sweet corn

noun

any of several varieties of corn, especially Zea mays rugosa, the grain or kernels of which are sweet and suitable for eating.
Chiefly Northern, North Midland, and Western U.S. the young and tender ears of corn, especially when used as a table vegetable.

Origin of sweet corn

An Americanism dating back to 1640–50

Also called green corn.

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

Examples from the Web for sweet corn

Historical Examples of sweet corn

Sweet-corn seed often decays if put into the ground as early as field-corn.
ABC of Vegetable Gardening
Eben Eugene Rexford
One morning the boy Frank came in with a basket of sweet-corn on his arm, and a bad scowl on his countenance.
Harper's Young People, September 28, 1880
Various
About this bunch he sunk traps in the ground, and threw hay-seed over them, and placed nice ears of sweet-corn beside them.
Harper's Young People, September 28, 1880
Various
The first thing I saw, on looking up at the sound of footsteps, was the said nose coming toward me, among the sweet-corn tassels.
Little Masterpieces of American Wit and Humor, Volume II
Various

British Dictionary definitions for sweet corn

sweet corn

noun

Also called: sugar corn, green corn a variety of maize, Zea mays saccharata, whose kernels are rich in sugar and eaten as a vegetable when young
the unripe ears of maize, esp the sweet kernels removed from the cob, cooked as a vegetable

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