ratoon

English

Alternative forms

• rattoon

Noun

ratoon (plural ratoons)

1. A shoot sprouting from the root of a cropped plant, especially sugar cane.
   • 1926, Frank Wesley Pitman, "The Organization of Slave Labor," The Journal of Negro History, vol. 11, no. 4, p. 600,

     Their field tasks were somewhat easier than those of the great gang: cleaning and banking young canes, turning over trash or ratoon pieces (canes sprouting from old roots).

   • 1968, Paul C. Ekern, "Phyllotaxy of Pineapple Plant and Fruit," Botanical Gazette, vol. 129, no. 1, p. 94,

     A number of very small fruits from Cayenne ratoons were recently examined.

2. A rattan cane.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Samuel Pepys to this entry?)

Verb

ratoon (third-person singular simple present ratoons, present participle ratooning, simple past and past participle ratooned)

1. (intransitive, of a plant) To sprout ratoons.
   • 1893, "Resouces of British Honduras," Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information, vol. 1893, no. 82/83, p. 327,

     In the sugar areas to the north and south of the Colony cane has been known to "ratoon" for 20 to 30 years.

2. (transitive) To cut a plant, especially sugar cane, so that it will produce ratoons.
   • 1969, M. Menzel; F. Wilson, "Genetic Relationships in Hibiscus Sect. Furcaria," Brittonia, vol. 21, no. 2, p. 100,

     Attempts to propagate them by cuttings (of flowering shoots) and to ratoon the old plants in the greenhouse in November were unsuccessful.

Derived terms

• ratoon crop

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.
• Random House Webster's Unabridged Electronic Dictionary, 1987-1996.