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carrot

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Carrots

Etymology

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From Middle English karette and Middle French carotte, both from Latin carōta, from Ancient Greek καρωτόν (karōtón). Doublet of carotte and related to caraway. Displaced native Middle English more, from Old English more, moru (“edible root, parsnip, carrot”), related to German Möhre (“carrot”).

  • Noun sense of "motivational tool" refers to carrot and stick.
  • Verb sense in felt manufacture refers to the orange colour of drying furs.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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carrot (countable and uncountable, plural carrots)

  2. A vegetable with a nutritious, juicy, sweet root that is often orange in colour, Daucus carota, family Apiaceae, especially the subspecies sativus.
    Synonym: (obsolete) more
    • 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 42:
      In general, beets, carrots, and turnips are all of aphrodisiac value in erotic dietary.
  3. A shade of orange similar to the flesh of most carrots (also called carrot orange).
    carrot:  
  5. (figurative) Any motivational tool; an incentive to do something.
    Coordinate term: stick
    • 2022 August 7, Coral Davenport, Lisa Friedman, “Five Decades in the Making: Why It Took Congress So Long to Act on Climate”, in The New York Times‎[1], →ISSN:
      Essentially, lawmakers replaced the sticks with carrots.
    • 2023 August 7, Paul Krugman, “Climate Is Now a Culture War Issue”, in The New York Times‎[2]:
      In 2022, when the Biden administration finally succeeded in passing a major climate bill, it consisted almost entirely of carrots—tax credits and subsidies for green energy.
  6. (UK, slang, derogatory) Someone from a rural background.
  7. (UK, slang) A police officer from somewhere within the British Isles, but specifically outside of Greater London.
  8. (slang) A redhead; a ginger-haired person
  9. This term needs a definition. Please help out and add a definition, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.
    • 2025, Ghostface Killah, “Metaphysics”:
      I got the jammy loaded in one hand.
      Threw a few shots at two carrots and one jam

Derived terms

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Descendants

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Translations

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See also

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References

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Verb

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carrot (third-person singular simple present carrots, present participle carroting, simple past and past participle carroted)

  1. (transitive) To treat (an animal pelt) with a solution of mercuric nitrate as part of felt manufacture.

Derived terms

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See also

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Anagrams

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