onion
n. countablen. a round vegetable with many layers and a strong smell. It often makes you cry when you cut it.
n. an edible bulb with a pungent taste and smell, composed of several concentric layers. Widely used as a culinary base across diverse global cuisines.
I always chop an onion before I start making the soup.
The recipe calls for one large red onion to be finely diced and sautéed until translucent.
While the outer skin of an onion is dry and papery, the inner layers are crisp and contain sulfurous compounds that irritate the eyes when released.
From Middle English onyoun, oynoun, from Old French oignon, from Latin ūniōnem, accusative of ūniō (“onion”), which had also been borrowed into Old English as yne, ynnelēac (“onion”) (> Middle English hynne-leac, henne-leac). Also displaced Middle English knelek (literally “knee-leek”) and the inherited term ramsons. * (soy): Stems from a 4chan word filter which changes the word soy to onions. The word filter was implemented in relation to the "alpha onion eater" meme, which is depicted as the direct opposite of the soy boy.
Commonly used as an uncountable noun when referring to the food substance in general, but countable when referring to the individual bulbs.
- 01
eat the onion
To unwittingly and erroneously interpret a work of satire as literal fact, particularly a piece published by The Onion.
- 02
peel the onion
To investigate a matter more deeply, usually step by step, each step leading to a new discovery.
- 03
take out an onion
Suggests that the performer of the action is not sincere in their grief.