▪ I. cauliflower, n.
(ˈkɒlɪflaʊə(r))
Forms: α. 6 colieflorie, 6–7 cole-flory, -florie, 7 coly-flory, coley-florey, colliflory. β. 7 coleflower, colly-flowre, coly-, cauly-, caully-, cawly-flower, 7–8 collyflower, colliflower, 8– cauliflower.
[The 16th c. cole-florye, colie-florie, was app. corrupted from the mod.L. cauli-flōra or F. chou-flori, chou-fleuri, assimilated to Eng. cole. (The L. and F. both mean ‘flowered cole or cabbage’: cf. Ger. blumenkohl, Du. bloemkool ‘flower-cole’. Cf. also It. cavolfiore, pl. cavoli (caoli) fiori, Sp. coliflor. The later colly-flower and cauliflower are assimilated to flower, and to the L. cauliflora. So mod.F. has made chou-fleuri into chou-fleur ‘cole-flower’.]
1. a. One of the cultivated varieties of the cabbage (Brassica oleracea botrytis cauliflora), the young inflorescence of which forms a close fleshy white edible head.
| α 1597 Gerard Herbal xxxvi. 246 Cole Florie, or after some Colieflorie. Ibid. 316 Cole-flory is called in Latin Cauliflora. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 26 There grow out of the same coleworte other fine colliflories (if I may so say). 1610 W. Folkingham Art of Survey i. xi. 37 The Coley⁓florey, Rape-cole, Muske-melon. 1620 Venner Via Recta (1650) 186 Cole-florie exceedeth all the other kinds of Cole⁓worts. 1621–6 Bacon Sylva § 484 Lettuce, or Coleflory, or Artichoake. 1659 R. Lovell Herbal 104 Cole-florie. |
| β 1621 G. Sandys Ovid's Met. viii. (1626) 167 Her husband gathers coleflowrs, with their leaues. 1634 Althorp MS. in Simpkinson Washingtons Introd. 24 For 20 collyflowres oo 13 oo. 1647 R. Stapylton Juvenal 70 What smells oth' lampe dawbes thy pale colyflowers. 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1729) 190 Early Cauly-flower. Ibid. 212 Sow..Cawly-flowers for Winter Plants. 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 64/2 The Cole-flower or Colliflower. 1734 Mrs. Pendarves in Mrs. Delany's Corr. (1861) I. 478 For dinner..boiled leg of lamb and loin fried, collyflowers and carrots. 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. (L.) They scarce know a crab from a cauliflower. 1769 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. (1778) 353 Take the closest and whitest colly⁓flowers you can get. 1832 Veg. Subst. Food 265 The Cauliflower..brought into England from the island of Cyprus. |
b. Pottery made in the form of a cauliflower. Also
attrib.| 1757 Pub. Advert. 12 Apr. 4/1 To be Sold by Auction..Melons, Colliflowers [i.e., made in porcelain]. 1879 Lady C. Schreiber Jrnl. (1911) II. 217 The charming teapot of cauliflower ware, all embossed with pastoral objects. 1961 Connoisseur New Guide to Antique Eng. Pott., Porc. & Glass 37 [Wedgwood's] famous ‘cauliflower’ and ‘pineapple’ wares (teapots and so forth made in these forms). |
c. transf. A thing which resembles a cauliflower in shape.
| 1803 R. Couper Tourifications II. xiv. 101 The cheering cauliflower [of froth] of her tight home-brewed ale. 1819 Keats Party of Lovers 15 Romeo! Arise, take snuffers by the handle, There's a large cauliflower in each candle. 1864 C. M. Yonge Trial II. xiii. 241 Marvellous adornments of their woolly locks, wigged out sometimes into huge cauliflowers whitened with coral lime. 1892 Daily News 31 May 2/3 A tiny fan of black lace with a ‘cauliflower’ of yellow baby ribbon. 1904 Amer. Jrnl. Sci. Jan. 34 The reddish dust ‘cauliflowers’ accumulated about every half-hour and rolled down the gorge of the Rivière Blanche from the cone. |
2. attrib. and
Comb., as
cauliflower-like adj.;
cauliflower cheese, a savoury of which the principal ingredients are cauliflower and cheese;
cauliflower ear, an ear (as of a boxer) thickened and distorted by blows;
cf. cauliflower v. 2;
cauliflower excrescence,
growth (
Pathol.), terms applied to natural or morbid growths that are developed in the form of a stem with branches and branchlets all closely applied to each other or crowded,
e.g. acinous glands, villous tumours, etc.;
cauliflower wig, a wig supposed to resemble a cauliflower.
| 1940 M. Dickens Mariana v. 142 Mary..bought..a cauliflower, which she made into a *cauliflower cheese for supper. 1953 E. Taylor Sleeping Beauty i. 6 Some dreary woman's meal—cauliflower-cheese, he thought. |
| [1907 Wodehouse White Feather v. 56 My right ear feels like a cauliflower. Does it look rum?] 1909 Sat. Even. Post 1 May 31/2 It was the ‘*cauliflower ear’ of pugilism. 1923 Wodehouse Good Morning, Bill! iii, Tell me, doc..have you ever seen a cauliflower ear? 1965 G. Melly Owning-up v. 47 Bouncers with cauliflower ears circling the dance-floor in evening dress. |
| 1882 Daily Tel. 10 Oct. 5/4 This gave the porter a fine frothy or *cauliflower head. |
| 1873 C. H. Ralfe Physiol. Chem. 8 The crystals..are arranged in *cauliflower-like groups consisting of oblique prisms. 1936 E. Sitwell Victoria xxii. 269 Bunched cauliflower-like dresses. |
| 1832 Veg. Subst. Food 266 *Cauliflower seed obtained from England is the most esteemed in Holland. |
| 1753 London Mag. (Fairholt), [Names of wigs] The pigeon's wing, the comet, the *cauliflower, etc. 1833 A. Fonblanque Eng. under 7 Admin. (1837) II. 382 He [a Bishop] had cauliflower wig, apron, shovel hat. 1882 Daily Tel. 6 Sept. 5/4 Under the good Queen Anne the ‘cauliflower’ wig came into clerical fashion. |
▪ II. ˈcauliflower, v. [f. prec. n.] 1. trans. ? To powder (a wig).
rare| 1799 Southey Nondescr. vi, Some Barber's leathern powder-bag Wherewith he feathers, frosts, or cauliflowers Spruce Beau, or Lady fair, or Doctor grave. 1845 Ld. Campbell Chancellors (1857) III. lii. 249 To trim the whole Chapter and to cauliflower their wigs. |
2. To disfigure (an ear),
esp. in boxing. Usu. in
pass. or as
ppl. adj. cauliflowered.
| 1947 Time 27 Jan. 60/2 His dress was sharp..his ears cauliflowered. 1959 Times 6 May 4/7 We may get [by substitution]..a heavy-weight boxer being pulled out in the sixth round for some cauliflowered brother. 1961 Guardian 26 Jan. 9/2 Mr. Condon's cauliflowered features identified him as a retired boxer. |