▪ I. carrot, n.
(ˈkærət)
Forms: 6 caret, carete, carette, carot, carote, carotte, 6–7 carret, 7 carrat, carroote, 7– carrot.
[a. F. carotte:—L. carōta; ad. Gr. καρωτόν ? f. κάρᾱ head, top. (Cf. κεϕαλωτόν, headed, said of plants, as garlic.)]
1. An umbelliferous plant (Daucus Carota) having a large, tapering root, which in cultivation is bright red, fleshy, sweet, and edible.
| 1538 Turner Libellus, Daucus creticus..mihi uidetur anglis esse, Wylde carot. 1548 ― Names of Herbes 60 Carettes growe in al countreis in plentie. 1565–78 Cooper Thesaur., Carota..the wilde caret. 1794 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xvii. 232 Carrot has a large winged involucre. 1832 Veg. Subst. Food 237 Unsuccessful attempts to change by culture the wild carrot into the esculent one. |
2. a. Usually, the edible root itself.
fig. (with allusion to the proverbial method of tempting a donkey to move by dangling a carrot before it) an enticement, a promised or expected reward;
freq. contrasted with ‘stick’ (
= punishment) as the alternative.
| 1533 Elyot Cast. Helthe (1541) 28 Parsnepes and carettes..do nourishe with better iuyce than the other rootes. 1634 Althorp MS. in Simpkinson Washingtons Introd. 26 Parsenipps and carrootes. 1776 Johnson in Boswell (1887) II. 439 You would not value the finest head cut upon a carrot. 1783 Cowper Epit. Hare, Slic'd carrot pleas'd him well. 1832 Veg. Subst. Food 244 The quantity of nutritive matter..in the whole weight of carrot, being 98 parts in 1000. 1895 Westm. Gaz. 24 Aug. 2/2 Among other carrots dangled before the electors last month was Bimetallism. 1916 E. W. Gregory Furnit. Collector 228 The spectacle of an otherwise intellectual individual engaged in trying to plumb the depths of duplicity to which dealers can descend in faking old furniture is like that of the donkey pressing eagerly forward after the dangling carrot. It would..be very pleasant to possess the carrot of complete knowledge, but the conditions render it impossible. 1948 Economist 11 Dec. 957/2 The material shrinkage of rewards and the lightening of penalties, the whittling away of stick and carrot. 1954 J. A. C. Brown Social Psychol. of Industry i. 15 The tacit implication that..most men..are..solely motivated by fear or greed (a motive now described as ‘the carrot or the stick’). 1963 Listener 21 Feb. 321/2 Once Gomulka had thrown away the stick of collectivization, he was compelled to rely on the carrot of a price system favourable to the peasant. |
b. Something shaped like a carrot; a plug. Chiefly
U.S.| 1646 J. Temple Irish Rebell. 106 The Rebels..put a gag or carret in the said Master Bingham's mouth. 1808 Pike Sources Mississ. i. 17, I..presented him with two carrots of tobacco. 1857 Trans. Ill. Agric. Soc. II. 360 The creoles manufactured the tobacco into carrots, as they were called. A carrot is a roll of tobacco twelve or fifteen inches long, and three or four inches in diameter at the middle of the roll, and tapered towards each end. 1890 Congress. Rec. 27 Aug. 9213/2, I have here some carots [sic] of Cuban tobacco. |
3. pl. Applied humorously or derisively to ‘red’ or ‘carroty’ hair, or to one who has such hair. (In the latter case used like a proper name.)
| c 1685 Yng. Man's Counsellour, Roxb. Ball. II. 559 The Carrots I'd like to forgot, which is the worst colour of all. 1685 S. Wesley Maggots 57 The Ancients..Pure Carrots call'd pure threads of beaten gold. 1690 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Carrots, Red hair'd People. 1775 Sheridan Rivals i. i, Jack Gauge, the exciseman, has ta'en to his carrots. 1876 M. L. Molesworth (title) ‘Carrots,’ Just a little boy. |
4. attrib. or as adj. = carroty. ?
Obs.| 1671 Glanvill Disc. M. Stubbe 28 If I had said your head was Red, I had not been such a Liar neither; it was direct Carrot. c 1680 Roxburgh Ball. (1886) VI. 219 The Carrot pate be sure you hate, for she'l be true to no man. 1710 Palmer Proverbs 114 To picture Judas with..a squint eye..a carrot beard. 1877 Blackie Wise Men 95 The roving Scythian, with his carrot curls. |
5. Comb., as
carrot-coloured,
carrot-eating,
carrot-headed,
carrot-pated adjs.,
carrot-fly,
carrot-poultice,
carrot-root,
carrot-seed;
carrot (rust) fly, a small fly (
Psila rosæ) whose larva feeds mainly on carrots;
carrot-tree, an umbelliferous shrub (
Monizia edulis) with an edible root, found in Deserta Grande, an uninhabited island
S.E. of Madeira.
| a 1659 Cleveland Smectymn. 63 Robson and French..May tire their *Carret-Bunch. |
| 1684 Lond. Gaz. No. 1935/4 A *Carrot coloured Beard and Hair. |
| 1672 Davenant News fr. Plymouth (1673) 13 These *Carrot-eating Dutch. |
| 1840 J. & M. Loudon tr. Kollar's Treat. Insects ii. 161 The larva of the *carrot-fly is cylindrical. 1882 Garden 1 Apr. 219/1 The Carrot fly (Psila rosæ) is one of the true flies. 1951 Colyer & Hammond Flies Brit. Isles xv. 197 The common Carrot Fly or Carrot-rust Fly, an agricultural pest of some significance. |
| 1719 D'Urfey Pills II. 323 Confound the *Carrot Pated Jade. |
| 1808 Med. Jrnl. XIX. 349 The *carrot poultice..would perhaps be useful. |
| 1595 Househ. Bk. Earl Cumbrld in Whitaker Hist. Craven (1812) 320 Pd. for vi cabishes, and some *caret roots bought at Hull, 11s. 1831 J. Davies Manual Mat. Med. 187 Carrot Root..has been employed in decoction as a stimulant. |
| 1832 Veg. Subst. Food 242 *Carrot-seed is raised..in Essex. |
| 1866 Treas. Bot. II. 750 The *Carrot-tree, has a crooked woody stem one to four feet high..The orchil-gatherers and fishermen..eat the roots. |
▪ II. carrot, v. (
ˈkærət)
[f. the n., from the yellow colour imparted to the fur.] trans. To treat (fur) with nitrate of mercury (see
quot. 1906).
Cf. carroting vbl. n. and
secretage.
| 1862 Chambers's Encycl. IV. 560/1 Furs have their felting property sometimes increased by the process of carroting, in which the action of heat is combined with that of sulphuric acid. 1879 Encycl. Brit. IX. 837/1 Furs..of the hare and the rabbit,..dressed, carroted, and cut from the skin. 1906 Watson Smith Chem. Hat Manuf. 17 The sécretage or ‘carrotting’ process..consists in a treatment with a solution of mercuric nitrate in nitric acid, in order to improve the felting qualities of the fur. |