# cauliflower

Pronunciation: US say "KAWL-i-flow-ur" /ˈkɔl.ɪˌflaʊ.ɚ/; UK/AUS say "KOL-i-flow-uh" /ˈkɒl.i.flaʊ.ə/

## Noun

1. The dense white curd of the cauliflower plant, harvested and cooked as a vegetable.
   - Simple: The firm white head of the cauliflower plant that people cook and eat as a vegetable.
   - _We roasted the cauliflower with olive oil until it turned golden._
   - _The soup gets its creamy texture from blended cauliflower._
2. An annual variety of cabbage whose cluster of young flower stalks and buds is eaten as a vegetable.
   - Simple: A garden vegetable with a round white head, closely related to cabbage.
   - _Farmers cover the heads so the cauliflower stays pale and tight._
   - _Cauliflower needs steady watering to form a firm head._
3. The firm swelling that forms in an ear damaged by repeated blows, giving it a lumpy appearance.
   - Simple: The lumpy swelling of an injured ear, often seen in boxers and wrestlers.
   - _Boxers often develop cauliflower after years of blows to the head._
   - _Without early drainage, the bruised ear can set into permanent cauliflower._

## Verb

4. To swell up, or make something swell up, into a lumpy, misshapen form like that of a cauliflower ear.
   - Simple: To swell into a lumpy shape like a badly hurt ear, or to make something swell that way.
   - _A single bad blow can cauliflower the ear if blood pools beneath the skin._
   - _The struck end of the old chisel had cauliflowered over from years of hammering._

## Origin

This dates to the 16th-century form cole-florye, made from cole (from Latin caulis, 'cabbage') plus flower, and later reshaped to look more like its Latin source. It is cognate with French chou-fleur and Italian cavolfiore.

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