chicory
(ˈtʃɪkərɪ)
Forms: 5–6 cicoree, 6 cykory, -ie, sichorie, 6–7 cycory, -ie, cichorie, 7 cicory, 7–8 cichory, (9 chiccory, 7– chicory). See also succory.
[a. F. cichorée (now chicorée) endive, chicory (= It. cicórea) :— L. cichorium, cichorēum, ad. Gr. κίχορα, κιχόρεια (neut. pl.) succory, endive.
In 16th c. French (Littré) and in Cotgrave cichorée is the main form, chicorée occasional: the former was noted and condemned by Marg. Buffet 1668, and Ménage 1672, and is now obsolete; in English also chicory began to supersede cichory in the 17–18th c.]
1. The plant Cichorium Intybus (family Compositæ), with bright blue flowers, found wild in the south of England, and elsewhere in Europe and Asia, and cultivated in various parts for its root.
| [1393 Gower Conf. III. 132 Thilke herbe also..Cicorea the boke him calleth.] a 1450 Alphita (Anecd. Oxon.) 53 Eleutropia..angl. et gall. cicoree. 1533 Elyot Cast. Helthe (1541) 28 b, Cykorie or suckorie is lyke in operation to lettise. 1579 Langham Gard. Health (1633) 142 Decoction, or powder of Cicory or Endiue. 1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, De la Cichorée, Sichorie, an herb. 1605 Timme Quersit. ii. vii. 140 Opium and cichory. Ibid. iii. 172 The flowers of chicory, commonly called suckary. 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 249 Cichory and Dandelion have some of the same Qualities. 1792 A. Young Trav. France 113 The most interesting circumstance of their farms is the chicory. 1806–7 ― Agric. Essex. (1813) I. 8 Chicory is indigenous in every lane and on the borders of most of the fields. 1859 Loudon Encycl. Garden. iii. iii. vii. §3 The succory, or chiccory, is a hardy perennial not uncommon in calcareous wastes and by road sides. 1860 Delamer Kitch. Gard. 109. |
2. The root of this plant ground and roasted as an addition to, or substitute for, coffee.
| [1805 Hatchett in Phil. Trans. XCV. 301 A sort of coffee prepared from the chicorée (I suppose endive) root..was given me by Sir Joseph Banks.] 1853 A. Soyer Pantroph. 270 Chicory, or succory, is received under the mask of coffee. 1872 Oliver Elem. Bot. ii. 199 Chicory, the kiln-dried, and then roasted and powdered root of Cichorium Intybus, used extensively to mix with coffee. Mod. In compliance with the Adulteration Act, this is ‘sold as a mixture of Chicory and Coffee’. |
3. Comb., as chicory-maker, chicory-paste, chicory-root.
| 1543 Traheron Vigo's Chirurg. ii. iii. 17 At the begynnynge of dynner he shall eate cicoree rootes and leaves sodden. 1855 J. F. W. Johnston Chem. Com. Life I. 218 The chicory-maker adulterates his chicory with Venetian red. 1862 G. J. Whyte-Melville Queen's Maries (1866) 67 For the dessert, seven dishes of fruit, and one of chicory-paste. |