Adjacent Words

Salsify definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SAL'SIFY, n. Goat's beard, a plant of the genus Tragopogon.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: edible root of the salsify plant [syn: salsify, oyster plant]
2: Mediterranean biennial herb with long-stemmed heads of purple ray flowers and milky sap and long edible root; naturalized throughout United States [syn: salsify, oyster plant, vegetable oyster, Tragopogon porrifolius]
3: either of two long roots eaten cooked

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural -fies) Etymology: French salsifis, from Italian salsefica, sassefrica Date: circa 1706 a European biennial composite herb (Tragopogon porrifolius) with a long fusiform edible root — called also oyster plant, vegetable oyster

Britannica Concise

Biennial herbaceous plant (Tragopogon porrifolius) of the composite family, native to the Mediterranean. The thick white taproot is cooked as a vegetable and tastes somewhat like oysters. The plant has purple flowers and narrow leaves whose bases usually clasp the stem. Goatsbeard, or meadow salsify (T. pratensis), is a weedy European species, naturalized in N. America, that has a large yellow flower head. It is occasionally cultivated as an ornamental, and its leaves, flowers, and roots are sometimes eaten in salads.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (pl. -ies) 1 a European plant, Tragopogon porrifolius, with long cylindrical fleshy roots. 2 this root used as a vegetable. Phrases and idioms: black salsify scorzonera. Etymology: F salsifis f. obs. It. salsefica, of unkn. orig.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Salsify Sal"si*fy (?; 277), n. [F. salsifis.] (Bot.) See Oyster plant (a), under Oyster.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. See salsafy