turnips

Noun

turnip (plural turnips)

1. The white root of a yellow-flowered plant, Brassica rapa, grown as a vegetable and as fodder for cattle.
   • The ancient Roman gastronomists considered the turnip, when prepared in the following manner, a dish fit for epicures: "After boiling, extract the water from them, and season with cummin, rue, or benzoin, pounded in a mortar; afterward add honey, vinegar, gravy, and boiled grapes. Allow the whole...1892, Ella Eaton Kellogg, “Vegetables”, in Science in the Kitchen: A Scientific Treatise on Food Substances and Their Dietetic Properties, Together with a Practical Explanation of the Principles of...

   Synonyms:

   summer turnip, white turnip

2. (Atlantic-Canada, Cornwall, Ireland, Northern England, Scotland, Manitoba) The yellow root of a related plant, the swede or Brassica napus.

   Synonyms:

   rutabaga, swede, tumshie

3. (Hong-Kong) The white root of Raphanus sativus var. longipinnatus, also known as a daikon.

   Synonyms:

   daikon

4. (Malaysia, Singapore, broadly) The root of the yam bean, Pachyrhizus erosus; jicama.
5. (slang) A fool or simpleton.
   • "Dost thou not believe, thou twittering turnip?"1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 33

See all 7 meanings of turnip