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stuffed tomato

stuffed tomato

1 3.3
A hollow tomato filled with rice, meat and vegetables and served hot or cold
  • noun
translation icon : tomate relleno
  • Lamb chops, creamed spinach, stuffed tomatoes, and a Hershey Bar.

Examples

  • For dinner, we enjoyed a delicious stuffed tomato filled with seasoned rice and vegetables.

  • She served a beautiful stuffed tomato alongside grilled chicken as part of the meal.

  • "And I want a stuffed tomato, potatoes au gratin, corn on the cob, muffins, and chocolate ice cream," Alabama interrupted impatiently.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • The recipe called for a stuffed tomato that was filled with ground meat and herbs.

Synonyms

hot stuffed tomato
vsstuffed tomato
4.3

A tomato hollowed out, filled with a savory mix, and baked briefly

is served either warm or cold rather than only baked
cold stuffed tomato
vsstuffed tomato
4.1

A tomato hollowed out and filled with a salad, served cold

is served either warm or cold rather than only chilled

Surface Forms

Morphology

stuff + tomato

The phrase 'stuffed tomato' is transparently built from 'stuff(ed)' (to fill) and 'tomato' so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer it is a tomato that has been filled with a mixture. This is a common, compositional culinary pattern (seen across many languages), so the meaning is predictable from the constituents.

Etymology

Stuffed tomato is a simple dish from home cooking where a ripe tomato is scooped out and then stuffed with rice, meat, cheese, or vegetables. Because the tomato is literally filled, the name simply describes a 'tomato that is hollowed out and filled'.