vegetablizev.
/ˈvɛdʒ(ᵻ)təbl̩ʌɪz/, U.S. /ˈvɛdʒtəbəˌlaɪz/, /ˈvɛdʒədəbəˌlaɪz/ 1. transitive. To convert into, or cause to resemble, a vegetable substance; to make or render vegetable. Also reflexive.In quot. 1996: to make vegetarian.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > [verb (transitive)] > render vegetable
vegetablizea1836
the world > plants > [verb (reflexive)] > render vegetable
vegetablize1869
a1836 Encycl. Metrop. (1845) VII. 113 Having been vegetablized..in the leaves, it [sc. the sap] passes into vessels..in the bark.
1869 in Cosmopolitan 19 Aug. 314 The mineral vegetablises itself, the vegetable animalises itself.
1869 C. O'Neill Dict. Dyeing & Calico Printing 36 Silk is to be vegetablized..by an immersion in a bath of cellulose dissolved in ammoniacal copper oxide.
1914 Independent (U.S.) 27 July 118/1 We do not object in the least to his developing a literary style ‘..that may..animalize, vegetablize, mineralize, electrify and liquefy itself’.
1985 G. Kinnell Past 36 As post-Darwinians it was up to us to anthropomorphize the world less and animalize, vegetablize, and mineralize ourselves more.
1996 J. Ferrary & L. Fiszer Good Day for Soup 42 The trend to ‘vegetablize’ everything from beef stroganov to hamburgers may sometimes seem extreme.
2.
a. intransitive. To lose interest in or capacity for intellectual or social activity. rare.
ΚΠ
1970 Times 20 July 5/7 I'm a bit frightened by the whole childbearing thing and the effect I've seen it have on my friends—sort of vegetablizing while it's going on.
1999 Star-Ledger (Newark, New Jersey) (Nexis) 30 Mar. 57 If you don't use your mind, it's going to vegetablize!
b. transitive. To render (a person) docile or passive by impairing his or her intellectual function, usually as a means of treating violent behaviour, drug addiction, etc. Also in extended use. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > types of treatment generally > apply type of treatment [verb (transitive)] > render (a person) docile or passive
vegetablize1972
1972 N.Y. Times Mag. 2 July 8/1 The Establishment's scheme for dealing with heroin addicts..was to vegetablize them.
1974 Gen. Syst. 19 64/1 The patient is merely temporarily ‘vegetablized’—in a drugstore equivalent of oldfashioned lobotomy.
1975 Church Times 7 Mar. 7/2 ‘Clockwork Orange’ tells us how the latest neurosurgical techniques can vegetablize the violent.
2003 C. Crutcher King of Mild Frontier xiv. 239 He closed the door and proceeded to tell me that he had ‘vegetableized’ his child.
Derivatives
ˈvegetablized adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > patient > [adjective] > having undergone specific operations or treatments
transfused1652
necropsied1919
sympathectomized1928
thyroparathyroidectomized1932
lobotomized1943
leucotomized1951
vegetablized1974
the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > types of treatment generally > [adjective] > other miscellaneous treatments
sublimate1585
heroical1769
Perkinean1798
Perkinistic1803
heroic1818
adjuvant1834
aggressive1837
calmative1871
bacteriotherapeutic1886
mechanotherapeutic1915
inhalational1944
non-invasive1968
invasive1972
vegetablized1974
multidisciplinarian1985
1949 Hamilton (Ohio) Daily News Jrnl. 10 Aug. 2/5 Vegetablized tomato salads.
1974 Resident & Staff Physician 20 89/2 A more vexing problem than the dying patient is the vegetablized patient who will not die even in the absence of heroic medical efforts.
2009 Kent & Sussex Courier (Nexis) 27 Mar. 86 How many, or few, could shrug off the after-effects of their vegetablised image staring back from the pages of our ever hysterical tabloids?
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2012; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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