[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/rhubarb.html)

[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [dictionaries](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/) / [The school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/) / rhubarb

[← R](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/R/)

# rhubarb

«rhubarb» in Mova's school dictionary: **A garden plant with long thick pink or red stalks that…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (rhubarb — uncountable as food; a rhubarb plant, rhubarbs); interjection (rhubarb rhubarb — UK, theatre)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A garden plant with long thick pink or red stalks that are cooked with sugar and eaten as a sweet food, as in rhubarb crumble. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/rhubarb/#m1)

2) (UK, informal) Nonsense or silly talk. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/rhubarb/#m2)

3) (theatre, UK) The word actors mutter, "rhubarb, rhubarb", to sound like a crowd talking in the background. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/rhubarb/#m3)

4) (US, old slang) A noisy argument or fight, especially in baseball. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/rhubarb/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

In cooking and gardening lessons rhubarb is a classic British and Irish pudding plant (rhubarb crumble, rhubarb and custard). In science and safety lessons it is a warning: the stalks are eaten but the big leaves are poisonous. In drama lessons extras say "rhubarb rhubarb" to make crowd noise.

### examples

- Grandad grows rhubarb in his garden. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/rhubarb/#x1)
- We had rhubarb crumble with custard for pudding. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/rhubarb/#x2)
- Rhubarb is very sour, so you cook it with sugar. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/rhubarb/#x3)
- Never eat rhubarb leaves; they are poisonous. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/rhubarb/#x4)
- In the school play, the crowd muttered "rhubarb, rhubarb". [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/rhubarb/#x5)
- "That's a load of rhubarb!" said Nan, meaning nonsense. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/rhubarb/#x6)
- Rhubarb and custard sweets are pink and yellow. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/rhubarb/#x7)
- She believed to her last day in old-fashioned remedies like rhubarb leaf, and made sounds of contempt over all this new-fangled talk about germs, and so on. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/rhubarb/#x8)

### note

Pronounced ROO-barb; the "h" is silent. As food it is uncountable (some rhubarb). Rhubarb is a vegetable, though it is cooked like a fruit. Safety: only the stalks are eaten; the leaves contain poison (oxalic acid).

### In the corpora

- [Rhubarb stalks are safe to eat cooked, but rhubarb leaves are poisonous because they contain a lot of oxalic acid.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/255-plants-deeper-poisonous-and-stinging-plants-and-staying-safe/14/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «rhubarb» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/rhubarb/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.