# cabbage

Pronunciation: say "KA-bij" /ˈkæbɪd͡ʒ/

## Noun

1. The leaves of the cabbage plant, eaten cooked or raw as a vegetable.
   - Simple: The leaves of the cabbage plant, eaten as food.
   - _The recipe calls for finely shredded cabbage and a splash of vinegar._
   - _He simmered cabbage and sausage together for an hour._
2. An edible plant of the species Brassica oleracea that forms a dense head of green leaves, grown widely as a vegetable.
   - Simple: A leafy garden vegetable that grows as a round, firm head of green leaves.
   - _This variety of cabbage forms a tight, pale-green head by late summer._
   - _Gardeners often grow cabbage alongside other brassicas like broccoli and kale._
3. Any of various cultivated varieties of the species Brassica oleracea, including forms such as kale, broccoli, and cauliflower.
   - Simple: Any of several related vegetables bred from one wild plant, such as kale and broccoli.
   - _Kale, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts are all cultivated forms of cabbage._
   - _Each type of cabbage was bred from the same wild plant for a different edible part._
4. Money, especially in the form of cash. *(slang)*
   - Simple: Money, especially paper cash.
   - _She made a lot of cabbage flipping houses last year._
   - _I'm a little short on cabbage until payday._
5. Someone left with gravely diminished mental function as a result of brain damage.
   - Simple: A person who has lost most of their mental abilities because of brain damage.
   - _The family feared that years in the institution had reduced him to a cabbage._
   - _He was terrified the stroke would leave him a cabbage in a hospital bed._
6. An affectionate name used for a person one loves or feels fondness for.
   - Simple: A loving name you call someone you care about.
   - _He greeted his daughter with a warm, 'There's my cabbage!'_
   - _Don't cry, cabbage, everything will be all right._
7. The human head. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A person's head.
   - _The boxer caught a jab right on the cabbage._
   - _He rubbed his cabbage where the ball had struck him._
10. Scraps of cloth left over after a garment is cut out, which tailors traditionally kept for themselves. *(slang)*
   - Simple: Bits of cloth left over after cutting out clothes, kept by tailors.
   - _The shop's cabbage was bundled up and sold off at the end of the season._
   - _By tradition, the cabbage from each order belonged to the cutter, not the customer._
11. The leaf of the marijuana plant: not the part that is smoked, but the material from which cannabutter is extracted. *(slang)*
   - Simple: The leaves of a marijuana plant, not smoked but used to make cannabis butter.
   - _Instead of throwing out the cabbage, she simmered it into cannabutter._
   - _The leftover cabbage from the harvest went straight into the infusion pot._
12. The terminal bud at the crown of certain palm trees, eaten as a vegetable.
   - Simple: The soft, edible bud at the top of some palm trees.
   - _Locals harvest the cabbage from the palm and serve it boiled._
   - _The sweet cabbage at the crown of the palm is considered a delicacy._
13. A palm (Sabal palmetto) found along the coasts of the southeastern United States and nearby islands, also known as the cabbage palmetto.
   - Simple: A kind of palm tree that grows along the southeastern US coast and nearby islands.
   - _The coastal hammock was thick with cabbage, their gray trunks rising above the scrub._
   - _Settlers used the trunks of the cabbage for wharf pilings._

## Verb

8. To spend time idly, doing nothing in particular. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To do nothing and relax for a while.
   - _He likes to cabbage in front of the TV after a long shift._
   - _They spent the whole rainy afternoon cabbaging at home._
9. To steal, embezzle, or pilfer something, especially in small quantities.
   - Simple: To steal something, usually in small amounts.
   - _The clerk had been cabbaging office supplies for months._
   - _Dishonest workers will cabbage small tools from the site._
14. To develop a dense, rounded head of leaves, in the manner of a cabbage.
   - Simple: To grow into a tight, round head of leaves.
   - _In cool weather the young plants cabbage quickly into firm green heads._
   - _The crop failed to cabbage properly after the unexpected heat wave._
15. To die by violence, as from a gunshot to the head. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To be killed, especially by being shot in the head.
   - _Anybody could cabbage on these streets after dark._
   - _Three of his crew cabbaged that year._

## Origin

**Meanings 1–8, 11–15** — From Middle English caboche or cabage, borrowed from Anglo-Norman caboche ("head"), a northern variant of caboce of uncertain origin. Some authorities trace it to Latin caput ("head"), while others explain it as an expressive prefix ca- plus boce ("hump, bump"), which also gave English boss.
**Meanings 9–10** — The origin is unclear. It may perhaps come from a Dutch word *kabbassen, from Old French cabasser ("put into a basket"), from cabas. Alternatively, it might derive from an earlier *carbage ("shred"), possibly a variant of *garbage ("wheat straw").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/cabbage (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).