The Collaborative International Dictionary
Sprout \Sprout\, n. [Cf. AS. sprote a sprout, sprig; akin to Icel. sproti, G. sprosse. See Sprout, v. i.]
The shoot of a plant; a shoot from the seed, from the stump, or from the root or tuber, of a plant or tree; more rarely, a shoot from the stem of a plant, or the end of a branch.
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pl. Young coleworts; Brussels sprouts.
--Johnson.Brussels sprouts (Bot.) See under Brussels.
Brussels \Brus"sels\, n. A city of Belgium, giving its name to a kind of carpet, a kind of lace, etc.
Brussels carpet, a kind of carpet made of worsted yarn fixed in a foundation web of strong linen thread. The worsted, which alone shows on the upper surface in drawn up in loops to form the pattern.
Brussels ground, a name given to the handmade ground of real Brussels lace. It is very costly because of the extreme fineness of the threads.
Brussels lace, an expensive kind of lace of several varieties, originally made in Brussels; as, Brussels point, Brussels ground, Brussels wire ground.
Brussels net, an imitation of Brussels ground, made by machinery.
Brussels point. See Point lace.
Brussels sprouts (Bot.), a plant of the Cabbage family, which produces, in the axils of the upright stem, numerous small green heads, or ``sprouts,'' each a cabbage in miniature, of one or two inches in diameter; the thousand-headed cabbage.
Brussels wire ground, a ground for lace, made of silk, with meshes partly straight and partly arched.
WordNet
n. small cabbage-like heads or buds growing along a stalk [syn: brussels sprout]
Usage examples of "brussels sprouts".
According to Finch, they were either out or nearly out of everything save Brussels sprouts.
He continued to brood, pushing and poking at the brussels sprouts on his plate.
We'll have peas with the fillet, and potato balls and Brussels sprouts.
He had held his tongue remarkably, despite the fact that he was surrounded by a gravel-brained white and a black-and-white mixture in a coat of light chocolate with two wounded Brussels sprouts for ears.
Quill could barely see the tops of the brussels sprouts for the snow.
I couldn't see that the brussels sprouts had suffered damage, but I apologized anyhow.
He gazed down at his lamb chops, Brussels sprouts, potatoes, and glass of hock which weren't where they ought to have been-they were on his napkin and his napkin was on his lap-with a vexed frown on his face.
As Kitty stared out at the dusky green fields of brussels sprouts unfurling on her right and the ocean on her left, tarnished by an overcast sky to the dull sheen off blackened silver, she wondered what in Gods name she could have been thinking.
She has planned a Christmas Eve dinner of roast goose with raisin stuffing, scalloped potatoes, brussels sprouts, and a dish called Spanish Onion Supreme.