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rhubarb

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(ro̵̅o̅′bärb′)

noun

any of a genus (Rheum) of perennial, large-leaved plants of the buckwheat family; esp., the domestic pieplant (R. rhaponticum), having large, cordate leaf blades borne on long, thick stalks: the stalks are cooked into a sauce or baked in pies, but the blades are poisonous
the roots and rhizomes of various Asiatic rhubarbs, used as a cathartic
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Origin: ? from the practice in early radio broadcasts of repeating “rhubarb” in simulating crowd noises
Slang a heated discussion or argument

Origin: ME rubarbe < OFr rheubarbe < ML rheubarbarum, altered < LL rha barbarum < Gr rhēon barbaron, foreign rhubarb < rhēon, rhubarb (< Pers rēwend) + barbaron, foreign, barbarous

See rhubarb in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

Any of several plants of the genus Rheum, especially R. rhabarbarum, having long green or reddish acidic leafstalks that are edible when sweetened and cooked. Also called pie plant.
The dried, bitter-tasting rhizome and roots of Rheum palmatum or R. officinale of eastern Asia, used as a laxative.
Informal A quarrel, fight, or heated discussion.

Origin:

Origin: Middle English rubarbe

Origin: , from Old French

Origin: , from Late Latin reubarbarum

Origin: , probably alteration (influenced by Greek rhēon)

Origin: of rhabarbarum

Origin: : rha, rhubarb (from Greek rhā, perhaps from Rhā, the Volga River)

Origin: + Latin barbarum

Origin: , neuter of barbarus, barbarian, foreign; see barbarous

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