Definition of "vegetable" []

• A plant cultivated for an edible part, such as the root of the beet, the leaf of spinach, or the flower buds of broccoli or cauliflower. (noun)
• The edible part of such a plant. (noun)
• A member of the vegetable kingdom; a plant. (noun)
• Offensive Slang One who is severely impaired mentally and physically, as by brain injury or disease. (noun)
• One who is regarded as dull, passive, or unresponsive. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "(In fact, it's the No. 2 vegetable in the land, after potatoes, though iceberg has so few nutrients the term vegetable is largely a courtesy.)"
• "It is his theory that all medicinal virtues are comprised within those substances which we term vegetable poisons."
• "The term 'vegetable' is more generally used of other edible parts of plants, such as cabbage leaves, celery stalks, and potato tubers, which are not strictly the fruit of the plant from which they come."