ˈrapeseed
[f. rape n.5 Cf. Du. raapzaad.]
The seed of the rape (esp. Brassica campestris oleifera), used chiefly for the production of oil.
| 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 29 b, Amongest the Winter seedes, Rape seed dooth chalenge his place, whiche I take to be the seede of the Rape which Plinie maketh for his third kinde. 1634–5 Brereton Trav. (Chetham Soc.) 44 A..mill-stone, upon which the rape-seed being thrown was ground. 1712 tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 10 The seed of a Kind of wild Colly-flower, which they call..Rape-seed. 1812 Sir J. Sinclair Syst. Husb. Scot. i. Add. 4 As rape-seed is so much larger than turnip-seed, the drill should be wider. 1842 J. Bischoff Woollen Manuf. II. 90 There is another oil made from rapeseed, also used in the coarse woollen manufacture. |
b. Used as a name for the plant itself (cf. coleseed). Now rare.
| c 1532 G. Du Wes Introd. Fr. in Palsgr. 915 Rape side, nauette. 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. ii. 180 Wilde Turnep is called in Latine Rapistrum..in English Rape, and Rape seed. 1666 in F. L. Hawks Hist. N. Carolina (1858) II. 39 The meadows are very proper for rice, rape-seed, linseed, &c. 1766 Museum Rust. VI. 272 note, The common rape-seed is a wild species..called in authors Bunias and Napus sylvestris. 1865 tr. Erckman-Chatrian's Waterloo 141 And these rape seed,..this colza,..how they all are at work, living and growing. |
c. attrib., as rapeseed-cake, rapeseed-oil, rapeseed stubble.
| 1634–5 Brereton Trav. (Chetham Soc.) 177 The rape-seed cakes I observed laid up. 1816 J. Smith Panorama Sc. & Art II. 638 Its seed..by expression yields an oil called rapeseed-oil. 1840 J. Buel Farmer's Companion 118 To sow a green crop..in the rape-seed stubble. 1854 Simmonds Comm. Products Veg. Kingd. v. 564 The export of linseed and rapeseed cakes from Stettin. |