Bot. Also as pl. [L. sobolēs, subolēs, f. sub under + *olēre to grow.]
† 1. A shoot, a sprout. Obs.
a. 1722. Lisle, Husb. (1757), 160. I … observed a new pearly brood of soboles at the root of the said winter-shoot. Ibid., 286. Through the center of which tufts the new soboles are formed, and issue out.
2. A creeping underground stem.
1832. Lindley, Introd. Bot., 55. The Creeping stem … (soboles). [Ibid., 56. The term soboles is applied by Link and De Candolle to the sucker of trees and shrubs.]
1858. A. Irvine, Handbk. Brit. Plants, 7. The soboles is entirely underground, producing roots at one end, and leaves at the other.
