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Cabbage, Not the Vegetable
Does the "filching" meaning of cabbage bring to mind an image of thieves sneaking out of farm fields with armloads of pilfered produce? If so, you're in for a surprise. This use has nothing to do with the leafy vegetable. It originally referred to the practice among tailors of pocketing part of the cloth given to them to make garments. The verb was cut from the same cloth as an older British noun cabbage, which meant "pieces of cloth left in cutting out garments and traditionally kept by tailors as perquisites." Both of those ethically questionable cabbages probably derived from cabas, the Middle French word for "cheating or theft." The cabbage found in coleslaw, on the other hand, comes from Middle English caboche, which meant "head."
Examples of cabbage in a Sentence
Patricia Shannon, Southern Living, 11 June 2026
By the mid-to-late-20th century, mass media helped popularize diets that promised rapid results through calorie restriction or highly specific food choices, such as the grapefruit diet and cabbage soup diet.
—Encyclopedia Britannica, 10 June 2026
Fill whole wheat tortillas with black beans, avocado, shredded cabbage, salsa and lime.
—Ryan Brennan, Miami Herald, 8 June 2026
Add the dressing, cabbage and half of the scallions, cilantro and cashews (if using) to the bowl with the rice and toss until everything is well coated in the dressing.
—Emily Weinstein, Twin Cities, 4 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for cabbage
Cite this Entry
“Cabbage.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cabbage. Accessed 16 Jun. 2026.
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