cabbage

1 of 3

noun (1)

cab·​bage ˈka-bij 

often attributive

1

a

: any of several brassicas (Brassica oleracea) of European origin

especially : a leafy garden plant (Brassica oleracea var. capitata) with a short stem and a dense globular head of usually green leaves that is used as a vegetable

b

: any of several plants related to or resembling cabbage

2

slang : money, cash

cabbagey adjective

or less commonly cabbagy

ˈka-bə-jē 

cabbage

2 of 3

noun (2)

: pieces of cloth left in cutting out garments and traditionally kept by tailors as perquisites

cabbage

3 of 3

verb

cabbaged; cabbaging

transitive verb

: steal, filch

They also cabbaged our bats, balls, and gloves.

—H. L. Mencken

Did you know?

Cabbage, Not the Vegetable

Does the "filching" meaning of cabbage bring to mind an image of thieves sneaking out of farm fields with armloads of pilfered produce? If so, you're in for a surprise. This use has nothing to do with the leafy vegetable. It originally referred to the practice among tailors of pocketing part of the cloth given to them to make garments. The verb was cut from the same cloth as an older British noun cabbage, which meant "pieces of cloth left in cutting out garments and traditionally kept by tailors as perquisites." Both of those ethically questionable cabbages probably derived from cabas, the Middle French word for "cheating or theft." The cabbage found in coleslaw, on the other hand, comes from Middle English caboche, which meant "head."

Synonyms

Noun (1)

• bread [slang]
• bucks
• cash
• change
• chips
• coin
• currency
• dough
• gold
• green
• jack [slang]
• kale [slang]
• legal tender
• lolly [British]
• long green [slang]
• loot
• lucre
• money
• moola [slang]
• moolah
• needful
• pelf
• scratch [slang]
• shekels
• sheqels
• shekelim
• shekalim
• sheqalim
• tender
• wampum

Examples of cabbage in a Sentence

Noun (1)

he suddenly has a lot of cabbage for someone who's never done an honest day's work in his life

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Main Street Hustle: 16-hour roasted brisket, mustard, cabbage, and pickles. —Haadiza Ogwude, The Enquirer, 13 Dec. 2024

Cravalho would celebrate Chinese New Year by eating noodles for long life, corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day and Hawaiian dishes like lau lau and lomi lomi salmon for graduation parties. —Arturo Conde, NBC News, 1 Dec. 2024

Vegetables: Beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, collards, horseradish, lettuce, mustard, onions, peas, radicchio, radishes, spinach, Swiss chard and turnips. —Tom MacCubbin, Orlando Sentinel, 30 Nov. 2024

Red cabbage is a source of flavonoids called anthocyanins. —Jillian Kubala, Health, 26 Nov. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Middle English caboche, from Middle French dialect (Norman & Picard), literally, head, noggin

Noun (2)

perhaps by folk etymology from Middle French cabas cheating, theft

First Known Use

Noun (1)

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Noun (2)

1663, in the meaning defined above

Verb

1691, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing cabbage

• cabbage butterfly
• cabbage looper
• cabbage palm
• cabbage palmetto
• cabbage rose
• cabbage worm
• celery cabbage
• Chinese cabbage
• imported cabbage worm
• napa cabbage
• savoy cabbage
• skunk cabbage

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Kids Definition

cabbage

noun

cab·​bage

ˈkab-ij

: a garden plant related to the turnips and mustards that has a round firm head of leaves used as a vegetable