rutabaga

[roo-tuh-bey-guh, roo-tuh-bey-]

noun

a brassicaceous plant, Brassica napobrassica, having a yellow- or white-fleshed, edible tuber.

the edible tuber, a variety of turnip.

Nearby words

Origin of rutabaga

1790–1800, Americanism; < Swedish (dial.) rotabagge

Also called Swedish turnip.

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

Examples from the Web for rutabaga

The Rutabaga is a productive variety, and possesses a good deal of nutriment.
Soil Culture|J. H. Walden
He still calls the beet a beet-root and the rutabaga a mangel-wurzel.
The American Language|Henry L. Mencken
Early purple-top strap-leaf turnip, early cabbage, lettuce, rutabaga turnips.
The Red Cross in Peace and War|Clara Barton
We may get bitten by a snapping bean or routed by a rutabaga or infected by a parsnip.
Mince PieAuthor: Christopher Darlington MorleyRelease Date: October 10, 2004 [eBook #13694]|Christopher Darlington Morley

British Dictionary definitions for rutabaga

rutabaga

noun

US and Canadian a Eurasian plant, Brassica napus (or B. napobrassica), cultivated for its bulbous edible root, which is used as a vegetable and as cattle fodder: family Brassicaceae (crucifers)

the root of this plant

Also called (in Britain and certain other countries): swede

Word Origin for rutabaga

C18: from Swedish dialect rotabagge, literally: root bag

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 rutabaga

rutabaga

1799, from Swedish dialectal (West Götland) rotabagge, from rot "root" (see root (n.)) + bagge "bag" (see bag (n.)). Slang meaning "dollar" is from 1940s.