TUBER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Tuber mean? 

• TUBER (noun)
  The noun TUBER has 2 senses:

1. a fleshy underground stem or root serving for reproductive and food storage

2. type genus of the Tuberaceae: fungi whose fruiting bodies are typically truffles

  Familiarity information: TUBER used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TUBER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A fleshy underground stem or root serving for reproductive and food storage

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("tuber" is a kind of...):

stalk; stem (a slender or elongated structure that supports a plant or fungus or a plant part or plant organ)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tuber"):

water chestnut (edible bulbous tuber of a Chinese marsh plant)

groundnut; potato bean; wild bean (nutlike tuber; important food of Native Americans)

Jerusalem artichoke (edible tuber of the Jerusalem artichoke)

yam (edible tuber of any of several yams)

Derivation:

tuberous (of or relating to or resembling a tuber)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Type genus of the Tuberaceae: fungi whose fruiting bodies are typically truffles

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

genus Tuber; Tuber

Hypernyms ("Tuber" is a kind of...):

fungus genus (includes lichen genera)

Meronyms (members of "Tuber"):

earth-ball; earthnut; truffle (any of various highly prized edible subterranean fungi of the genus Tuber; grow naturally in southwestern Europe)

Holonyms ("Tuber" is a member of...):

family Tuberaceae; Tuberaceae (family of fungi whose ascocarps resemble tubers and vary in size from that of an acorn to that of a large apple)

 Context examples 

The oil extracted from the root tuber of Curcuma xanthorrhiza.

(Curcuma xanthorrhiza Oil, NCI Thesaurus)

The oil extracted from the root tuber of Curcuma wenyujin.

(Curcuma wenyujin Root Oil, NCI Thesaurus)

A thin membrane of grey substance extending form the corpus callosum to the tuber cinereum above the optic chiasm and forming the anterior portion of the inferior border of the third ventricle.

(Lamina Cinerea, NCI Thesaurus)

Better understanding of the phenomenon’s effect on crops could help farmers diversify to more adaptable crops such as tuber vegetables or sorghum, and adopt farming practices to cope with fluctuating weather patterns.

(El Niño linked to widespread crop failures, SciDev.Net)