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potato
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
potato
noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a tomato/potato/bean etc plant
▪ Bean plants are easy to grow.
couch potato
fruit/potato salad
hot potato
▪ The issue has become a political hot potato.
jacket potato
new potato
political hot potato
▪ The issue has become a political hot potato.
potato chips
▪ a bag of potato chips
potato crisp
potato peeler
sweet potato
the grain/potato/corn etc harvest
▪ This year's grain harvest is expected to be well over 85 million tons.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
baked
▪ Fiona had made dinner; nothing special, some baked fish and potatoes, but it was good.
▪ A baked potato is very permissible, of course.
▪ In one. Baked potatoes, green beans and a nicely basted pork roast.
▪ You may have forsaken chips in favour of baked potatoes but what about that weakness for crisps?
▪ Oats, salads and baked potatoes form the basis of three daily meals.
▪ Or how the mayonnaise melted into a piping hot baked potato?
▪ Tea: Poached fish in cheese sauce, peas, baked potato, piece of fresh fruit.
▪ Steak pies, with baked potatoes and stewed applies.
boiled
▪ If you want potatoes with your meal, cook them more often as boiled or jacket potatoes rather than as chips.
▪ Dinner Chicken casserole, boiled potatoes in their skins, lemon sorbet.
▪ Light beer and vodka were followed by a simple but nourishing meal of stewed meat and boiled potatoes, preceded by borscht.
▪ Dinner Grilled kipper, tomatoes, peas and boiled potatoes, banana to finish.
▪ Chops, he thinks, with boiled potatoes.
early
▪ Plant garlic, shallots and Jerusalem artichokes as soon as possible, early potatoes about mid-month.
▪ My college nutrition textbook devoted an entire chapter to the positive impact of starches on early development, potatoes main among them.
▪ Plant the peas, zigzag fashion, 2in apart. Early potatoes should be sprouted indoors now to go out in spring.
▪ Farmers near Girvan and Dunbar use these advantages to provide early potatoes for the large markets of Glasgow and Edinburgh.
▪ An increasing proportion of the early potato crop is grown under polythene sheeting.
▪ This was for the specialised early potato market.
▪ One of their advantages is that they are an early potato which comes to maturity in autumn.
▪ The early potatoes were well up and looking very healthy, I was happy to see.
fried
▪ The loss of vitamin C in fried potatoes has been investigated but the results show considerable variation according to conditions.
hot
▪ And Ireland was the sort of hot potato a Bagshaw feared most.
▪ The BritTrak stuff is quite a hot enough potato for one conference.
▪ Add more hot water if potatoes seem too dry.
▪ The idea of taxing perks was simply too hot a political potato to be left to the bureaucrats.
▪ Or how the mayonnaise melted into a piping hot baked potato?
▪ In Gloucestershire for instance, it's the hottest of hot potatoes.
large
▪ When darkness came he ventured out, selecting a large potato - which tasted awful although he ate it all.
▪ Dry Roast Potatoes Choose medium to large potatoes of even size.
▪ Cook potatoes of a similar size together to ensure they cook evenly. Large potatoes may be cut.
mashed
▪ It was macaroni cheese and mashed potatoes.
▪ Shape some of the mashed potato mixture around each sausage.
▪ Nothing to eat but instant mashed potato, pickles and maybe corned beef if you are lucky.
▪ Top with instant mashed potato and brown under the grill.
▪ I was about to prepare a dessert of mashed potato, flavoured with an Oxo cube.
▪ Cover the fish completely with the mashed potatoes and smooth over with a fork.
▪ We like simple things such as lamb and mashed potatoes.
▪ Moving progressively towards a thick mashed potato consistency is well on the way to a normal diet.
new
▪ Chop ¼ red pepper, 2 spring onions, 1 celery stalk, 2 cooked new potatoes, cucumber and 2 mushrooms.
▪ Puny had left baked chicken, and green beans cooked with new potatoes, one of his favorite meals.
▪ Oh, too bad, she decided to cook some new potatoes and they could take them or leave them.
▪ Serve this dish with simple accompaniments such as steamed new potatoes, rice or buttered fresh pasta.
▪ In small, nicely made wooden drums there were new potatoes no larger than damsons.
▪ Serve with new potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower.
▪ Serve with new potatoes and a green salad.
▪ The waiter lifted the salver to reveal a rack of lamb surrounded by courgettes and tiny new potatoes.
political
▪ It had become a political hot potato, and time ran out as backers bickered over what tests to run.
▪ Not so much political hot potatoes, as political sweeteners.
▪ The idea of taxing perks was simply too hot a political potato to be left to the bureaucrats.
roast
▪ Savoury Deep-fat-fried chips, roast potatoes.
▪ She kept feeding Hansel huge portions of roast beef and potatoes to make him fat and juicy.
▪ There had been a dinner cooked, turkey or chicken with sausages, roast potatoes and stuffing.
▪ A roast chicken followed, with pale stuffing, a hot gravy and masses of floury roast potatoes.
▪ He loves belly pork with spring cabbage and roast potatoes, and a good, hot curry.
▪ Lunch was pea soup, roast beef, roast potatoes, sprouts and peas, with apple snow for dessert.
▪ Sunday was best of all with cold roast beef and potatoes or bread.
▪ I still love my chips and pies and lots of roast potatoes and I drink pints and pints of milk.
small
▪ Novell is so rich that the Unix acquisition is relatively small potatoes.
▪ Both the Foster papers and the travel office flap are small potatoes.
▪ Don't ask me how a big thing like a spaceship can go into a thing as small as a potato.
▪ Paradoxically, the accusations stirring the most indignation have, in money terms, been comparatively small potatoes.
▪ A young girl skips down the steep path with a small sack of potatoes.
▪ Left to our own devices, we Wobegonians go straight for the small potatoes.
▪ Like organic farming: it was small potatoes.
▪ Of course, in that environment, being a congenital liar was small potatoes.
sweet
▪ Substitute sweet potatoes for russets the next time you serve baked potatoes with pork or chicken.
▪ Chemical control of sweet potato pests has had varying degrees of success, with many chemicals being too expensive.
▪ This treat he produced by mashing a sweet potato to pulp and adding sugar, vanilla extract, and evaporated milk.
▪ I wonder if Stuart likes sweet potatoes?
▪ Carrots, spinach, kale, broccoli and sweet potatoes are among foods rich in beta carotene.
▪ We're farmers and export sweet potatoes.
■ NOUN
cake
▪ Slide the potato cake from the pan on to a plate.
chip
▪ It was a strange supper - tomatoes, potato chips, dried fruit and cake.
▪ They're as addicting as potato chips.
▪ A till was hurled out into the cheering crowd, followed by burgers, potato chips and furniture.
▪ I miss things like potato chips and junk food.
▪ The man returned to exchange the fudge for potato chips.
▪ You can buy cigarettes, potato chips, Ravens pennants, Styrofoam ice chests and snow shovels.
▪ Could one call Caesars the potato chip of the salad world?
▪ See, e-mail is a baked potato chip as opposed to a greasy, fried one.
couch
▪ The last thing I want to do is to share a place with a couch potato.
▪ In many cases, Olympian designs serve as the basis for apparel that the average couch potato will be able to buy.
▪ And nomatterhow fit you are, you're just as susceptible to the same long-term damage as the average couch potato.
▪ Tired of watching the Grammy Awards as a couch potato?
▪ Skol's sales were up by 4%, thanks largely to demand from couch potatoes.
▪ Nope, we jaded couch potatoes are demanding more.
▪ No more nonstop basketball for couch potato Congressional staff members.
crisp
▪ For example, you might do a survey on potato crisps.
▪ Canapes were suitably Daliesque - smoked salmon, potato crisp and olive creations shaped as lobsters.
▪ Similarly, with potato crisps, have you ever known anyone not finish a packet they started?
crop
▪ An increasing proportion of the early potato crop is grown under polythene sheeting.
▪ Once more the potato crop had failed.
▪ It is applied on 35 percent of Britain's potato crop.
▪ The Colorado beetle spreads over a potato crop and a human population starves.
▪ Slugs turn to the potato crop in late summer, when other food sources are disappearing.
famine
▪ The potato famine, so many millions of people were affected by it and all the deaths that have occurred.
▪ Their families had come to the United States during the nineteenth-century potato famine.
field
▪ Straight from the potato fields and into marriage with himself, she went.
▪ Already over the potato fields of northeastern Maine the harvest moon is rising.
▪ The aircraft had come to rest inverted in a ploughed potato field with the sail and engine on top of the pilot.
▪ In fact it was a potato field with two foot deep furrows and tall healthy plants on the tops.
▪ Josef Jakobs landed in a potato field in North Stifford, Essex, falling heavily and breaking his ankle.
jacket
▪ Dobson said that 96 % of consumers used low fat cream with salad and 45 % with jacket potatoes.
▪ If you want potatoes with your meal, cook them more often as boiled or jacket potatoes rather than as chips.
▪ Serve with a jacket potato and a green salad.
▪ Cold, cooked jacket potato plus a tub of salad, sandwich filling, or dip.
▪ Open the jacket potatoes lengthways and pile the chilli beans on top.
▪ Two jacket potatoes later - back to it.
▪ The oven door was open, and there were four jacket potatoes on the second shelf.
salad
▪ There were bowls of coleslaw and potato salad laced with green peas, buttered garlic rolls and hard-boiled eggs.
▪ She finally decided on the ham, potato salad and deviled eggs.
▪ But as he attacked his potato salad Herr Nordern felt exultation.
▪ Note: Leftovers make a great potato salad.
▪ Others made sandwiches for the workers -- and resident Ann Collar cooked 40 pounds of potato salad for the cause.
▪ And heaping side orders, including coleslaw and potato salad, cost 70 cents.
▪ However, it improves lentil or potato salads.
▪ She made potato salad and deviled eggs and tea and I brought green beans and a pound cake.
seed
▪ The research is focused on developing a suitable model of an export marketing system for Northern Ireland's seed potatoes.
▪ The clause was unreasonable in the context of a contract for the sale of seed potatoes.
▪ Buy seed potatoes from garden centres or by mail order.
■ VERB
add
▪ Beat the eggs in a bowl and then add potatoes, onion, flour, salt and pepper.
▪ He added a side of potatoes that included some fat.
▪ Cover and allow to cook without colouring until soft. 4. Add the potatoes and watercress.
▪ Cook and stir until onion is soft, about 10 minutes. Add potatoes and oil.
▪ Remove the garlic; pour in the stock and bring to the boil. Add the potatoes.
▪ Simmer for 40 minutes. Add potatoes and enough water to barely cover everything.
▪ By adding these potatoes, a bulky food of reasonably high-fibre content, they actually lost some weight over a three-month period!
▪ Cool, then add to potato mixture.
bake
▪ And why bother baking a potato when a packet of crisps is to hand?
▪ The salad bar has over 50 items, including hot pasta and baked potatoes.
▪ It's great for using or, salads and baked potatoes and in sandwiches and dips.
▪ Substitute sweet potatoes for russets the next time you serve baked potatoes with pork or chicken.
▪ I ate an energy-giving meal - bakes beans and jacket potato - a combination the midwife would later curse me for.
▪ As a change from mashed or baked potatoes, prepare scalloped potatoes.
▪ Listed below are a few reasons to bake a potato.
▪ See, e-mail is a baked potato chip as opposed to a greasy, fried one.
boil
▪ Season well. Boil the potatoes until well done and mash with a little water to achieve a soft consistency.
▪ Doctor, here is a big boiled potato....
▪ Then we built our fire in the outdoor fireplace to boil potatoes and heat up red beans for supper.
▪ He boils cabbage and potatoes all day.
▪ Something boiled, meat and potatoes, home-baked bread.
▪ For example, boiled potatoes satisfied hunger seven times better than croissants.
▪ The satiety index decreased progressively from boiled potatoes to french fries to potato chips.
▪ Cover pan, bring to a boil and boil gently until the potatoes are tender, about eight minutes.
buy
▪ You can buy cigarettes, potato chips, Ravens pennants, Styrofoam ice chests and snow shovels.
▪ A few tips: Buy firm, unblemished potatoes.
chop
▪ To transform the spuds, scientists chopped potato leaves into small pieces and scattered them across a laboratory culture dish.
▪ Java Joe and his friend Bic chopped up potatoes and began frying them with onions and garlic in a communal kitchen.
▪ Place chopped and whole potatoes plus all ingredients except peas, parsley, salt and pepper in cooker.
cook
▪ Oh, too bad, she decided to cook some new potatoes and they could take them or leave them.
▪ In the meantime, cook the potatoes in boiling salted water.
▪ Puny had left baked chicken, and green beans cooked with new potatoes, one of his favorite meals.
▪ We used to cook potatoes and sausages in hot ashes after the fire had burnt down.
▪ Slice the cooked potatoes and arrange in layers in an ovenproof dish.
▪ Others made sandwiches for the workers -- and resident Ann Collar cooked 40 pounds of potato salad for the cause.
▪ Meanwhile, cook the new potatoes in boiling water until tender: drain thoroughly.
cut
▪ To reduce weight quickly it is a good idea to cut out bread, potatoes and pasta.
▪ Cool slightly. Cut potatoes in half.
eat
▪ I noticed her hanging around the bar, staring through its window, while I ate my fish and potatoes.
▪ An elderly couple is silently eating chicken and mashed potatoes at a table by the window.
▪ At dawn they ate the potatoes that they'd laid around the fire to cook.
▪ They ate no potatoes that day, sweet or white.
▪ Nothing to eat but instant mashed potato, pickles and maybe corned beef if you are lucky.
▪ Some go through weeks of eating great quantities of potato chips or ice-cream sandwiches before the forbidden foods lose their allure.
▪ While the meat was simmering, they ate puris and spiced potatoes.
▪ I hesitated to eat the mashed potatoes, lest the little gravy lake spill.
fry
▪ Were people peacefully frying up potatoes, or were they hitting one another on the head with their frying pans?
▪ Dinner was usually fried meat and pasty potatoes thrown on a chipped plate.
▪ This would prevent the crunchy, deep fried chunks of potato from going soft in the accompanying lemon garlic sauce.
▪ They had mutton chops, fried potatoes, and coffee with brandy in it.
▪ I began to smell the odor of steak and fried potatoes and coffee cutting through the smell of hay and manure.
grow
▪ It was interesting to note that in Wester Ross 62% of the farmers grew potatoes.
▪ Thompson Brothers Farms grows certified seed potatoes, wheat, barley and pinto beans.
▪ There is no doubt that this encouragement to grow potatoes had a disastrous sequel some fifty years later.
▪ Y., which conceived the idea and grew the potatoes.
▪ His garden was a credit to him, too, and he grew flowers and potatoes.
▪ They also grow potatoes for the city markets.
▪ On these terraces farmers grow tea, potatoes, apricot and almond trees as well as wheat, maize and rice.
include
▪ The following recipes all include potatoes.
▪ The food spread will include buffalo wings, potato skins and popcorn.
▪ Starters included Corn chowder, potato skins with dips, Nachos and other familiar Stateside items.
▪ Avoid mayonnaise-based selections, including cole slaw and potato and pasta salads.
mash
▪ Top with the mashed potato and bake in a preheated oven at 190C, 375F or Gas Mark 5 for 30 minutes.
▪ On another visit, not-so-crisp chicken was paired with unseasoned mashed potatoes and too-lemony chard.
▪ This treat he produced by mashing a sweet potato to pulp and adding sugar, vanilla extract, and evaporated milk.
▪ Steam or bake winter squash of your choice, then mash with butter and serve as a colorful alternative to mashed potatoes.
▪ Omar sighed, his round smooth cheeks swelling with the meat, mashed potatoes, and peas-he had stuffed in his mouth.
▪ The wife of a prominent banker, his own banker as a matter of fact, said the banker liked mashed potatoes.
▪ Saut ed green and yellow squash spears and an intriguing pear-shaped centerpiece of crusted mashed potatoes rounded out the platter.
peel
▪ Just a pair of hands peeling potatoes and a reflection in the mirror.
▪ Barely cover the peeled potatoes with cold water, cover the pot, then turn the heat to high.
▪ With sinking heart Sly realized that he was in a burger joint that was too trendy to peel its potatoes.
▪ A white preacher who prayed for their souls while Sethe peeled potatoes and Grandma Baby sucked air.
▪ Betty was sitting in the porch of the cottage peeling potatoes.
▪ We are peeling potatoes, forming tiny meatballs, browning chicken, shelling peas.
▪ They don't peel potatoes, chip them and then deep-fry them; they buy frozen oven chips instead.
▪ It was with some trepidation that I slid a 5-pound chicken with peeled, quartered potatoes into the 500-degree oven.
serve
▪ Brown under the grill. Serve with new potatoes and a tomato and onion salad.
▪ Substitute sweet potatoes for russets the next time you serve baked potatoes with pork or chicken.
▪ Grill the kebabs, turning frequently. Serve with a jacket potato and a green salad.
▪ Garnish with wedges of lemon. Serve with new potatoes and a green salad.
▪ Bake at 400°F, 200°C, Gas 6 for 20 mins. Serve with sauté potatoes, mange-tout and tomatoes.
slice
▪ Peel off the skins and thickly slice the potatoes.
▪ Drain and leave to cool. Slice the cooked potatoes and arrange in layers in an ovenproof dish.
▪ Note: Chef Gilles Syglowski blanches the sliced potatoes for 1 minute in boiling water before using.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
early potatoes/lettuces etc
▪ Farmers near Girvan and Dunbar use these advantages to provide early potatoes for the large markets of Glasgow and Edinburgh.
▪ Plant garlic, shallots and Jerusalem artichokes as soon as possible, early potatoes about mid-month.
▪ The early potatoes were well up and looking very healthy, I was happy to see.
fish/rice/potato etc cake
▪ Deep fry fish cakes and warm for 5 mins before serving with tomato sauce and lightly-boiled leeks and celery.
▪ From top, Smoked salmon rolls with pesto rice, Christmas jewel basmati salad, Basmati rice cake.
▪ I bet he had the fish cakes.
▪ In celebration of a new weight control year, the Quaker Oats Co. has developed yet another rice cake flavor.
▪ Lunch Rice cakes, low-fat cheese, tomatoes and onion, apple.
▪ My husband and the minister wives who come to the party do not care for the rice cake.
▪ She'd claim it was quite ordinary - fish cake s, only they went wrong - that sort of thing.
▪ Slide the potato cake from the pan on to a plate.
sth is small potatoes
the meat and potatoes
▪ But the meat and potatoes of the newscast is the gathering, preparing, and presentation of the news.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ a baked potato
▪ mashed potatoes
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Carefully remove the potatoes from the pan with a slotted spoon and reserve any remaining stock to make the gravy if desired.
▪ Good Friday in East Anglia used to be the traditional day for planting potatoes.
▪ He later became director of the potato program and was named state seed commissioner in 1988.
▪ It goes together easily with butternut squash, onion, potato, carrots and broth.
▪ Long tables with stainless-steel trays held mashed potatoes, sauerkraut, fried oysters and oyster stew.
▪ The Colorado beetle spreads over a potato crop and a human population starves.
▪ The salad was in the ice box, and the roast and potatoes in the oven.
▪ Try these deliciously crunchy potato skins with garlic mayonnaise as an alternative to the chive and garlic dressing.
Related phrases:
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Potato

Potato \Po*ta"to\, n.; pl. Potatoes. [Sp. patata potato, batata sweet potato, from the native American name (probably batata) in Hayti.] (Bot.)

  1. A plant ( Solanum tuberosum) of the Nightshade family, and its esculent farinaceous tuber, of which there are numerous varieties used for food. It is native of South America, but a form of the species is found native as far north as New Mexico.

  2. The sweet potato (see below). Potato beetle, Potato bug. (Zo["o]l.)

    1. A beetle ( Doryphora decemlineata) which feeds, both in the larval and adult stages, upon the leaves of the potato, often doing great damage. Called also Colorado potato beetle, and Doryphora. See Colorado beetle.

    2. The Lema trilineata, a smaller and more slender striped beetle which feeds upon the potato plant, bur does less injury than the preceding species. Potato fly (Zo["o]l.), any one of several species of blister beetles infesting the potato vine. The black species ( Lytta atrata), the striped ( Lytta vittata), and the gray ( Lytta Fabricii syn. Lytta cinerea) are the most common. See Blister beetle, under Blister. Potato rot, a disease of the tubers of the potato, supposed to be caused by a kind of mold ( Peronospora infestans), which is first seen upon the leaves and stems. Potato weevil (Zo["o]l.), an American weevil ( Baridius trinotatus) whose larva lives in and kills the stalks of potato vines, often causing serious damage to the crop. Potato whisky, a strong, fiery liquor, having a hot, smoky taste, and rich in amyl alcohol (fusel oil); it is made from potatoes or potato starch. Potato worm (Zo["o]l.), the large green larva of a sphinx, or hawk moth ( Macrosila quinquemaculata); -- called also tomato worm. See Illust. under Tomato. Seaside potato (Bot.), Ipom[oe]a Pes-Capr[ae], a kind of morning-glory with rounded and emarginate or bilobed leaves. [West Indies] Sweet potato (Bot.), a climbing plant ( Ipom[oe]a Balatas) allied to the morning-glory. Its farinaceous tubers have a sweetish taste, and are used, when cooked, for food. It is probably a native of Brazil, but is cultivated extensively in the warmer parts of every continent, and even as far north as New Jersey. The name potato was applied to this plant before it was to the Solanum tuberosum, and this is the ``potato'' of the Southern United States. Wild potato. (Bot.)

      1. A vine ( Ipom[oe]a pandurata) having a pale purplish flower and an enormous root. It is common in sandy places in the United States.

      2. A similar tropical American plant ( Ipom[oe]a fastigiata) which it is thought may have been the original stock of the sweet potato.

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
potato

1560s, from Spanish patata, from a Carib language of Haiti batata "sweet potato." Sweet potatoes were first to be introduced to Europe; in cultivation in Spain by mid-16c.; in Virginia by 1648. Early 16c. Portuguese traders carried the crop to all their shipping ports and the sweet potato was quickly adopted from Africa to India and Java.\n

\nThe name later (1590s) was extended to the common white potato, from Peru, which was at first (mistakenly) called Virginia potato, or, because at first it was of minor importance compared to the sweet potato, bastard potato. Spanish invaders in Peru began to use white potatoes as cheap food for sailors 1530s. The first potato from South America reached Pope Paul III in 1540; grown in France at first as an ornamental plant. According to popular tradition, introduced to Ireland 1565 by John Hawkins. Brought to England from Colombia by Sir Thomas Herriot, 1586.\n

German kartoffel (17c.) is a dissimilation from tartoffel, ultimately from Italian tartufolo (Vulgar Latin *territuberem), originally "truffle." Frederick II forced its cultivation on Prussian peasants in 1743. The French is pomme de terre, literally "earth-apple;" a Swedish dialectal word for "potato" is jordpäron, literally "earth-pear."\n

\nColloquial pronunciation tater is attested in print from 1759. Potato chip (n.) attested from 1879. To drop (something) like a hot potato is from 1824. Children's counting-out rhyme that begins one potato, two potato first recorded 1885 in Canada. Slang potato trap "mouth" attested from 1785.

Wiktionary
potato

n. 1 A plant tuber, ''Solanum tuberosum'', eaten as a starchy vegetable, particularly in the Americas and Europe 2 (context informal UK English) A conspicuous hole in a sock or stocking 3 (lb en humorous) A camera that takes poor-quality pictures.

Related phrases:
WordNet
potato

  1. n. an edible tuber native to South America; a staple food of Ireland [syn: white potato, Irish potato, murphy, spud, tater]

  2. annual native to South America having underground stolons bearing edible starchy tubers; widely cultivated as a garden vegetable; vines are poisonous [syn: white potato, white potato vine, Solanum tuberosum]

  3. [also: potatoes (pl)]

Related phrases:
Wikipedia
Potato (Blackadder)

"Potato" is the third episode of the BBC sitcom Blackadder II, the second series of Blackadder, which was set in Elizabethan England from 1558 to 1603.

Potato (band)

Potato are a Thai rock band. The band won numerous awards for their popularity in Thailand.

Potato (film)

Potato is a 1987 South Korean remake of a 1967 film with the same name, and the second adaptation of Kim Dong-in's short novel.

Potato (production company)

Potato is a British television production company. It is a subsidiary of ITV Studios and one of the largest providers of factual entertainment in the United Kingdom. It was established in March 2013 by Michael Kelpie.

Potato produce TV shows such as The Chase and Ninja Warrior UK

Potato

The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial nightshade Solanum tuberosum L. The word "potato" may refer either to the plant itself or to the edible tuber. In the Andes, where the species is indigenous, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species. Potatoes were introduced outside the Andes region approximately four centuries ago, and have since become an integral part of much of the world's food supply. It is the world's fourth-largest food crop, following maize, wheat, and rice. The green leaves and green skins of tubers exposed to the light are toxic.

Wild potato species can be found throughout the Americas from the United States to southern Chile. The potato was originally believed to have been domesticated independently in multiple locations, but later genetic testing of the wide variety of cultivars and wild species proved a single origin for potatoes in the area of present-day southern Peru and extreme northwestern Bolivia (from a species in the Solanum brevicaule complex), where they were domesticated approximately 7,000–10,000 years ago. Following centuries of selective breeding, there are now over a thousand different types of potatoes. Over 99% of the presently cultivated potatoes worldwide descended from varieties that originated in the lowlands of south-central Chile, which have displaced formerly popular varieties from the Andes.

However, the local importance of the potato is variable and changing rapidly. It remains an essential crop in Europe (especially eastern and central Europe), where per capita production is still the highest in the world, but the most rapid expansion over the past few decades has occurred in southern and eastern Asia. As of 2007 China led the world in potato production, and nearly a third of the world's potatoes were harvested in China and India.

Potato (disambiguation)

A potato, Solanum tuberosum, is a tuberous food crop grown throughout the world.

Potato may also refer to:

  • Potato (band), a Thai rock group
  • "Potato" (Blackadder), television episode from BBC sitcom Blackadder II
  • Potato (film), a Korean film
  • Potato (production company), a British TV production company
  • Potato Hill, a summit in Idaho
  • Potato Lake, a lake in Minnesota
  • Potato, fictional Air novel character
  • Derogatory slang associated with people who have Down's syndrome
  • Derogatory slang associated with Video Game Consoles
Related phrases:

Usage examples of "potato".

I noticed that the boy I had spoken to, the one addressed by Mr Quigg as Mealy-Plant, was, like me, making no attempt to obtain any of the potatoes although he was one of the comparatively larger boys.

Two, you take me to Ty and feed me Adeem on a plate with mashed potatoes and I let you live.

Boiled or steamed Potatoes should turn out floury, or mealy, by reason of the starch granules swelling up and filling the cellular tissue, whilst absorbing the albuminous contents of its cells.

Jenna got back, Mac Ard was sitting at the table with a plate of boiled potatoes, mutton, and bread, and a mug of tea in front of him.

Decorate the space above with slices of potato and beet cut in diamonds, and surround the base with light-green aspic cut in diamonds.

But he most probably refers here to the Batatas, or sweet Potato, a Convolvulus, which was a popular esculent vegetable at that date, of tropical origin, and to which our Potato has since been thought to bear a resemblance.

Those who support transfer from Polynesia point to the fact that they can find no evidence for the sweet potato on Rapa Nui before 1600 AD, but surely this is not entirely fair, given that ipomoea batatas does not preserve well in sediment.

Burnfingers Begay waited until everyone else had put in their order before calmly requesting tenderloin of venison filled with trout pate beneath a sour cream-champagne sauce, potatoes au gratin on the side, and haricots verts accompanied by a 1948 Bavarian Liebfraumilch.

To this the bookseller chef added fried potatoes from another dish, and poured for his guest a glass of wine.

Salisbury steak, steamed green beans, whipped potatoes from a mix, enriched white bread, beer in the can, and boysenberry Jell-O for dessert.

At the dinner table, Pellam looked out over the spread of osso bucco, mashed sweet potatoes, green bean salad, broccoli.

Pellam looked out over the spread of osso bucco, mashed sweet potatoes, green bean salad, broccoli.

Chemically the Potato contains citric acid, like that of the lemon, which is admirable against scurvy: also potash, which is equally antiscorbutic, and phosphoric acid, yielding phosphorus in a quantity less only than that afforded by the apple, and by wheat.

They used a little shovel, though a regular clammer uses a short-handled hoe, digging the wet earth away much as a farmer digs away the earth from a hill of potatoes.

I have seen men and women actually fencing with questions put to them by the excellent priest who dwells at Letterfrack, Father McAndrew, who was obliged to exercise all his authority to obtain a straight answer concerning the potato crop grown on a patch of conacre land.