potato

Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English[edit]

An intact potato (vegetable) and a cross-section of a second.
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from Spanish patata, itself borrowed from Taíno batata.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

potato (plural potatoes)

  1. The tuber of a plant, Solanum tuberosum, eaten as a starchy vegetable, particularly in the Americas and Europe; this plant.
    • 2017, Anthony J. McMichael, Alistair Woodward, Cameron Muir, Climate Change and the Health of Nations, →ISBN, page 213:
      Potatoes were introduced to Ireland in 1590 after being brought to Europe by Spanish conquistadores from their place of origin in the South American Andes.
    • 2021 December 1, Nigel Harris, “St Pancras and King's Cross: 1947”, in RAIL, number 945, page 42:
      The rocketing popularity of potatoes in London's diet led to the conversion of the temporary GNR passenger station north of the canal [...] as a dedicated potato terminal, whose significant traffic was stolen from coastal shipping.
  2. (informal, UK) A conspicuous hole in a sock or stocking.
  3. Metaphor for a person or thing of little value.
    • 1757, [Tobias George Smollett], The Reprisal: Or, The Tars of Old England. […], London: […] R[oberts] Baldwin, […], →OCLC, Act I, scene ii:
      I don't value Monſieur de Champignon a rotten potatoe; […]
    1. (slang, offensive) A mentally handicapped person.
    2. (humorous) A camera that takes poor-quality pictures.
    3. (humorous, slang, computing) An underpowered computer or other device, especially when small in size.
      • 2017 March 17, Steven Messner, “Overwatch community donates PC parts to fan who could barely run it at 800x600”, in PC Gamer‎[1]:
        When most people refer to their computers as a potato they're being hyperbolic, but not Ethan. He plays Overwatch at 800x600 resolution with all settings on low and is excited when he gets 30 fps.
      • 2019 September 22, Benjamin Burns, “Meet the people making music with Mega Drives, Game Boys and gAtaris”, in Eurogamer‎[2]:
        If you want to have a go right now, then Famitracker will let you compose songs for the NES and it'll run on a Windows-operated potato.

Synonyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Adjective[edit]

potato (comparative more potato, superlative most potato)

  1. (Can we verify(+) this sense?) (computing, slang, humorous, of a computing device) Underpowered; low-end.
    I'd've captured a video of my playthrough rather than just screenshots, but my computer's too potato to comfortably run the game and a video-capture program at the same time.

Interjection[edit]

potato

  1. (onomatopoeia, often repeated) The rhythmic sound produced by a V-twin engine—a distinctive deep, throaty exhaust note.

Anagrams[edit]

Ido[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English potato.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

potato (plural potati)

  1. potato
    Synonym: terpomo

Italian[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /poˈta.to/
  • Rhymes: -ato
  • Hyphenation: po‧tà‧to

Participle[edit]

potato (feminine potata, masculine plural potati, feminine plural potate)

  1. past participle of potare

Anagrams[edit]

Latin[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

pōtātō

  1. second/third-person singular future active imperative of pōtō

Quotations[edit]

This entry needs quotations to illustrate usage. If you come across any interesting, durably archived quotes then please add them!
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=potato&oldid=73068236"