tomato

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)A widely cultivated plant, Solanum lycopersicum, having edible fruit.
2. (countable, uncountable)The savory fruit of this plant, most often red when ripe, treated as a vegetable in horticulture and cooking.

   “He was chopping a tomato to put in the salad.”

   “He was eating a tomato when his boss called him.”

   “In common parlance tomatoes are vegetables, as the Supreme Court observed long ago [see Nix v. Hedden 149 U.S. 304, 307, 13 S.Ct. 881, 882, 37 L.Ed. 745 (1893)], although botanically speaking they are actually a fruit. [26 Encyclopedia Americana 832 (Int'l. ed. 1981)]. Regardless of classification, people have been enjoying tomatoes for centuries; even Mr. Pickwick, as Dickens relates, ate his chops in "tomata" sauce.”

3. (countable, uncountable)A shade of red, the colour typical of a ripe tomato.
4. (countable, slang, uncountable)An attractive woman.

   “Deborah Harry, the New Wave goddess, is finally admitting -- after all the peroxide and posturing of the 1970's and 80's -- that she's really just a tomato (her word) from Paterson […].”

   “When she left the room, I asked Robert, “Who's the tomato?” “Marisa. She's from Mexico.” He had a telltale smile on his face.”

   “2015 19 Old-Fashioned Compliments We Should Bring Back That shirt makes you look like such a glorious tomato.”

   ““Who's the tomato?” a cop said as Evie walked past. “Her? She's the stiff's niece,” another cop answered.”

   “When did this happen last, a tomato he's hardly met going to so much trouble? Ever?”

5. (countable, slang, uncountable)A stupid act or person.

adj

1. Of a shade of red, the colour of a ripe tomato.

   “Her face is on the cover: the Anne Estelle Rice portrait – or the black-eyed Japanese-bobbed head-and-shoulders bit of it – and the square-yoked dress is tomato, or pomegranate, but never persimmon. If it stayed too long in the sun and faded, well yes, maybe then…”

   “And she’d slathered a heavy layer of foundation over the raw skin of her face with the end result being a complexion that was more tomato than orange.”

   “This afternoon, though, she saunters in, draped in a dress the color of a ripe tomato, with a hat to match, her hair twisted underneath in some kind of fashionable up-do that seems impossible to create oneself. […] Penny is sitting there, on the bed, next to me, chewing on the end of the pen, dressed in her frivolous tomato dress.”

   “Intending to tease out Shona’s know-it-all nature by spouting off some trivia, I googled the Pala d’Oro on my phone. It was pure folly, but I was kind of worried about her. “Wikipedia says the cloth has a hundred and eighty-seven enamel plaques depicting Christ and the saints that are decorated with gold, silver, and around two thousand gems.” I peeked at Shona, whose face was tomato, and continued.”

verb

1. (rare, transitive)to pelt with tomatoes
2. (rare, transitive)to add tomatoes to (a dish)