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rhubarb definition

rhu·barb (ro̵̅o̅bärb′)

noun

  1. 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
  2. the roots and rhizomes of various Asiatic rhubarbs, used as a cathartic
  3. Etymology: ? from the practice in early radio broadcasts of repeating “rhubarb” in simulating crowd noises

    Slang a heated discussion or argument

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

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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