cauliflower

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)Brassica oleracea var. botrytis, an annual variety of cabbage, of which the cluster of young flower stalks and buds is eaten as a vegetable.

   “ASPARAGUS, cauliflowers, imperial Sileſia, royal and cabbage lettuces, burnet, purſlain, cucumbers, naſturtian flowers, peaſe and beans ſown in October, artichokes, ſcarlet ſtrawberries, and kidney beans.”

2. (countable, uncountable)The edible head or curd of a cauliflower plant.
3. (countable, uncountable)The swelling of a cauliflower ear.

   “His ears were small (fortunately so, given his dramatic hairstyle) and bore no traditional cauliflowers.”

verb

1. (ambitransitive)To (cause to) swell up like a cauliflower ear.

   “I noticed his right ear was badly cauliflowered and that explained a number of things. It wasn't a new job of cauliflowering.”

   “Returning to your first point, the cauliflowering of magnesite bricks — we presume that this is due to your using high concentrations of oxygen for blowing the furnace, giving high checker-temperatures.”

   “The soft steel of the back edge by now has cauliflowered over from hammering on it.”