Etymology : alteration of earlier tomate, from Spanish, from Nahuatl tomatl
Pronunciation : t&-mA-(")tO;
chiefly Br
Function : noun
Date : 1604
1. type of red edible fruit that is eaten as a vegetable; plant that bears tomatoes; (Canadian and American slang) woman, girl. tomato\to*ma"to\ , n.; pl. tomatoes (#). [sp. or pg. tomate, of american indian origin; cf. mexican tomail.] (bot.) the fruit of a plant of the nightshade family (lycopersicum esculentun); also, the plant itself. the fruit, which is called also love apple, is usually of a rounded, flattened form, but often irregular in shape. it is of a bright red or yellow color, and is eaten either cooked or uncooked.tomato gall (zo?l.), a large gall consisting of a mass of irregular swellings on the stems and leaves of grapevines. they are yellowish green, somewhat tinged with red, and produced by the larva of a small two-winged fly (lasioptera vitis).tomato sphinx (zo?l.), the adult or imago of the tomato worm. it closely resembles the tobacco hawk moth. called also tomato hawk moth. see:
illust. of hawk moth.tomato worm (zo?l.), the larva of a large hawk moth (sphinx, or macrosila, quinquemaculata) which feeds upon the leaves of the tomato and potato plants, often doing considerable damage. called also potato worm.tomato n.
2. mildly acid red or yellow pulpy fruit eaten as a vegetable.
3. native to south america; widely cultivated in many varieties [syn: love apple, tomato plant, lycopersicon esculentum ].
4. The fruit of a plant of the Nightshade family ; also, the plant itself.
5. The fruit, which is called also love apple, is usually of a rounded, flattened form, but often irregular in shape.
6. It is of a bright red or yellow color, and is eaten either cooked or uncooked. mildly acid red or yellow pulpy fruit eaten as a vegetable native to South America; widely cultivated in many varieties.
7. Tomatoes are small, soft, red fruit that you can eat raw in salads or cooked as a vegetable. Any fruit of the numerous cultivated varieties of Lycopersicon esculentum, a plant of the nightshade family. The plant is generally much branched and has hairy, strongly odorous, feathery leaves. The drooping, clustered, yellow flowers are followed by red, scarlet, or yellow fruits, which hang from the many branches of one weak stem. The tomato fruit varies in shape from spherical to elongate and in size from 0.6 in. (1.5 cm) across to more than 3 in. (7.5 cm) across. The Spanish were bringing tomatoes from South America to Europe by the early 16th century; they were introduced to North America from Europe by the 1780s. Tomatoes are used raw, cooked as a vegetable or puree, and pickled, canned, and sun-dried. The term also applies to the fruit of L. pimpinelli folium, the tiny currant tomato.