manioc Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a starch made by leaching and drying the root of the cassava plant; the source of tapioca; a staple food in the tropics
    cassava starch; manioca; cassava.
  2. noun cassava root eaten as a staple food after drying and leaching; source of tapioca
    cassava.
  3. noun cassava with long tuberous edible roots and soft brittle stems; used especially to make cassiri (an intoxicating drink) and tapioca
    Manihot utilissima; mandioca; Manihot esculenta; gari; mandioc; tapioca plant; bitter cassava.

WordNet

Ma"ni*oc noun
Etymology
Pg. mandioca, fr. Braz.
Definitions
  1. (Bot.) The tropical plants (Manihot utilissima, and M. Aipi), from which cassava and tapioca are prepared; also, cassava.Written also mandioc, manihoc, manihot.

Webster 1913