Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CAB'BAGE, n. [It. cappuccio; Corn. kavatsh; Ir. gabaisde, gabaiste. This word is probably from the root of caput, a head; It. capuccio, a head; Sp. cabeza; Fr. caboche, a head. Hence D. kabuis-kool, head-cole, or headed-cole. In Fr. choux-cabus, is cabbage-headed, or cabbage-head. See Cap, Cope.]

The popular name of a genus of plants, called in botany Brassica, of several species; some of which are cultivated for food. The leaves are large and fleshy, the pods long and slender, and the seeds globular. The kinds most cultivated are the common cabbage, called with us the drum-head, the Savoy, the broccoli, the cauliflower, the sugar-loaf, and the cole-wort. Dog's cabbage, a name given to the Thelygonum cynocrambe. – Fam. of Plants. Sea-cabbage. The sea-beach kale, or sea-colewort, a genus of plants, called Crambe. They are herbaceous esculents, with perennial roots, producing large leaves like those of cabbage, spreading on the ground. – Encyc.