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Cabbage, Not the Vegetable
Does the "filching" meaning of cabbage bring to mind an image of thieves sneaking out of farm fields with armloads of pilfered produce? If so, you're in for a surprise. This use has nothing to do with the leafy vegetable. It originally referred to the practice among tailors of pocketing part of the cloth given to them to make garments. The verb was cut from the same cloth as an older British noun cabbage, which meant "pieces of cloth left in cutting out garments and traditionally kept by tailors as perquisites." Both of those ethically questionable cabbages probably derived from cabas, the Middle French word for "cheating or theft." The cabbage found in coleslaw, on the other hand, comes from Middle English caboche, which meant "head."
Examples of cabbage in a Sentence
Josh Miller, Southern Living, 5 June 2025
His version is a celebration of color, with magenta radicchio, orange carrots, golden mango, pale green cabbage and verdant watercress or spring greens.
—The Washington Post, San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 June 2025
My personal highlights are chilly prawns served with marinated red cabbage, butternut squash purée, and pickled baby beetroot and the chef’s version of surf n’ turf—a zucchini roll filled with lobster salad, filet mignon, roasted cauliflower cream, and Bordelaise sauce.
—Jenn Rice, Forbes.com, 31 May 2025
Topped with radish chunks and chopped cabbage and sprinkled with ground chile, the pozole — a dish Mr. Ortiz admitted was more elevated than average home cooking — became lighter and more complex at the table.
—Jake Naughton, New York Times, 14 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for cabbage
Cite this Entry
“Cabbage.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cabbage. Accessed 10 Jun. 2025.
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