potato

[ puh-tey-toh, -tuh ]

/ pəˈteɪ toʊ, -tə /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR potato ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural po·ta·toes.

Also called Irish potato, white potato. the edible tuber of a cultivated plant, Solanum tuberosum, of the nightshade family.

the plant itself.

sweet potato(defs 1, 2).

RELATED WORDS

yam, spud, tuber, plant, murphy, tater

Nearby words

potassium-40, potassium-42, potassium-43, potassium-argon dating, potation, potato, potato apple, potato bean, potato beetle, potato blight, potato chip

Origin of potato

1545–55; < Spanish patata white potato, variant of batata sweet potato < Taino

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for potatoes

However, that switch to potatoes occurred around the 19th Century.
I Ate Potato Pancakes Til I Plotzed|Emily Shire|December 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Mixing meat and dairy is a kosher rule-breaker, so they switched the cheese for potatoes.
I Ate Potato Pancakes Til I Plotzed|Emily Shire|December 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
I must have had lamb and potatoes 180 times since I have been here.
Why The Queen Hates Mobile Phone Waving Crowds|Tom Sykes|September 2, 2014|DAILY BEAST
On busier roads, elderly, scarved women sat by piles of potatoes and onions hoping forlornly for a sale.
As the Key Battle Looms, a Report from Ukraine's Front Lines|Jamie Dettmer|August 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST

This breakfast is 100 percent chocolate all the way down to the potatoes.
Epic Meal Empire’s Meat Monstrosities: From the Bacon Spider to the Cinnabattleship|Harley Morenstein|July 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
It is true that there are sugar and coffee, but no corn, no potatoes, and none of our delicious varieties of fruit.
A Woman's Journey Round the World|Ida Pfeiffer
Raw nut butter gives a fine flavor to this pure, cook it with the potatoes and use less or no cream.
The Laurel Health Cookery|Evora Bucknum Perkins
Squatting around the glowing coals, they filled their plates with steak, potatoes and generous helpings of carrots.
Dan Carter and the River Camp|Mildred A. Wirt
Potatoes were not as yet cultivated in New England, onions were not generally, and tomatoes were looked upon as poisonous.
The Two Hundredth Anniversary of the Settlement of the Town of New Milford, Conn. June 17th, 1907|Daniel Davenport
As she wished to slice them to fry, she rinsed the potatoes, rolled them on a clean cloth to dry them.
Mary at the Farm and Book of Recipes Compiled during Her Visit among the "Pennsylvania Germans"|Edith M. Thomas

British Dictionary definitions for potatoes

potato

/ (pəˈteɪtəʊ) /

noun plural -toes

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

any of various similar plants, esp the sweet potato

hot potato slang a delicate or awkward matter

Word Origin for potato

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

Word Origin and History for potatoes

potato

1560s, from Spanish patata, from a Carib language of Haiti batata "sweet potato." Sweet potatoes were first to be introduced to Europe; in cultivation in Spain by mid-16c.; in Virginia by 1648. Early 16c. Portuguese traders carried the crop to all their shipping ports and the sweet potato was quickly adopted from Africa to India and Java.

The name later (1590s) was extended to the common white potato, from Peru, which was at first (mistakenly) called Virginia potato, or, because at first it was of minor importance compared to the sweet potato, bastard potato. Spanish invaders in Peru began to use white potatoes as cheap food for sailors 1530s. The first potato from South America reached Pope Paul III in 1540; grown in France at first as an ornamental plant. According to popular tradition, introduced to Ireland 1565 by John Hawkins. Brought to England from Colombia by Sir Thomas Herriot, 1586.

German kartoffel (17c.) is a dissimilation from tartoffel, ultimately from Italian tartufolo (Vulgar Latin *territuberem), originally "truffle." Frederick II forced its cultivation on Prussian peasants in 1743. The French is pomme de terre, literally "earth-apple;" a Swedish dialectal word for "potato" is jordpäron, literally "earth-pear."

Colloquial pronunciation tater is attested in print from 1759. Potato chip (n.) attested from 1879. To drop (something) like a hot potato is from 1824. Children's counting-out rhyme that begins one potato, two potato first recorded 1885 in Canada. Slang potato trap "mouth" attested from 1785.

Idioms and Phrases with potatoes

potato

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

potato

noun, plural po·ta·toes.

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Origin of potato

Examples from the Web for potatoes

British Dictionary definitions for potatoes

potato

noun plural -toes

Word Origin for potato

Word Origin and History for potatoes

potato

Idioms and Phrases with potatoes

potato