potato

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English[edit]

An intact potato (vegetable) and a cross-section of a second.
English Wikipedia has an article on:
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Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from Spanish patata, itself borrowed from Taíno batata (“sweet potato”).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

potato (countable and uncountable, plural potatoes)

  1. The tuber of a plant, Solanum tuberosum, eaten as a starchy vegetable, particularly in the Americas and Europe; this plant.
    • 1891, “Condensed Replies to Various Letters”, in Leroy M[ilton] Yale, editor, Babyhood: The Mother’s Nursery Guide, Devoted to the Care of Children, volume VII, New York, N.Y., London: Babyhood Publishing Company, page 230, column 2:
      Do not let your child have potato for another year; he will probably take milk well enough after he is weaned.
    • 1912, C[harles] F[ord] Langworthy, Caroline L[ouisa] Hunt, Cheese and Its Economical Uses in the Diet (Farmers’ Bulletin 487), Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, page 24:
      The protein value of this dish is equal to that of 1⅛ pounds of potato and beef, the fuel value, however, being much in excess of these.
    • 1915, Annual Report of the Local Government Board for Scotland, page 17:
      A number of the children said that they had potato for breakfast, potato and herring for dinner, potato and milk for supper.
    • 2017, Anthony J. McMichael, Alistair Woodward, Cameron Muir, Climate Change and the Health of Nations, →ISBN, page 213:
      Potatoes were introduced to Ireland in 1590 after being brought to Europe by Spanish conquistadores from their place of origin in the South American Andes.
    • 2021 December 1, Nigel Harris, “St Pancras and King's Cross: 1947”, in RAIL, number 945, page 42:
      The rocketing popularity of potatoes in London's diet led to the conversion of the temporary GNR passenger station north of the canal [...] as a dedicated potato terminal, whose significant traffic was stolen from coastal shipping.
  2. (informal, UK) A conspicuous hole in a sock or stocking.
  3. Metaphor for a person or thing of little value.
    • 1757, [Tobias George Smollett], The Reprisal: Or, The Tars of Old England. […], London: […] R[oberts] Baldwin, […], →OCLC, Act I, scene ii:
      I don't value Monſieur de Champignon a rotten potatoe; […]
    1. (slang, offensive) A mentally handicapped person.
    2. (humorous) A camera that takes poor-quality pictures.
    3. (humorous, slang, computing) An underpowered computer or other device, especially when small in size.
      • 2017 March 17, Steven Messner, “Overwatch community donates PC parts to fan who could barely run it at 800x600”, in PC Gamer‎[1]:
        When most people refer to their computers as a potato they're being hyperbolic, but not Ethan. He plays Overwatch at 800x600 resolution with all settings on low and is excited when he gets 30 fps.
      • 2019 September 22, Benjamin Burns, “Meet the people making music with Mega Drives, Game Boys and gAtaris”, in Eurogamer‎[2]:
        If you want to have a go right now, then Famitracker will let you compose songs for the NES and it'll run on a Windows-operated potato.

Synonyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb[edit]

potato (third-person singular simple present potatoes, present participle potatoing, simple past and past participle potatoed)

  1. (slang, transitive) To hit very hard; to pummel.
    • 2014, James Dixon, Arnold Furious, Bob Dahlstrom, The Raw Files: 1998, page 26:
      Bradshaw doesn't find much humour in it though, and beats the tar out of Dustin, potatoing him with every blow.
  2. (transitive) To hit with a thrown or fired potato.
    • 2017, A. J. Low, Sherlock Sam’s Orange Shorts: Special Edition:
      Yvonne and Lee Swee potatoed Deputy Lestrade multiple times before Sheriff Moran potatoed them both. […] Suddenly, Sheriff Moran heard the click click of an empty weapon. He turned to see that both Mayor Eliza and Kat had run out of ammunition.

Interjection[edit]

potato

  1. (onomatopoeia, often repeated) The rhythmic sound produced by a V-twin engine—a distinctive deep, throaty exhaust note.

Anagrams[edit]

Ido[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English potato.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

potato (plural potati)

  1. potato
    Synonym: terpomo

Italian[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /poˈta.to/
  • Rhymes: -ato
  • Hyphenation: po‧tà‧to

Participle[edit]

potato (feminine potata, masculine plural potati, feminine plural potate)

  1. past participle of potare

Anagrams[edit]

Latin[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

pōtātō

  1. second/third-person singular future active imperative of pōtō

Quotations[edit]

This entry needs quotations to illustrate usage. If you come across any interesting, durably archived quotes then please add them!
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