Lettuce

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Lettuce \Let"tuce\ (l[e^]t"t[i^]s), n. [OE. letuce, prob.
     through Old French from some Late Latin derivative of L.
     lactuca lettuce, which, according to Varro, is fr. lac,
     lactis, milk, on account of the milky white juice which flows
     from it when it is cut: cf. F. laitue. Cf. {Lacteal},
     {Lactucic}.]


     1. (Bot.) A composite plant of the genus {Lactuca} ({Lactuca
        sativa}), the leaves of which are used as salad. Plants of
        this genus yield a milky juice, from which lactucarium is
        obtained. The commonest wild lettuce of the United States
        is {Lactuca Canadensis}.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. United States currency; dollar bills; greenbacks. [slang]
        [PJC]
  
     {Hare's lettuce}, {Lamb's lettuce}. See under {Hare}, and
        {Lamb}.
  
     {Lettuce opium}. See {Lactucarium}.
  
     {Sea lettuce}, certain papery green seaweeds of the genus
        {Ulva}.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  lettuce
       n 1: informal terms for money [syn: {boodle}, {bread}, {cabbage},
             {clams}, {dinero}, {dough}, {gelt}, {kale}, {lolly}, {lucre},
             {loot}, {moolah}, {pelf}, {scratch}, {shekels}, {simoleons},
             {sugar}, {wampum}]
       2: any of various plants of the genus Lactuca
       3: leaves of any of various plants of Lactuca sativa

From THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY ((C)1911 Released April 15 1993) [devils]:

  LETTUCE, n.  An herb of the genus _Lactuca_, "Wherewith," says that
  pious gastronome, Hengist Pelly, "God has been pleased to reward the
  good and punish the wicked.  For by his inner light the righteous man
  has discerned a manner of compounding for it a dressing to the
  appetency whereof a multitude of gustible condiments conspire, being
  reconciled and ameliorated with profusion of oil, the entire
  comestible making glad the heart of the godly and causing his face to
  shine.  But the person of spiritual unworth is successfully tempted to
  the Adversary to eat of lettuce with destitution of oil, mustard, egg,
  salt and garlic, and with a rascal bath of vinegar polluted with
  sugar.  Wherefore the person of spiritual unworth suffers an
  intestinal pang of strange complexity and raises the song."