vegetarian

noun

1. A person who does not eat animal flesh, or, in some cases, use any animal products.

   “"The sight and smell of raw meat are especially odious to me, and I have often thought that if I had had to be my own cook, I should inevitably become a vegetarian, probably, indeed, return entirely to my green and salad days."”

   “Vegetarian Society […] A society […] formed at Manchester in 1847, to promote the use of cereals, pulse, and fruit, as articles of diet; and to induce habits of abstinence from fish, flesh, and fowl, as food.”

   “vegetarian […] One who abstains from animal food, living exclusively on vegetables, milk, eggs, and the like. The more strict vegetarians eat vegetables and farinaceous food only, abstaining from eggs, butter, milk, and in some cases, honey.”

   “I went in for all books available on vegetarianism and read them. One of these, Howard Williams' The Ethics of Diet, was a 'biographical history of the literature of humane dietetics from the earliest period to the present day'. It tried to make out, that all philosophers and prophets from Pythagoras and Jesus down to those of the present age were vegetarians.”

   “Many vegetarians abhor the thought of killing animals to feed themselves and also the methods by which animals are slaughtered.”

2. An animal that eats only plants; a herbivore.
3. (alt-of, obsolete, uncountable, usually)Obsolete spelling of vegetarian.

   ““I must preface this essay by the confession that I am myself a Vegetarian, and that I mean to say all the good I can of the principles of Vegetarianism.””

adj

1. Of or relating to the type of diet eaten by vegetarians (in all senses).

   “Must we not put to death blackbirds and thrushes because they feed on worms, or (if capital punishment offends our humanitarianism) starve them slowly by permanent captivity and vegetarian diet?”

   “According to interviews by New York Times correspondents across the country, more and more people—especially the young—are giving up “flesh foods” in favor of a vegetarian way of life.”

2. Without meat.
3. Of a product normally made with meat, having non-meat substitutes in place of meat.

   “Is there such a thing as a good tasting vegetarian hot dog? Cuz every one I've tried tasted like smelted tire.”

4. That does not eat meat.

   “I have a vegetarian brother”