tuber

[ too-ber, tyoo- ]

/ ˈtu bər, ˈtyu- /

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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.

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Origin of tuber

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

OTHER WORDS FROM tuber

tu·ber·less, adjectivetu·ber·oid, adjective

Words nearby tuber

tubeless tire, tubeless tyre, tubenose, tube-nosed, tube pan, tuber, tube railway, tubercle, tubercle bacillus, tubercular, tuberculate

Other definitions for tuber (2 of 2)

tuber²

[ too-ber, tyoo- ]

/ ˈtu bər, ˈtyu- /

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. 2023

How to use tuber in a sentence

I saw it again, 6,000 miles away, on the dry Tanzania savanna with Hadzabe families, who forage for tubers and baobab seeds.
I Was Constantly Arguing With My Child. Then I Learned the “TEAM” Method of Calmer Parenting|Michaeleen Doucleff|March 6, 2021|Time
Workers dig elaborate underground tunnels in search of tubers to eat.
Unique dialects help naked mole-rats tell friends from foes|Jonathan Lambert|February 24, 2021|Science News For Students
Those groups balance out their diets by also eating tubers, roots and other plant foods that they store during the short summers to carry them through frigid winter months.
Harsh Ice Age winters may have helped turn wolves into dogs|Bruce Bower|February 3, 2021|Science News For Students
Because that whole system is sealed, the potato tubers don’t carry any soil- or insect-vectored diseases.
Potato innovation has stagnated for decades. Sexual reproduction might get it unstuck.|Katie McLean|December 18, 2020|MIT Technology Review

This year he agreed to take me into the woods to forage for these precious tubers.
‘The Mozart of fungi’: For ages, truffle hunting has been one of the most challenging pursuits on earth. Then the pandemic hit|Bernhard Warner|December 12, 2020|Fortune
Some blamed that innocent tuber with derailing her attempts at projecting an “authentic” image.
6 Food Trends That Should Disappear|Jacquelynn D. Powers|June 25, 2010|DAILY BEAST
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|DAILY BEAST
As in, when the waiter approaches the table holding aloft an innocent-looking tuber and asks, “Should I keep shaving?”
The Great Truffle-Market Crash of '09|Katie Workman|September 1, 2009|DAILY BEAST
The flour of any species of corn, pulse, tuber, or starchy root.
Cooley's Cyclopdia of Practical Receipts and Collateral Information in the Arts, Manufactures, Professions, and Trades..., Sixth Edition, Volume I|Arnold Cooley
This tuber has the celery flavor in a pronounced degree, and is used for flavoring soups and for celery salad.
The Practical Garden-Book|C. E. Hunn
They will take root at each joint of vine, when undisturbed, which roots will draw from the main tuber.
Soil Culture|J. H. Walden
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

/ (ˈtjuːbə) /

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

Scientific definitions for tuber

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.

tuber

Origin of tuber

OTHER WORDS FROM tuber

Words nearby tuber

Other definitions for tuber (2 of 2)

Origin of tuber

Words related to tuber

How to use tuber in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for tuber

Word Origin for tuber

Scientific definitions for tuber