sal·ad
(săl′əd)n.1. a. A dish of raw leafy green vegetables, often tossed with pieces of other raw or cooked vegetables, fruit, cheese, or other ingredients and served with a dressing.
b. The course of a meal consisting of this dish.
2. A cold dish of chopped vegetables, fruit, meat, fish, eggs, or other food, usually prepared with a dressing, such as mayonnaise.
3. A green vegetable or herb used in salad, especially lettuce.
4. A varied mixture: "The Declaration of Independence was ... a salad of illusions" (George Santayana).
[Middle English
salade, from Old French, possibly from Old Provençal
salada, from Vulgar Latin
*salāta, from feminine past participle of
*salāre,
to salt, from Latin
sāl,
salt; see
sal- in
Indo-European roots.]
Word History: Salt was and is such an important ingredient in salad dressings that the very word salad is based on the Latin word for "salt." Vulgar Latin had a verb *salāre, "to salt," from Latin sāl, "salt," and the past participle form of this verb, *salāta, "having been salted," came to mean "salad." The Vulgar Latin word passed into languages descending from it, such as Portuguese (salada) and Old Provençal (salada). Old French may have borrowed its word salade from Old Provençal. Medieval Latin also carried on the Vulgar Latin word in the form salāta. As in the case of so many culinary delights, the English borrowed the word and probably the dish from the French. The Middle English word salade, from Old French salade and Medieval Latin salāta, is first recorded in a cookbook composed before 1399. · Salt is of course an important ingredient of other foods and condiments besides salad dressings, as is evidenced by some other culinary word histories. The words sauce and salsa, borrowed into English from French and Spanish, respectively, both come ultimately from the Latin word salsus, meaning "salted." Another derivative of this word was the Late Latin adjective salsīcius, "prepared by salting," which eventually gave us the word sausage.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
salad
(ˈsæləd) n1. (Cookery) a dish of raw vegetables, such as lettuce, tomatoes, etc, served as a separate course with cold meat, eggs, etc, or as part of a main course
2. (Cookery) any dish of cold vegetables or fruit: potato salad; fruit salad.
3. (Cookery) any green vegetable used in such a dish, esp lettuce
[C15: from Old French salade, from Old Provençal salada, from salar to season with salt, from Latin sal salt]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
sal•ad
(ˈsæl əd)
n. 1. a cold dish of raw vegetables, as lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers, served with a dressing, sometimes with meat, cheese, etc., added.
2. a dish of any of various raw or cold cooked foods, usu. sliced or chopped and mixed with mayonnaise or other dressing: potato salad; tuna salad; egg salad.
3. any herb or green vegetable eaten raw, as in salads.
4. a mixture or assortment.
[1350–1400; < Middle French salade < Vulgar Latin *salāta, derivative of salāre to salt]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
salad
- corn salad - A name given to several species of annual herbs sometimes used for salad.
- fruit cocktail, fruit cup, fruit salad - Fruit cocktail (1922) is a mixture of sliced or diced fruits, and it is synonymous with fruit cup (1931); fruit salad (1861) is a salad composed of fruits.
- salad days - Those when one is green in judgment, young and inexperienced.
- salad - A shortened version of Latin herba salata, "salted vegetables," from Latin sal, "salt."
Farlex Trivia Dictionary. © 2012 Farlex, Inc. All rights reserved.
Salad
a cold dish composed of a variety of fruits, vegetables, meats, etc.Examples: salad of murder and Te Deums, of conflagration and general fasts, 1635; salad of styles (architectural), 1893; the Puritan, Anabaptists, Brownist, like a grand salad, 1635.
Dictionary of Collective Nouns and Group Terms. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
salad
lettuce1. 'salad'A salad is a mixture of cold or uncooked vegetables. You can eat it on its own or with other foods.
For lunch she had a salad of tomato, onion and cucumber.
I made some potato salad for the picnic.
2. 'lettuce'A salad usually includes the large green leaves of a vegetable called a lettuce /'letɪs/. Don't refer to this vegetable as a 'salad'.
Tear the lettuce into small pieces and mix it with the dressing.
Collins COBUILD English Usage © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 2004, 2011, 2012