vitamins

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of vitamin.

   The doctor recommended a balanced diet rich in essential vitamins.

   Prolonged storage can destroy some of the vitamins in cooked food.

   Note

   The everyday plural, and the form most talk about nutrition reaches for. Each of the vitamins is distinct, and a shortage of a particular one produces a particular disorder. The identical spelling also belongs to the dated verb "to fortify", so only the sentence around it tells a reader whether vitamins names the compounds themselves or the act of adding them to food.

2. 2
   verbdated

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of vitamin.

   Note

   A verb that has fallen out of fashion: to vitamin something was to fortify it, and the usage now sounds dated. It is transitive, so the food takes the object slot and the added nutrient follows with, as in "the dairy vitamins its milk with D." In present-day writing, fortifies says the same thing without sounding like an old label or advertisement.

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