rhubarb
noun
[ ˈruːbɑːb ]
• the thick reddish or green leaf stalks of a cultivated plant of the dock family, which are eaten as a fruit after cooking.
• "rhubarb pie"
• the large-leaved Eurasian plant which produces rhubarb.
• the noise made by a group of actors to give the impression of indistinct background conversation, especially by the random repetition of the word ‘rhubarb’.
• a heated dispute.
• "rhubarbs often broke out among these less than professional players"
Origin:
late Middle English (denoting the rootstock of other plants of this genus used medicinally): from Old French reubarbe, from a shortening of medieval Latin rheubarbarum, alteration (by association with rheum ‘rhubarb’) of rhabarbarum ‘foreign rhubarb’, from Greek rha (also meaning ‘rhubarb’) + barbaros ‘foreign’.
