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any of various biennial plants belonging to the genus Beta, of the amaranth family, especially B. vulgaris, having a fleshy red or white root.
Compare sugar beet.
the edible root of such a plant.
the leaves of such a plant, served as a salad or cooked vegetable.
Historical Examples

The beet itself makes one of the best feeds for milch cows, and is excellent for other domestic animals.
The Vegetable Garden Anonymous

No, I would let it go, and ask him for burdock or beet, as the case might be.
Samantha Among the Brethren, Part 6. Josiah Allen’s Wife (Marietta Holley)

The first is obtained from the sugar-cane, the sap of maple trees, and from the beet root.
Science in the Kitchen. Mrs. E. E. Kellogg

What can you say of the comparative value of cane and beet sugar?
Human Foods and Their Nutritive Value Harry Snyder

You must have a couple of hundred acres of beet at least, to begin with.
Brighter Britain! (Volume 1 of 2) William Delisle Hay

A little further on we came to small holes dug in the beet field.
The Red Watch J. A. Currie

The beet grown from this seed contained more sugar to the square inch—or was it to the square root?
Notes on Life and Letters Joseph Conrad

During all this time the bird must have nothing but beet juice to drink.
The Natural History of Cage Birds J. M. Bechstein

The popular impression to the contrary probably comes from the use of beet sugar that has been imperfectly purified.
Candy-Making Revolutionized Mary Elizabeth Hall

It seems that “plants” come from beet roots as well as from beet seed.
Cornell Nature-Study Leaflets Various

noun
any chenopodiaceous plant of the genus Beta, esp the Eurasian species B. vulgaris, widely cultivated in such varieties as the sugar beet, mangelwurzel, beetroot, and spinach beet See also chard
the leaves of any of several varieties of this plant, which are cooked and eaten as a vegetable
red beet, the US name for beetroot
n.

Old English bete “beet, beetroot,” from Latin beta, said to be of Celtic origin. Common in Old English, then lost till c.1400. Still usually spoken of in plural in U.S. A general West Germanic borrowing, cf. Old Frisian bete, Middle Dutch bete, Old High German bieza, German Beete.