Etymology From Middle English caboche, cabage (“cabbage”; “a certain fish”), a borrowing from Anglo-Norman caboche (“head”), a northern variant of caboce, of uncertain origin. Some authorities derive it from Latin caput (“head”), others from ca- (said to be an expressive prefix) + boce (“hump; bump”) (whence English boss).
An edible plant (Brassica oleracea var. capitata) having a head of green leaves.
In aphrodisiac preparation, wild cabbage was frequently an ingredient.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 53:
2
Broadly Any of various cultivars of the species Brassica oleracea.
3
Food, Lifestyle, Vegetable The leaves of this plant eaten as a vegetable.
Cabbage is good for you.
4
Offensive A person with severely reduced mental capacities due to brain damage.
After the car crash, he became a cabbage.
5
Used as a term of endearment.
If you deceive me, Yasha, I don't know if my nerves could stand it. YASHA (kissing her) My little cabbage! Of course, a girl must know her place.2009, Tom Stoppard, Helen Rappaport, The Cherry Orchard, translation of Вишнëвый сад ("Vishniovy sad") by Anton Chekhov, published 1904, page 31:
Etymology From Middle English caboche, cabage (“cabbage”; “a certain fish”), a borrowing from Anglo-Norman caboche (“head”), a northern variant of caboce, of uncertain origin. Some authorities derive it from Latin caput (“head”), others from ca- (said to be an expressive prefix) + boce (“hump; bump”) (whence English boss).
How effective the project was is a moot point, because there were never any studies carried out to see whether children benefited from cabbaging in front of the TV rather than interacting with a teacher.2006, Steve Mckevitt, Why the World Is Full of Useless Things, page 38:
3
Slang To be killed or murdered, such as by being shot in the head.
Etymology Unclear. Perhaps from Dutch *kabbassen, from Old French cabasser (“put into a basket”), from cabas. Alternatively, perhaps from an earlier word *carbage (“shred”), a potential variant of *garbage (“wheat straw”).
1
Slang Scraps of cloth which are left after a garment has been cut out, which tailors traditionally kept.
cabbage
verb
Etymology Unclear. Perhaps from Dutch *kabbassen, from Old French cabasser (“put into a basket”), from cabas. Alternatively, perhaps from an earlier word *carbage (“shred”), a potential variant of *garbage (“wheat straw”).
1
To embezzle or purloin; to pilfer, to steal.
[Y]our Butler purloins your Liquor, and your Brevver ſells your Hogvvaſh; […] your Taylor, inſtead of Shreds, cabages vvhole Yards of Cloth; […]1733, Humphry Polesworth [pseudonym; John Arbuthnot], Alexander Pope, compiler, “Law is a Bottomless Pit. Or, The History of John Bull. […]. [The First Part.] Chapter X. Of John Bull’s Second Wife, and the Good Advice that She Gave Him.”, in Miscellanies, 2nd edition, volume II, London: […] Benjamin Motte, […], →OCLC, page 30:
We toted in the wood and got the fire going nice and comfortable. Lord James still set in one of the chairs and Applegate had cabbaged the other and was hugging the stove.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VIII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC: