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   rhubarb

   /ˈruːbɑːb/

   noun

   • 1. the thick reddish or green leaf stalks of a cultivated plant of the dock family, which are eaten as a fruit after cooking: "rhubarb pie"
   • 2. the large-leaved Eurasian plant which produces rhubarb.
   • ▪ used in names of other plants of the same genus as rhubarb, several of which are used medicinally, e.g. Chinese rhubarb.
   • 3. the noise made by a group of actors to give the impression of indistinct background conversation, especially by the random repetition of the word ‘rhubarb’. informal British
   • ▪ nonsense: "it was all rhubarb, about me, about her daughter, about art"
   • 4. a heated dispute: informal North American "rhubarbs often broke out among these less than professional players"

   Word Origin late Middle English (denoting the rootstock of other plants of this genus used medicinally): from Old French reubarbe, from a shortening of medieval Latin rheubarbarum, alteration (by association with rheum ‘rhubarb’) of rhabarbarum ‘foreign rhubarb’, from Greek rha (also meaning ‘rhubarb’) + barbaros ‘foreign’.

   Scrabble Points: 14

   • R

     1

   • H

     4

   • U

     1

   • B

     3

   • A

     1

   • R

     1

   • B

     3

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