‖ kohlrabi, kohl-rabi
(kəʊlˈrɑːbɪ)
Also erron. khol-.
[G. kohlrabi (also formerly kol-, kal(i)-, kaulirabi, and dial. koll(e)râwî) 16th c. ad. It. cavoli (or cauli) rape, pl. of cavolo rapa (F. chou-rave) ‘cole-rape’; the first element being assimilated to G. kohl (earlier ad. L. caulis, cole n.1).]
A cabbage with a turnip-shaped stem, varieties of which are cultivated as food for cattle in England, and as a vegetable in India and Germany; the turnip-cabbage.
| 1807 Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 191 The khol rabi, or above ground turnip cabbage. 1808 J. C. Curwen Hints Econ. Feeding 50 The ground was cropped with..one [acre] of kohlrabi. 1851 Stephens Bk. of Farm (ed. 2) II. 88/2 Two varieties of Kohl rabi are cultivated—the green and the purple. 1887 Times (weekly ed.) 9 Sept. 17/1 A large breadth of kohl-rabi, which was a fair plant. 1899 Rider Haggard in Longm. Mag. 512 The kohlrabi are coming up on the new-drained field. |