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broccoli

American  
[brok-uh-lee, brok-lee] / ˈbrɒk ə li, ˈbrɒk li /

noun

  1. a form of a cultivated cruciferous plant, Brassica oleracea botrytis, whose leafy stalks and clusters of usually green buds are eaten as a vegetable.

broccoli British  
/ ˈbrɒkəlɪ /

noun

  1. a cultivated variety of cabbage, Brassica oleracea italica , having branched greenish flower heads

  2. the flower head of this plant, eaten as a vegetable before the buds have opened

  3. a variety of this plant that does not form a head, whose stalks are eaten as a vegetable

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Usage

What else does broccoli mean? Content warning: this article references illicit drugs.When not referring to the actual vegetable, broccoli is slang for "marijuana."

Etymology

Origin of broccoli

1690–1700; < Italian, plural of broccolo, equivalent to brocc ( o ) sprout (< Late Latin; broach ) + -olo diminutive suffix

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.