资料来源 : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Sprout \Sprout\, n. [Cf. AS. sprote a sprout, sprig; akin to
   Icel. sproti, G. sprosse. See {Sprout}, v. i.]
   1. The shoot of a plant; a shoot from the seed, from the
      stump, or from the root or tuber, of a plant or tree; more
      rarely, a shoot from the stem of a plant, or the end of a
      branch.

   2. pl. Young coleworts; Brussels sprouts. --Johnson.

   {Brussels sprouts} (Bot.) See under {Brussels}.

Brussels \Brus"sels\, n.
   A city of Belgium, giving its name to a kind of carpet, a
   kind of lace, etc.

   {Brussels carpet}, a kind of carpet made of worsted yarn
      fixed in a foundation web of strong linen thread. The
      worsted, which alone shows on the upper surface in drawn
      up in loops to form the pattern.

   {Brussels ground}, a name given to the handmade ground of
      real Brussels lace. It is very costly because of the
      extreme fineness of the threads.

   {Brussels lace}, an expensive kind of lace of several
      varieties, originally made in Brussels; as, Brussels
      point, Brussels ground, Brussels wire ground.

   {Brussels net}, an imitation of Brussels ground, made by
      machinery.

   {Brussels point}. See {Point lace}.

   {Brussels sprouts} (Bot.), a plant of the Cabbage family,
      which produces, in the axils of the upright stem, numerous
      small green heads, or ``sprouts,'' each a cabbage in
      miniature, of one or two inches in diameter; the
      thousand-headed cabbage.

   {Brussels wire ground}, a ground for lace, made of silk, with
      meshes partly straight and partly arched.

资料来源 : WordNet®

brussels sprouts
     n : small cabbage-like heads or buds growing along a stalk [syn:
          {brussels sprout}]