ASPARAGUS • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Asparagus

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/əspˈɛrəgəs/ Listen

noun

Asparagus n.

(Bot.) A genus of perennial plants belonging to the natural order Liliaceae, and having erect much branched stems, and very slender branchlets which are sometimes mistaken for leaves. Asparagus racemosus is a shrubby climbing plant with fragrant flowers. Specifically: The Asparagus officinalis, a species cultivated in gardens.

The young and tender shoots of Asparagus officinalis, which form a valuable and well-known article of food. Note: This word was formerly pronounced sparrowgrass; but this pronunciation is now confined exclusively to uneducated people.

Asparagus beetle (Zool.), a small beetle (Crioceris asparagi) injurious to asparagus.

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Etymology of 'Asparagus'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Asparagus" Quotes from Famous Books

... of etiquette. Even a shilling book on the science failed to state the interval that should elapse between the death of one wife and the negotiations for another. It preferred instead to give minute instructions with regard to the eating of asparagus. In this dilemma he ...

— Deep Waters, The Entire Collection • W.W. Jacobs

... quick growth; and, when deprived of their acrimony by boiling, are an agreeable article of food. The Hop-tops are in common use. I have eaten the tops of white Bryony, Bryonia alba, and found them nearly as grateful as Asparagus, and think this plant might be profitably cultivated as an early garden-vegetable. The Tamus (called black Bryony), was less agreeable to the taste ...

— The Botanic Garden. Part II. - Containing The Loves of the Plants. A Poem. - With Philosophical Notes. • Erasmus Darwin

... London is often beautiful in summer at that hour, the architectural lines clear and defined in the smokeless atmosphere, and ever and anon a fragrant gale from gardened balconies wafted in the blue air. Nothing is stirring except wagons of strawberries and asparagus, and no one visible except a policeman or a member of Parliament returning from a late division, where they have settled some great question that need never have been asked. Eve has its spell of calmness and consolation, but ...

— Lothair • Benjamin Disraeli

... I have said enough to cause my lady readers to wish that the time may not be far distant when they may, like ourselves,—for we did all sorts of "odd jobs" in our garden,—cut their own asparagus, and assist in gathering their ...

— Our Farm of Four Acres and the Money we Made by it • Miss Coulton

... is," said John Coulson. "There he is now prowling round his asparagus beds. He's probably got his eye ...

— 'Lizbeth of the Dale • Marian Keith

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