Also 6 vegitabile, 7 -able. [a. OF. vegetable (mod.F. végétable, = It. vegetabile, Sp. vegetable, Pg. vegetavel), or ad. L. vegetābilis animating, vivifying, f. vegetāre: see VEGETATE v.
In some instances the adj. cannot be clearly distinguished from the attributive uses of the sb.]
† 1. Having the vegetating property of plants; living and growing as a plant or organism endowed with the lowest form of life. (Cf. VEGETAL a. 1.)
c. 1400. trans. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh., 90. What þinge vegetable þat … makys fruyt, to þe sonne ys apropird.
1412–20. Lydg., Chron. Troy, II. 674. Zephirus, þat is so comfortable For to norysche þinges vegetable.
1432–50. trans. Higden (Rolls), I. 73. Hit may be concludede Paradise not to be there, sythe noo thynge vegetable may haue lyfe þer.
c. 1532. Du Wes, Introd. Fr., in Palsgr., 1053. All thynges created of God under the moone … ben elemented vegetables and sensytyves.
1604. R. Cawdrey, Table Alph., Vegetable, springing, or growing as hearbes.
1629. H. Burton, Truth’s Tri., 197. How far themselues differ from senslesse stockes, or come short of the vegetable trees.
a. 1676. Hale, Prim. Orig. Man., III. iv. (1677), 266. Things vegetable, that have simply Life, with those operations incident to Life.
fig. 1641. W. Cartwright, Lady-Errant, I. ii. The other counts her apricots… lays ’em naked And open to the sun, that it may freely Smile on her vegetable embraces.
a. 1678. Marvell, Poems, To coy Mistress, 11. My vegetable love should grow Vaster than empires and more slow.
† b. Of the soul. Obs.
1412–20. Lydg., Chron. Troy, III. 5686. Comparysownyd, as it were semblable, To a sowle þat were vegetable, Þe whiche, with-oute sensibilite, Mynystreth lyf in herbe, flour, and tre.
c. 1532. Du Wes, Introd. Fr., in Palsgr., 1053. In the whiche [body] our Lorde hath planted the soule vegetable by the whiche it groweth.
1610. Healey, St. Aug. Citie of God, XXII. iv. (1620), 821. The earth is full of vegetable soules, strangely combined with earthly bodies.
1610. Guillim, Heraldry, III. vi. (1611), 101. A vegetable Soul is a facultie or power that giueth life vnto bodies.
† c. Vegetable power, the principle of simple life and growth. Obs.
1601. Dolman, La Primaud. Fr. Acad. (1618), III. 672. The vegetable power common to men and plants.
1625. Hart, Anat. Ur., I. ii. 29. The state of the nourishing or vegetable power ouer the whole bodie.
† d. Vegetable stone, one of the three varieties of the philosophers’ stone, supposed to possess health-preserving properties. Obs.
After med.L. lapis vegetabilis: cf. Gower, Conf., II. 86.
1652. Ashmole, Theatr. Chem. Brit., Proleg. 7. By the Vegitable [Stone] may be perfectly known the Nature of Man.
2. Of or pertaining to, composed or consisting of, derived or obtained from, plants or their parts; of the nature of or resembling a vegetable. Freq. as contrasted with animal or mineral products.
a. Of material substances.
1582. Hester, Secr. Phiorav., I. xxxiii. 39. You shall giue them 2/3j of our Vegitabile Sirrup.
1594. Plat, Jewell-ho., I. 3. All sorts of soyle … do draw their generatiue & fructifying vertue from that vegetable salt.
1695. Woodward, Nat. Hist. Earth, II. (1723), 10. By Retrenching a considerable Quantity of the vegetable Matter.
1721. Mortimer, Husbandry, II. 207. Statues are a lasting Ornament when vegetable Ornaments are out of Season.
1725. Pope, Odyss., IV. 320. The direful bane Of vegetable venom.
1755. Dict. Arts & Sci., IV. 2679/1. Almost all concretes that abound either with mineral or vegetable sulphur.
1800. Hull Advertiser, 31 May, 2/2. The superiority of coal to vegetable tar.
1857. Miller, Elem. Chem., Org., ii. § 3. 84. The insoluble pectose contained in the vegetable tissue.
1875. Scrivener, Lect. Greek Test., 18. The ancient ink was purely vegetable, without any metallic base.
poet. 1667. Milton, P. L., IV. 220. And all amid them stood the Tree of Life, High eminent, blooming Ambrosial Fruit of vegetable Gold.
1820. Shelley, Prometh. Unb., III. iv. 110. My coursers sought their birthplace in the sun,… Pasturing flowers of vegetable fire.
1857. Emerson, Poems, 91. The zephyr in his garden rolled From plum-trees vegetable gold.
b. Of conditions, actions, qualities, etc.
1690. Locke, Hum. Und., II. xxvii. § 4. The wood, bark, and leaves, &c. of an oak, in which consists the vegetable life.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 178. My Song to flow’ry Gardens right extend, To teach the Vegetable Arts.
1712. Pope, Vertumnus & Pomona, 4. None taught the trees a nobler race to bear, Or more improv’d the vegetable care.
1733. Arbuthnot, Ess. Effects Air, i. 9. The Heat arising from vegetable Perspiration is very sensible in a hot Day near a Field of Corn.
1788. Gibbon, Decl. & F., I. V. 172. The lonesome traveller derives a sort of comfort and society from the presence of vegetable life.
1806. Med. Jrnl., XV. 571. The learned President begins this paper by a theory of animal and vegetable processes, deriving them … from fermentation.
1842. Loudon, Suburban Hort., 25. This short passage comprehends the essence of all that can be said on the subject of vegetable development.
1874. Spurgeon, Treas. David, Ps. xcii. 10. The brutish men grow with a sort of vegetable vigour of their own.
c. Of earth, mould, etc.: (see later quots.).
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist., I. vi. (1776), I. 55. In regions which are uninhabited,… where the forests are not cut down,… the bed of vegetable earth is constantly encreasing.
1812. New Botanic Gard., I. 53. Beds of light vegetable earth. Ibid. Good light vegetable mould.
1830. M. Donovan, Dom. Econ., I. 137. What remains, when the decomposition has totally broken down the structure of the vegetable, is a black pulverulent substance…. This constitutes what is called vegetable mould, and is also the chief ingredient in vegetable manure.
1855. Orr’s Circ. Sci., Inorg. Nat. 185. Whatever rocks may be composed of, they are sure to be covered, after a time, with debris,… until at last there is a covering of vegetable soil.
3. Vegetable creation, kingdom, world, etc., that division of organic nature to which plants belong.
1668. Cowley, Ess. Prose & Verse, Garden (1906), 427. Who would not joy to see his conquering hand Ore all the Vegetable World command?
1692–. [see KINGDOM 5].
1718. Prior, Solomon, I. 49. The Vegetable World, each Plant, and Tree,… I am allow’d, as Fame reports, to know.
1823. J. Badcock, Dom. Amusem., 206. This extends in more or less degree to every part of vegetable creation.
1843. Penny Cycl., XXVI. 180/2. The distinction given between the animal and vegetable kingdoms is the possession of sensation by the former.
1878. Huxley, Physiogr., 84. To supply the vegetable world with its carbon.
4. Of, composed or consisting of, made from, esculent vegetables.
1746. Francis, trans. Horace, Sat., II. v. 22. What your Garden yields,… To him be sacrific’d, and let him taste, Before your Gods, the vegetable Feast.
1789. W. Buchan, Dom. Med. (1790), 449. A milk and vegetable diet … will often perform a cure.
1842. Combe, Digestion, 305. Vegetable food and fruit might, with propriety, be used by the middle and richer classes in this country to a greater extent than it is.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Vegetable-soups, soups made with green pease, turnips, and carrots cut small, cabbages, &c.
5. Resembling that of a vegetable; esp. uneventful, featureless, monotonous, dull.
1854. J. S. C. Abbott, Napoleon (1855), II. ii. 46. The pauper peasantry, weary of a merely vegetable life, were glad of any pretext for excitement.
1874. Sayce, Compar. Philol. vii. 298. They had no occasion to mark the lapse of time in their monotonous and vegetable existence.
6. ellipt. Living on vegetables; vegetarian.
1812. Shelley, in Hogg, Life (1858), II. 197. I continue vegetable; Harriet means to be slightly animal, until the arrival of spring.
7. Special collocations.
Vegetable acid, an organic acid derived from a plant. Vegetable alkali (see quots. and ALKALI 3). Vegetable brimstone (see quot. and LYCOPODIUM 2). Vegetable butter (see quot. and BUTTER sb.1 3). Vegetable camel (see quot.). Vegetable casein, = LEGUMIN. Vegetable caterpillar, egg, ethiops, fire-cracker, flannel, † fly (see quots.). Vegetable gelatin: see GELATIN 1 b. Vegetable gold, † (a) saffron (Mayne, 1859); (b) an acid derived from the roots of the plant Trixis Pipizahuac (Treas. Bot., 1866). Vegetable hair, the long-beard, Tillandsia usneiodes (Ibid.). Vegetable horse-hair, the fiber of the leaves of the European palm Chamærops humilis (Ibid., Suppl., 1874). Vegetable ivory (see IVORY 2); also attrib. Vegetable jelly, = PECTIN. † Vegetable lamb: see LAMB sb. 5 c. Vegetable leather, the plant Euphorbia punicea (Treas. Bot., 1866). Vegetable marrow: see MARROW sb.1 3. Vegetable mummy: see MUMMY sb.1 2 c. Vegetable oyster: (a) U.S., salsify; (b) scorzonera. Vegetable parchment: see PARCHMENT sb. 1 b. Vegetable pear, the chocho (see PEAR sb. 3). Vegetable sheep, silk (see quots.). Vegetable sulphur, vegetable brimstone. Vegetable tallow, vellum (see quots.). Vegetable wax, a wax or wax-like substance obtained from plants or vegetable growths. Vegetable wool (see quot.).
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v. Alkaly, Since *Vegetable Acids are originally no other than Mineral ones.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 389. The acetous, and most other vegetable acids, have some action upon tin.
1892. Photogr. Ann., II. 684. Acids, including vegetable acids.
1778. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 2), III. 1809/1. The fixed kind are subdivided into … the *vegetable, and mineral or fossile alkali.
1796. Kirwan, Elem. Min. (ed. 2), II. 5. Of the fixed [alkalis] there are two species, the one generally afforded by the incineration of inland vegetables, and thence called the Vegetable Alkali.
1807. T. Thomson, Chem. (ed. 3), II. 588. Carbonate of Potash … was characterized by a great variety of names, according to the manner of preparing it; such as fixed nitre, salt of tartar, vegetable alkali.
1846. Lindley, Veget. Kingd., 70. The powder contained in the spore-cases of Lycopodium clavatum and Selago … is employed under the name of Lycopode, or *vegetable brimstone,… in the manufacture of fireworks, and … to roll up pills.
1836. Penny Cycl., VI. 68/2. *Vegetable butters, the name given to the concrete oil of certain vegetables, from its resemblance to the butter obtained from the milk of animals, and from being employed for similar purposes. The term is also occasionally, but improperly, applied to some vegetable products which are entirely of a waxy nature, such as the wax of the Myrica cerifera.
1845–50. Mrs. Lincoln, Lect. Bot., vi. 40. Some of them [plants] flourish in the most dry and sandy places, exposed to a burning sun; as the Stapelia, sometimes called the *vegetable camel.
1841. *Vegetable caseine [see CASEIN].
1889. E. Wakefield, New Zealand after 50 Yrs., 81. The aweto, or *vegetable-caterpillar, called by the naturalists Hipialis virescens.… For some inexplicable reason, the spore of a vegetable fungus Sphæria Robertsii, fixes itself on its neck…, takes root and grows vigorously.
1866. Treas. Bot., 1018/2. S[apota] mammosa … yields the Marmalade fruit sometimes called the *Vegetable Egg.
1823. J. Badcock, Dom. Amusem., 26. Of ivory shavings, sponge, and the *vegetable æthiops, bladerwrack, is charcoal also made.
1860. Ure, Dict. Arts (ed. 5), III. 949. Vegetable ethiops, a charcoal prepared by the incineration in a covered crucible of the fucus vesiculosus, or common sea wrack.
1874. Treas. Bot., Suppl. 1350/2. *Vegetable firecracker, Brodiæa coccinea.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2695/1. *Vegetable-flannel, a fabric made of a fine fiber obtained from the leaves of the Pinus sylvestris. Pine-wool.
1763. Phil. Trans., LIII. 271. The *vegetable fly is found in the island Dominica, and (excepting that it has no wings) resembles the drone both in size and colour more than any other English insect. In the month of May it buries itself in the earth, and begins to vegetate.
1842–. *Vegetable ivory [see IVORY 2].
1880. C. R. Markham, Peruv. Bark, 219. A hut was made among vegetable-ivory palms.
1885. Lady Brassey, The Trades, 109. The vegetable-ivory plant (Phytelephas macrocarpa) … attracted a large share of attention.
1826. Henry, Elem. Chem., II. 194. *Vegetable jelly, unless when tinged by the fruit from which it has been obtained, is nearly colourless.
1857. Miller, Elem. Chem., Org., ii. § 3. 83. Vegetable Jelly (formerly called pectin).
1845–50. Mrs. Lincoln, Lect. Bot., 185. Such [compound flowers] as have ligulate forets; as the dandelion, lettuce, and *vegetable-oyster.
1859. Bartlett, Dict. Amer. (ed. 2), 307. Oyster-plant, salsify…, so called from its resemblance in taste, when cooked, to the oyster. It is also called the Vegetable Oyster.
1882. The Garden, 11 Nov., 425/3. Salsafy and Scorzonera. Those fond of using pet names often call one or other of these the … ‘vegetable oyster.’
1866. Treas. Bot., 959/1. The name of *Vegetable Sheep (!) is given by the settlers in New Zealand to R[aoulia) eximia, because, from its growing in large white tufts on elevated sheep-runs, it may be readily mistaken for the sheep.
1895. in Morris, Austral Engl. (1898), 246/2. There is in the Alpine regions of the South Island a plant popularly called the ‘vegetable sheep,’ botanically named Raoulia.
1853. T. C. Archer, Pop. Econ. Bot., 181. *Vegetable silk.
1866. Treas. Bot., Vegetable Silk, a cotton-like material obtained from the seed-pods of Chorisia speciosa.
1855. Ogilvie, Suppl., 402/2. *Vegetable sulphur, a powder obtained from the theca of … common club moss [etc.].
1846. Foreign Q. Rev., April, 88. Among the exports of Borneo … [are] *vegetable tallow,… coffee [etc.].
1866. Treas. Bot., 1206. Vegetable tallow, a fatty substance obtained from Stillingia sebifera, Vatoria indica, and other plants.
1888. Jacobi, Printers’ Vocab., 151. *Vegetable vellum, Japanese vellum-paper specially prepared to imitate vellum.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 495. In China and in North America, wax is obtained directly from plants, and is then called *vegetable-wax.
1843. Penny Cycl., XXVI. 180/1. Myrica quercifolia, a native of the Cape of Good Hope, is another species which yields a vegetable wax.
1853. T. C. Archer, Pop. Econ. Bot., 281. Vegetable Wax (South American). Ibid., 282. Vegetable Wax, or Myrtle Wax (of North America).
1884. Chambers’s Jrnl., 8 March, 146/2. The prepared fibre of this plant [Neilgherry nettle] is sometimes called *Vegetable wool.
b. In the names of pigments, as vegetable black, blue, etc.
1807. T. Thomson, Chem. (ed. 3), II. 174. This acid reddens vegetable blues, and gradually destroys the greater number of them.
1875. Bedford, Sailor’s Pocket Bk., x. (ed. 2), 365. Vegetable Black.—This is the cheapest and best black for all ordinary work.
