Definition

1. Noun:
   • A starchy edible tuber: A potato is the round or oval tuber of a plant (Solanum tuberosum), which is a staple food in many parts of the world. It has brown, red, or yellow skin and white, yellow, or purple flesh.
   • The plant itself: The potato is also the name for the plant that produces these tubers, a herbaceous annual native to South America.

Examples of Usage

• Noun (referring to the tuber):
  • For dinner, we had roast chicken with mashed potato.
  • She is peeling potatoes for the stew.
• Noun (referring to the plant):
  • The farmer planted a field of potatoes.
  • Potato vines can be toxic if ingested.

Advanced Usage

• "Small potato" or "small potatoes" (idiomatic, informal): Something or someone insignificant or unimportant.
  • That contract is small potatoes compared to our other deals.
• "Hot potato" (idiomatic): A controversial or difficult issue that is awkward to handle.
  • The topic of budget cuts is a political hot potato.

Variants and Related Words

• Potatoes (n): The standard plural form.
• Sweet potato (n): A different plant () with a sweet-tasting tuber. This is a separate compound term.
• Potato chip (n, chiefly US) / Crisp (n, chiefly UK): A thin slice of potato fried until crisp. This is a separate compound term.

Synonyms

• Spud (n, informal): A casual synonym for a potato.
• Tuber: A botanical term for the type of plant structure.

Related Phrases (Phrasal Verbs)

(Note: "Potato" is a noun and does not form standard phrasal verbs. The idiomatic expressions are listed above.)

Related Idioms

• "Couch potato": A person who spends a lot of time sitting and watching television.
  • After retiring, he turned into a bit of a couch potato.
• "Meat and potatoes": Used to describe the most basic, fundamental, or essential parts of something.
  • His speech was the meat and potatoes of the policy, without any fancy details.

Noun

1. annual native to South America having underground stolons bearing edible starchy tubers; widely cultivated as a garden vegetable; vines are poisonous
2. an edible tuber native to South America; a staple food of Ireland