Definition of Onion

1. Noun. The bulb of an onion plant.

Group relationships: Allium Cepa, Onion Plant
Generic synonyms: Bulb

2. Noun. Bulbous plant having hollow leaves cultivated worldwide for its rounded edible bulb.

3. Noun. An aromatic flavorful vegetable.

Definition of Onion

1. n. A liliaceous plant of the genus Allium (A. cepa), having a strong-flavored bulb and long hollow leaves; also, its bulbous root, much used as an article of food. The name is often extended to other species of the genus.

Definition of Onion

1. Noun. A monocotyledonous plant of genus ''Allium'' allied to garlic, used as vegetable and spice. ¹

2. Noun. The bulb of such a plant. ¹

3. Noun. The genus as a whole. ¹

4. Noun. (obsolete baseball slang) A ball. ¹

5. Noun. (context: colloquial chiefly archaic) A person from Bermuda or of Bermudian descent. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Onion

1. the edible bulb of a cultivated herb [n -S] : ONIONY [adj]

Medical Definition of Onion

1. A liliaceous plant of the genus Allium (A.cepa), having a strong-flavored bulb and long hollow leaves; also, its bulbous root, much used as an article of food. The name is often extended to other species of the genus. Onion fish, a dipterous insect whose larva feeds upon the onion; especially, Anthomyia ceparum and Ortalis flexa. Welsh onion. Origin: F. Ognon, fr. L. Unio oneness, unity, a single large pearl, an onion. See One, Union. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Onion

ongoing
ongoingly
ongoingness
ongoingnesses
ongoings
onguent
onhand
onhanger
onhold
oni
onia
onie
onigiri
oniochalasia
oniomania
onion (current term)
onion bagel
onion bodies
onion bread
onion bulb neuropathy
onion dome
onion domes
onion louse
onion mildew
onion plant
onion ring
onion rings
onion roll

Literary usage of Onion

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The Popular Science Monthly (1891)
"In fact, the onion was my garden, and in some respects this was an ... I had merely to keep my onion a little moist, and the crops appeared of themselves. ..."

2. The Journal of Geography by National Council of Geography Teachers (U.S.) (1918)
"THE BERMUDAS AND THEIR onion INDUSTRY WHAT does the word "Bermuda" suggest? If we look in an atlas we can find this is the name given to a group of coral ..."

3. Report of the Secretary for Agriculture by United States Dept. of Agriculture (1866)
"It is unknown where, precisely,our cultivated onion originated. Some writers say that no species of the allium now found growing wild will produce the ..."

4. The Natural History of Pliny by Pliny, John Bostock, Henry Thomas Riley (1856)
"In some plants the leaves are hollow, the onion and the seal- lion,49 more particularly. CHAP. 32. VARIETIES OF THE onion. ..."

5. The New International Encyclopædia edited by Daniel Coit Gilman, Harry Thurston Peck, Frank Moore Colby (1903)
"The native country of the onion is not certainly known, but is probably either India or Egypt, in both of which countries it has been cultivated from the ..."

6. Comedians All by George Jean Nathan (1919)
"LAUGHTER AND THE onion eager moving picture impresarios on a bid of $200000. § 78 Laughter and the onion.—Why should the mention of an onion infallibly ..."

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