cabbage
part of speech
noun (a cabbage, cabbages; cabbage — uncountable as food)
meaning for a pupil
1) A cabbage is a round vegetable made of tightly packed green, white or purple leaves. tree →
2) Cabbage is the leaves of this plant eaten as food. tree →
3) (rude, UK slang) Calling someone a cabbage means they seem dull or unable to think or move. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science lessons red cabbage juice is used as an indicator: it changes colour in acids and alkalis. In healthy eating lessons cabbage is a vegetable full of vitamins. In everyday life it is used in coleslaw, sauerkraut and soups. In gardening, caterpillars eat cabbage leaves.
examples
- We grew cabbages in the school garden. tree →
- Red cabbage juice turns pink in vinegar. tree →
- Coleslaw is made with cabbage and carrot. tree →
- Caterpillars made holes in the cabbage leaves. tree →
- Nan cooked cabbage with the roast. tree →
- A cabbage weighs about a kilogram. tree →
- (rude) «Stop sitting there like a cabbage!» tree →
- See these lovely cabbages and these fresh herbs! tree →
note
Countable for the whole vegetable (two cabbages), uncountable for the food (some cabbage). Spelling: double b, ends in -age. Calling a person a cabbage is unkind.
In the corpora
- Chop red cabbage, soak it in hot water, and you get a purple juice.
- The colour substance in red cabbage changes shape at different pH, and each shape has a different colour.
- Blueberries hold the same kind of colour substance as red cabbage, so too much baking soda in the batter turns them greenish.
- "Found under a cabbage leaf" is a jokey story told to small children about where babies come from (UK).
- vareNYky are dumplings filled with potato, cheese, cabbage or cherries, often made together at the table; cherry vareNYky are sweet.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «cabbage» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.