n.1 a any of several cultivated varieties of Brassica oleracea, with thick green or purple leaves forming a round heart or head. b this head usu. eaten as vegetable.
2 colloq. derog. a person who is inactive or lacks interest.
Phrases and idioms:
cabbage palm a palm tree, Cordyline australis, with edible cabbage-like terminal buds. cabbage rose a double rose with a large round compact flower. cabbage tree cabbage palm. cabbage white a butterfly, Pieris brassicae, whose caterpillars feed on cabbage leaves.
Derivatives:
cabbagy adj.
Etymology: earlier cabache, -oche f. OF (Picard) caboche head, OF caboce, of unkn. orig.