's swim coaches.2015, Julie Checkoway, “A Season of Flame”, in The Three-year Swim Club: The Untold Story of Maui’s Sugar Ditch Kids and Their Quest for Olympic Glory, New York, N.Y.: Grand Central Publishing, →ISBN

rhubarb meaning in Tamil, Punjabi, Tagalog and Arabic

rhubarb in Tamil

நமது பூமியில் காணப்படும், தாவரங்களில் ஒன்றாகும்

rhubarb in Punjabi

any plant of the genus Rheum
ਰਿਓਂਦ rionda

rhubarb in Tagalog

any plant of the genus Rheum
ruwibarbo

rhubarb in Arabic

any plant of the genus Rheum
رَاوَنْد rāwand
More languagesFewer languages
rhubarb in Malay
rubarb
rhubarb in Persian
ریواس rivâs, ریوند rivand
rhubarb in Vietnamese
đại hoàng

Examples of rhubarb in a sentence

  • [T]he stems of the culinary rhubarb plant (Rheum palmatum) are used in stewing, jams and in tarts and pies.1999, J. Heritage, E[mlyn] G[lyn] V[aughn] Evans, R. A. Killington, “Food Microbiology”, in Microbiology in Action (Studies in Biology)...
  • The rhubarb is a root which has the property of purging gently, of ſtregthening the ſtomach, of facilitating digeſtion, and of deſtroying worms in children.1788, Abbé Reynal [Guillaume Thomas François Raynal], “Book V. Trade of Denmark, Ostend, Sweden, Prussia, Spain, and Russia, to the East...
  • People’s minds really serve up a lobar of rhubarb with the inner dialogue they tell themselves.2009, Michael-ji-ji Mouseman the III, “We the damned”, in Ratology: Way of the Un-damned, Australia: Ladder to the Moon Publications (T/a...
  • Experienced spielers know that, if they keep rhubarbing away in an unrelenting monotone, their audience will soon become hypnotised by the sound of the words and lose grasp of their meaning.2013, Michael O'Donnell, “Medical Committeespiel”, in The Barefaced Doctor: A Mischievous Medical Companion, Kibworth Beauchamp...

All 29 example sentences with rhubarb

Synonyms of rhubarb

Forms of rhubarb

Noun
pluralrhubarb
pluralrhubarbs
Verb
third-person singular presentrhubarbs
present participlerhubarbing
past participlerhubarbed
pastrhubarbed

Plural of rhubarb: rhubarb or rhubarbs

Origin of rhubarb

From Middle English rubarbe, from Anglo-Norman reubarbe (modern French rhubarbe), from Late Latin reubarbarum, rheubarbarum, rubarbera, rybarba, probably from Koine Greek ῥῆον βαρβαρικόν (rhêon barbarikón), from ῥῆον (rhêon, “rhubarb”) + Ancient Greek βαρβαρικόν (barbarikón), neuter of βαρβαρικός (barbarikós, “foreign; barbaric”) (English barbaric). There is also a Medieval Latin variant rabarbarum, which appears to be influenced by Ancient Greek ῥᾶ (rhâ, “rhubarb”), and gave rise to some of the forms in modern languages. The Ancient Greek variant term appears to have been folk-etymologically influenced by Ancient Greek Ῥᾶ (Rhâ, “the River Volga”), which is in the region from which the plant came to the Mediterranean. The ultimate origin of the Ancient Greek terms is, however, Proto-Iranian *(h)rabā́š (“rhubarb, fennel”). The word is cognate with Catalan ruibarbre, Italian rabarbaro, Dutch rabarber, German Rhabarber, Old Occitan reubarbe, Portuguese ruibarbo, Spanish ruibarbo.

Attributed to the circa 1852 practice by the theatre company of English actor Charles Kean (1811–1868) at the Princess’s Theatre, London, of actors saying the word rhubarb repetitively to mimic the sound of indistinct conversation, the word having been chosen because it does not have harsh-sounding consonants or clear vowels. The baseball senses are said to have been coined by the American sports writer Garry Schumacher and popularized by the American baseball commentator Red Barber (1908–1992). Barber also claimed to have started using the word in the 1940s, based on the practice in “early radio dramas” (presumably in the US, circa 1930) of actors repetitively voicing rhubarb. However, unlike the UK usage, he felt the practice applied to muttering by an angry mob, and so applied the word to arguments on the baseball field where he could not distinguish the words.

Words formed from rhubarb

Questions about rhubarb

What does rhubarb mean?
Rhubarb means any plant of the genus Rheum, especially Rheum rhabarbarum, having large leaves and long green or reddish acidic leafstalks that are edible, in particular when cooked (although the leaves are mildly poisonous).
What is rhubarb in Tamil?
Rhubarb in Tamil is நமது பூமியில் காணப்படும், தாவரங்களில் ஒன்றாகும். See Rhubarb meaning in Tamil.
How do you use rhubarb in a sentence?
[T]he stems of the culinary rhubarb plant (Rheum palmatum) are used in stewing, jams and in tarts and pies.
What part of speech is rhubarb?
Rhubarb can be a noun, an adjective or a verb.
How do you pronounce rhubarb?
Rhubarb is pronounced /ˈɹuːbɑːb/ (UK).
What is the plural of rhubarb?
The plural of rhubarb is rhubarb.

Words near rhubarb in the dictionary

  1. RHS
  2. RHT
  3. RHU
  4. rhubab
  5. rhubabs
  6. rhubarb
  7. rhubarb rhubarb
  8. rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb
  9. Rhubarb Triangle
  10. rhubarbarin
  11. rhubarbed

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: rhubarb (page history and authors); rhubarb (Tamil Wiktionary) (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-rhubarb.ogg, en-au-rhubarb.ogg.

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