potato

[ puh-tey-toh, -tuh ]
See synonyms for: potatopotatoes on Thesaurus.com

noun,plural po·ta·toes.
  1. Also called Irish potato, white potato. the edible tuber of a cultivated plant, Solanum tuberosum, of the nightshade family.

  2. the plant itself.

Origin of potato

1
First recorded in 1545–55; from Spanish patata “potato,” variant of batata “sweet potato,” from Taíno

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use potato in a sentence

  • We had new potatoes for dinner, boiled with their skins on, and Liszt threw one at me, and I caught it.

  • Potatoes also are extensively planted, and I never saw a more vigorous growth.

    Glances at Europe | Horace Greeley
  • They would feed him apples, potatoes and sometimes bits of cake that Bob's mother gave them.

    Squinty the Comical Pig | Richard Barnum
  • Three men were sentenced to grow potatoes at Botany Bay the rest of their lives.

    Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham | Thomas T. Harman and Walter Showell
  • In the community her father was the wealthiest man, having made his fortune in the growing of potatoes and fruit.

    The Homesteader | Oscar Micheaux

British Dictionary definitions for potato

potato

/ (pəˈteɪtəʊ) /


nounplural -toes
  1. Also called: Irish potato, white potato

    • a solanaceous plant, Solanum tuberosum, of South America: widely cultivated for its edible tubers

    • the starchy oval tuber of this plant, which has a brown or red skin and is cooked and eaten as a vegetable

  2. any of various similar plants, esp the sweet potato

  1. hot potato slang a delicate or awkward matter

Origin of potato

1
C16: from Spanish patata white potato, from Taino batata sweet potato

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with potato

potato

see hot potato; meat and potatoes; small beer (potatoes).

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.