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 tuber²

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

Example Sentences

I pictured roots swelling under the ground, the tubers round by now.

From Literature

In bananas and cassava, nearly all PTEs except chromium were found in higher amounts below ground, in roots and tubers.

From Science Daily

I loosened the soil around them with my cutlass and pulled out a cluster of tubers.

From Literature

Millions of tasty tubers have been rolling into the country's capital, Berlin, since mid-January, with residents risking icy streets to bag their share.

From BBC

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