tuber

¹ American  

[too-ber, tyoo-] / ˈtu bər, ˈtyu- /

noun

1. Botany. a fleshy, usually oblong or rounded thickening or outgrowth, as the potato, of a subterranean stem or shoot, bearing minute scalelike leaves with buds or eyes in their axils from which new plants may arise.

2. Anatomy. a rounded swelling or protuberance; a tuberosity; a tubercle.

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tuber ² American  

[too-ber, tyoo-] / ˈtu bər, ˈtyu- /

noun

1. a person or thing that forms, installs, or operates with tubes.

2. Also called inner-tuber.  a person who participates in the sport of tubing. tube.

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tuber British  

/ ˈtjuːbə /

noun

1. a fleshy underground stem (as in the potato) or root (as in the dahlia) that is an organ of vegetative reproduction and food storage

2. anatomy a raised area; swelling

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tuber Scientific  

/ to̅o̅′bər /

1. The thickened part of an underground stem of a plant, such as the potato, bearing buds from which new plant shoots arise.

2. Compare bulb corm rhizome runner

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Other Word Forms

• tuberless adjective
• tuberoid adjective

Etymology

Origin of tuber¹

1660–70; < Latin tūber bump, swelling. truffle

Origin of tuber¹

First recorded in 1920–25; tube + -er ¹

Example Sentences

What appears to have started as one man’s idea of a joke has spread in recent years, with more households offering the tuber in an effort to give the festivities a topsy-turvy spin.

From The Wall Street Journal

While bears are typically seen as apex predators, he says, black bears — the only wild bears left in California — are actually vegetarian-leaning omnivores, eating far more grass, tubers, roots and berries than meat.

From Los Angeles Times

The movie starts in fictional Chuglass, Idaho, the “potato chip capital of America,” where a giant tuber mascot looms over the town.

From Los Angeles Times

The distinctive tangy taste of attiéké comes from the cassava tubers mixed with fermented cassava, which gives it its unique flavour and texture.

From BBC

"The 30% increase in tuber mass observed in our field trials shows the promise of improving photosynthesis to enable climate-ready crops."

From Science Daily