vegetable lamb

English

WOTD – 4 July 2017
An artist’s conception of a vegetable lamb, originally from a 1696 work.[1]

Etymology

A shortened version of vegetable lamb of Tartary.

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌvɛdʒtəbəl ˈlam/
  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˌvɛdʒtəbəl ˈlæm/, /ˌvɛtʃ-/, /ˌvɛdʒətəbəl ˈlæm/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -æm
  • Hyphenation: vege‧ta‧ble lamb

Noun

vegetable lamb (plural vegetable lambs)

  1. (mythology) A legendary plant believed to grow sheep from its branches.
    Synonym: barometz

Translations

References

  1. Henry Lee (1887) The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary: A Curious Fable of the Cotton Plant; to which is Added a Sketch of the History of Cotton and the Cotton Trade, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington, OCLC 51362733, redrawn from Joanne Zahn [Johannes Zahn] (1696) Specula Physico-Mathematico-Historica Notabilium Ac Mirabilium Sciendorum, Nuremberg: Literis Knorzianis Norimbergae Lochner, OCLC 828781579.

Further reading

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