TURNIP

turnip

(noun) root of any of several members of the mustard family

turnip, white turnip, Brassica rapa

(noun) widely cultivated plant having a large fleshy edible white or yellow root

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology

Noun

turnip (plural turnips)

The white root of a yellow-flowered plant, Brassica rapa, grown as a vegetable and as fodder for cattle.

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

(dated) A large, heavy pocket watch, so called because its profile resembled the vegetable.

Synonyms

• (Brassica rapa): summer turnip, white turnip (Cornwall, Scotland)

• (Brassica napus): rutabaga (North America), swede (Ireland, Northern England, Scotland), tumshie (Scotland)

Verb

turnip (third-person singular simple present turnips, present participle turnipping or turniping, simple past and past participle turnipped or turniped)

(transitive) To plant with turnips.

(transitive) To feed or graze (livestock) on turnips.

Anagrams

• Turpin, turpin

Source: Wiktionary

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Tur"nip, n. Etym: [OE. turnep; probably fr. turn, or F. tour a turn, turning lathe + OE. nepe a turnip, AS. næpe, L. napus. Cf. Turn,v. t., Navew.] (Bot.)

Definition: The edible, fleshy, roundish, or somewhat conical, root of a cruciferous plant (Brassica campestris, var. Napus); also, the plant itself. [Formerly written also turnep.] Swedish turnip (Bot.), a kind of turnip. See Ruta-baga.

– Turnip flea (Zoöl.), a small flea-beetle (Haltica, or Phyllotreta, striolata), which feeds upon the turnip, and often seriously injures it. It is black with a stripe of yellow on each elytron. The name is also applied to several other small insects which are injurious to turnips. See Illust. under Flea-beetle.

– Turnip fly. (Zoöl.) (a) The turnip flea. (b) A two-winged fly (Anthomyia radicum) whose larvæ live in the turnip root.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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