ARROWROOT

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does arrowroot mean? 

• ARROWROOT (noun)
  The noun ARROWROOT has 3 senses:

1. a nutritive starch obtained from the root of the arrowroot plant

2. white-flowered West Indian plant whose root yields arrowroot starch

3. canna grown especially for its edible rootstock from which arrowroot starch is obtained

  Familiarity information: ARROWROOT used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ARROWROOT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A nutritive starch obtained from the root of the arrowroot plant

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("arrowroot" is a kind of...):

amylum; starch (a complex carbohydrate found chiefly in seeds, fruits, tubers, roots and stem pith of plants, notably in corn, potatoes, wheat, and rice; an important foodstuff and used otherwise especially in adhesives and as fillers and stiffeners for paper and textiles)

Sense 2

Meaning:

White-flowered West Indian plant whose root yields arrowroot starch

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

American arrowroot; arrowroot; Maranta arundinaceae; obedience plant

Hypernyms ("arrowroot" is a kind of...):

maranta (any of numerous herbs of the genus Maranta having tuberous starchy roots and large sheathing leaves)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Canna grown especially for its edible rootstock from which arrowroot starch is obtained

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

achira; arrowroot; Canna edulis; Canna indica; indian shot

Hypernyms ("arrowroot" is a kind of...):

canna (any plant of the genus Canna having large sheathing leaves and clusters of large showy flowers)

 Context examples 

Emma, on reaching home, called the housekeeper directly, to an examination of her stores; and some arrowroot of very superior quality was speedily despatched to Miss Bates with a most friendly note.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

An airing in the Hartfield carriage would have been the rack, and arrowroot from the Hartfield storeroom must have been poison.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

In half an hour the arrowroot was returned, with a thousand thanks from Miss Bates, but dear Jane would not be satisfied without its being sent back; it was a thing she could not take—and, moreover, she insisted on her saying, that she was not at all in want of any thing.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)