Webster's English Dictionary

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vegetable

1. veg.e.ta.ble \'vej-t*-b*l, 'vej-*t-*-\ aj [ME, fr. ML vegetabilis 
   vegetative, fr. vegetare to grow, fr. L, to] animate, fr. vegetus lively, 
   fr. vege-re to rouse, excite - more at WAKE 1a: of, relating to, 
   constituting, or growing like plants  1b: consisting of plants : 
   VEGETATIONAL  2: made or obtained from plants or plant products {~ silk}  
   3: resembling or suggesting a plant (as in monotony of existence) 
2. vegetable n 1: PLANT  2: a usu. herbaceous plant grown for an edible 
   part which is usu. eaten wit h the principal part of a meal; also : such 
   edible part 3: a human being having a dull or merely physical existence