celery
(ˈsɛlərɪ)
Also 7 cellery, 7–8 selleri, -y, 8 sallary, -ery, celeri.
[a. F. céleri (not in Cotgr.), according to Littré a. dial. It. sellari, pl. of sellaro (Brescian ˈseleno, literary It. ˈsedano), repr. Gr. σέλινον parsley.]
1. An umbelliferous plant (Apium graveolens) cultivated for the use of its blanched stalks as a salad and vegetable; in its wild form (smallage) indigenous in some parts of England.
| 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1669) 34 February, Sow in the beginning..Sellery. 1673 Ray Journ. Low C. 406 (Italian food) Selleri..the young shoots whereof they eat raw with oyl and pepper. 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 256 Parsley and Celery both contain a pungent Salt and Oil. 1753 Hanway Trav. (1762) I. iv. lvii. 263 Poor devotees, who..subsist upon wild sallary. 1832 Veg. Subst. Food 190 Celery..in its wild state..known by the name of smallage. 1872 Oliver Elem. Bot. ii. 183 Celery..is only wholesome when blanched. |
attrib.
| 1719 London & Wise Compl. Gard. 203 We earth our Cellery Plants quite up, with Earth taken from the high⁓rais'd Path-ways. 1858 Wood Homes without H. xiv. 299 Of the Diptera the Celery Fly (Tephritis onopordinis) is a good example. 1882 Garden 14 Jan. 23/3 For beauty of barring the Celery fly may compare with most. |
2. Comb. celery pine, (also celery-leaved, -topped, or -top pine), any Australasian tree of the genus Phyllocladus, in which the upper part of the branchlets resembles the foliage of the celery; celery salt, a mixture of ground celery seed and salt used for seasoning; celery seed (see quot. 1964).
| 1827, etc. [see pine n.2 2 a]. 1851 Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib. iv. i. 944 Celery-topped pine (Phyllocladus asplenifolia) of Tasmania. Ibid., Celery pine slab (Phyllocladus aspleniifolia), squared. 1861 Mrs. Beeton Househ. Managem. 189 Celery Vinegar..1/4 oz. of celery seed, 1 pint of vinegar. 1883 [see tanekaha]. 1889 T. Kirk Forest Flora N.Z. 9 The tanekaha is one of the remarkable ‘celery-topped pines’. 1897 Sears, Roebuck Catal. 13/2 Celery Salt..4 oz. sifting top bottles. 1927 Blackw. Mag. Oct. 464/1 Graceful featherwoods and celery-top pines. 1964 R. Hemphill Spice & Savour (1965) 99 Celery seed is the dried fruit of the celery plant. 1964 R. Hemphill Spice & Savour (1965) 99 Commercial celery salt is flavoured with ground celery seed, or with ground dried celery stems. |