tuber

[too-ber, tyoo-]

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noun

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.

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

Origin of tuber

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

Related formstu·ber·less, adjectivetu·ber·oid, adjective

tuber

[too-ber, tyoo-]

noun

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

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

Origin of tuber

First recorded in 1920–25; tube + -er¹

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

Related Words for tuber

beet, potato, bulb, root, taro, yam, turnip, jalap, salep

Examples from the Web for tuber

Contemporary Examples of tuber

I feel like they are the alchemist of the tuber world; they make everything from smooth, soft purees to beautiful crunchy pickles.
Fresh Picks
Eli Kirshtein
February 23, 2010

Historical Examples of tuber

In kitchen-gardens it is planted like the potato, the tuber being cut in pieces.
The Philippine Islands
John Foreman
It is found in the tuber of the dahlia, in the dandelion, and some other plants.
Elements of Agricultural Chemistry
Thomas Anderson
All of these may be grown from seed or by division of the tuber before planting.
The Book of Bulbs
Samuel Arnott
Sometimes it attacks the potato, eating down the stalk into the tuber.
The Moths of the British Isles, First Series
Richard South
This skin is produced by the action of the surface cells of the tuber.
Parallel Paths
Thomas William Rolleston

British Dictionary definitions for tuber

tuber

noun

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

anatomy a raised area; swelling

Word Origin for tuber

C17: from Latin tūber hump

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 tuber

"thick underground stem," 1660s, from Latin tuber "lump, bump," perhaps related to tumere "to swell" (see thigh).

tuber in Medicine

tuber

[tōō′bər]

n. pl. tubers

A localized rounded projection or swelling; a knob, tuberosity, or eminence.

tuber in Science

tuber

[tōō′bər]

The thickened part of an underground stem of a plant, such as the potato, bearing buds from which new plant shoots arise. Compare bulb corm rhizome runner.