| truffle | Any one of several kinds of roundish, subterranean fungi, usually of a blackish colour. The French truffle (Tuber melanosporum) and the English truffle (T. Aestivum) are much esteemed as articles of food. <zoology> Truffle worm, the larva of a fly of the genus Leiodes, injurious to truffles. Origin: OF. Trufle, F. Truffe; akin to Sp. Trufa, tartufo; of uncertain origin; perhaps from L. Tuber a tumour, knob, truffle. Cf. Tuber, Trifle. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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