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bean
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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English
Etymology
From Middle English bene, from Old English bēan, from Proto-West Germanic *baunu, from Proto-Germanic *baunō (“bean”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰabʰ- (“bean”). Cognate with Scots bene, bein (“bean”), West Frisian bean (“bean”), Dutch boon (“bean”), German Bohne (“bean”), Swedish böna (“bean”), Danish bønne (“bean”), Norwegian bønne (“bean”), Icelandic baun (“bean”), Latin faba (“bean”), Russian боб (bob, “bean”), Serbo-Croatian бо̏б/bȍb. Doublet of fava.
Pronunciation
Noun
bean (plural beans)
- Any plant of several genera of the taxonomic family Fabaceae that produces large edible seeds or edible seedpods.
- Coordinate term: pea
- 2004, T. N. Shivenanda, B. R. V. Iyengar, Phosphorus Management in French Bean (Phaseolus Vulgaris L.), Ramdane Dris, S. Mohan Jain (editors), Production Practices and Quality Assessment of Food Crops, Volume 2: Plant Mineral Nutrition and Pesticide Management, page 79,
- Beans are a large group of leguminous vegetables that serve as a main source of proteins in human diet. This group comprises several species and some of them are Adzuki bean (Vigna angularis); Broad bean (Vicia faba); Cluster bean (Cyamposis tetragonoloba); French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris); […] .
- The large edible seed of such a plant (for example, a broad bean, navy bean, or garbanzo bean).
- The edible seedpod of such a plant.
- Green beans, also called French beans, can be pickled.
- (by extension) The bean-like seed of certain other plants, such as a vanilla bean or (especially) a coffee bean.
- (by extension) An object resembling a pea or bean in shape, often made from plastic or styrofoam and used in large numbers as packing material or as stuffing for beanbags and similar items.
- (slang) The head or brain.
- Synonym: noggin
- 1959, Maxwell Droke, You and the World to Come, page 173:
- Now, there was a perfectly sound forecast for you. Certainly a case of using the old bean. The surmise was perfectly logical.
- 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter XI and XV:
- I saw her quiver and kept a wary eye on the ginger ale bottle. But even if she had raised it and brought it down on [my] bean, I couldn't have been more stunned than I was by the words that left her lips.
[...]
Well, as I say, it was from his fertile bean that the idea sprang.
- (slang) The human clitoris.
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:bean.
- (slang, often endearing) A person; especially, a baby.
- 2000 April 9, Richard G Cheek, “Apologies, DimWit Dana”, in talk.politics.guns (Usenet):
- Sparky is a good bean, even if he is a carpet-bagging bean at that.
- 2002 March 21, Yena, "oh my bloody god boys!", microsoft.public.xbox, Usenet:
- i dont want boid (whoever said that) he is mean. boid is a mean bean.
- 2007, Alex Bradley, Hot Lunch, Penguin, →ISBN:
- "Good, because we like you. You're okay. You're a good bean." "I never thought I'd be friends with a cheerleader," I said.
- (British, slang, archaic) A guinea coin or sovereign.
- (British, slang, chiefly in the negative) Money.
- I haven't got a bean.
- (Java programming language) Clipping of JavaBean.
- (slang) Any form of tablet, especially benzedrine (benny).
- (colloquial, chiefly in the plural) A toe bean.
Usage notes
Beans and peas are sometimes misidentified (confused with one another); they are both legumes (belonging to the family Fabaceae) and seeds. Peas are a type of bean with smaller, round seeds in the pod, in contrast to the oval or kidney-shaped seeds usually referred to as beans. Because both terms are applied to a wide range of different legumes, the distinction is not always clear: garbanzo bean is a synonym of chickpea.
The word bean has referred to a wide class of seeds since pre-Columbian times (when only the Eurasian types were known to Germanic language speakers), but, after Columbian contact, it was extended to other seeds belonging to the New World genus Phaseolus (runner beans, lima beans, and so on; see bean § Terminology for details). The fruits or seeds of some other non-Fabaceae plants (e.g., coffee beans, cocoa beans, vanilla beans, castor beans) are also referred to as beans, because of their resemblance to beans as named in the stricter sense.
Hyponyms
- adsuki bean
- aduki bean
- adzuki bean
- algaroba bean
- algarroba bean
- Anasazi bean
- asparagus bean
- azuki bean
- baked beans, baked bean
- baking beans
- bay bean
- beach bean
- Bengal bean, Benghal bean
- bitter bean
- black bean
- blackbean
- black bean sauce, black-bean sauce
- black-eyed bean
- black turtle bean
- blue beans
- bog bean
- bogbean
- Bolita bean
- bonavist bean
- borlotti bean
- boston bean
- broad bean
- broadbean
- brown bean
- buckbean
- buck bean
- buffalo bean
- bush bean
- butter bean
- butterbean
- cacao bean
- Calabar bean
- calico bean
- calico beans
- cannellini bean
- carob bean
- castor bean
- castor-oil bean
- ceci bean
- chili beans
- China bean
- Chinese long bean
- civet bean
- cluster bean
- cocoa bean
- coffee bean
- common bean
- coral bean
- corona bean
- cow bean
- cowboy beans
- cranberry bean
- djenkol bean
- dragon tongue bean
- Dutch case-knife bean
- dwarf bean
- edible bean
- Egyptian bean
- English bean
- English runner bean
- Entity Bean
- European bean
- faba bean
- fava bean
- fetish bean
- field bean
- flageolet bean
- flick the bean
- Florida bean
- Florida velvet bean
- French bean
- french bean
- French filet bean
- fresh bean
- full of beans
- garbanzo bean
- gemsbuck beans
- giant stock bean
- give someone beans
- goa bean
- great Northern bean
- great northern bean
- green bean
- green bean galaxy
- guar bean
- guava bean
- haricot bean
- haricot vert bean
- hog's bean
- horse bean
- horsebean
- human bean
- hyacinth bean
- ice-cream bean
- Ignatius' bean
- Indian bean
- Italian flat bean
- jack bean
- java bean
- jellybean
- jelly bean
- jequirity bean
- jering bean
- jolly bean
- jumby bean
- jumping bean
- Kentucky wonder bean
- Kersting's bean
- kidney bean
- Leichhardt's bean
- lima bean, Lima bean
- locust bean
- lupini bean
- Lyon bean
- Mackenzie bean
- Madagascar bean
- magotty bay bean
- Manila bean
- marama bean
- marrow bean
- mash bean
- mat bean
- matchbox bean
- matpe bean
- mescal bean
- mescalbean
- mesquite bean
- Message-driven Bean
- Mexican bean
- Mexican jumping bean
- Mexican yam bean
- mini beans
- Molucca bean
- mongo bean
- moong bean
- morama bean
- morning bean
- moth bean
- mung bean
- mungo bean
- navy bean
- old bean
- ordeal bean
- pea bean
- pearl haricot bean
- pichurim bean
- pink bean
- pinto bean
- poison bean
- pole bean
- Price's potato-bean
- Pythagorean bean
- Queensland bean
- red bean
- refried beans, refried bean
- rice and beans
- rice bean (Vigna umbellata)
- Romano bean
- runner bean
- sacred bean
- sand bean
- scarlet runner bean
- screwbean
- screw bean
- sea bean
- seabean
- sea green bean
- shell bean
- sieva bean
- smoking bean
- snail bean
- snap bean
- snuffbox bean
- soja bean
- soup beans
- soya bean
- soybean
- soy bean
- Spanish bean
- speckled butter bean
- spill the beans
- St Ignatius' bean
- St Ignatius's bean
- stink bean
- stinky bean
- string bean
- stringless bean
- St. Thomas bean
- sugar bean
- sword bean
- tepary bean
- tickbean
- tick bean
- tonca bean
- tonga bean
- tonka bean
- tonqua bean
- tonquin bean
- turtle bean
- twisted cluster bean
- urd bean
- vanilla bean
- velvet bean
- Walkman Bean
- wax bean
- waxbean
- wax-pod bean
- Welsh bean
- white bean
- white pea bean
- wild bean
- Windsor bean
- winged bean
- wolf bean
- wonder bean
- yam bean
- Yankee bean
- yardlong bean
- yard-long bean
- yellow bean
software: JavaBeans
Derived terms
- African locust bean
- a hill of beans
- asparagus-bean
- Banstead
- BaseBean
- bean aphid
- bean aphis
- bean bag
- bean-bag
- beanbag
- bean ball
- beanball
- bean beetle
- bean-belly
- bean blight
- beanbrain
- beanbrawl
- beanbreath
- bean bruchid
- bean-brush
- beanburger
- bean-butter
- bean cake
- beancake
- bean-cake
- bean caper
- bean-caper
- bean choke
- bean chute
- bean clam
- bean-cod
- bean-counter
- bean counter
- bean cowrie
- bean-crake
- bean curd
- bean curve
- bean dip
- bean-dolphin
- bean-eater
- beaner
- beanery
- bean family
- beanfeast
- bean feast
- bean-feast
- bean-fed
- beanfield
- bean flicker
- bean-flicker
- bean flicking
- beanflour
- bean-fly
- bean fly
- bean-goose
- bean goose
- Beanhead
- bean hole
- beanhole
- bean-hool
- bean-hull
- beanie
- beanie baby
- Beanie Baby
- beanie key
- bean iron ore
- bean jar
- bean-king
- bean king
- bean leafroller
- beanless
- bean-like
- beanlike
- bean machine
- bean masher
- beanmeal
- bean metal
- bean-mouse
- bean mouth
- bean of Molucca
- bean of St Ignatius
- bean oil
- bean paste
- bean pie
- bean plant
- beanplot
- beanpole, bean-pole, bean pole
- beanpot
- bean pot
- Beanpot
- bean queen
- bean rag
- bean salad
- beans bunny
- Bean Scripting Framework
- bean seed fly
- bean-shaped plasma
- bean-shatter
- bean shoot
- bean-shooter
- bean shot
- bean-shot copper
- bean-shouter
- bean slot
- beans on toast
- beanspilling
- bean sprout
- beanstalk, bean-stalk
- bean stitch
- bean-straw
- bean thread noodles
- bean threads
- bean-to-bar
- bean tostada
- Bean Town
- Beantown
- bean-tree
- bean tree
- bean-trefoil
- bean trefoil
- bean-vine
- bean wagon
- beanwater
- beanweed
- bean weevil
- bean-wood
- beany
- blackbean
- black bean aphid
- bobby bean
- bogbean
- boring as beans
- broadbean
- buck-bean
- buckbean
- bullets and beans
- bush-bean
- butterbean
- campfire beans
- castor-bean
- castor bean tick
- charro bean
- chuckwagon beans
- clean as a bean
- cool beans
- cowboy beans
- desert bean
- dilly bean
- Enola bean
- fine bean
- flick one's bean
- for beans
- full of beans
- gemsbok bean
- get beans
- Goa bean
- goa bean vine
- goober bean
- gully bean
- horsebean
- hot bean
- hot boiled beans
- Ignatius bean
- JavaBean
- java-bean
- jellybean
- jugo bean
- keen as a bean
- keep it a bean
- kewl beans
- know beans about
- know how many beans make five
- le dollar bean
- locust bean gum
- long-bean
- Malacca-bean
- Malacca bean
- Malacca-bean tree
- Malacca bean tree
- maloga bean
- May-bean
- MBean
- Mexican bean beetle
- mole bean
- multiflora bean
- NetBeans
- nicker bean
- not care beans
- not have a bean
- not know beans
- not worth beans
- peachy keen jelly bean
- pole-bean
- pork and bean
- pork and beans
- potato-bean
- prairie-bean
- red bean paste
- refried bean
- scarlet-bean
- scarlet bean
- screw-bean
- seabean
- session bean
- silly bean
- snake bean
- snoutbean
- snuff box sea bean
- soup beans
- soybean
- spill the beans
- stinking bean trefoil
- St. Thomas' beangive someone beans
- sweet bean sauce
- tickbean
- toe bean
- tough beans
- tundra bean goose
- waxbean
Descendants
- → Fiji Hindi: biin
Translations
plant of Fabaceae that produces edible seeds or pods
seed
|
pod
|
other bean-like seed
stuffing for beanbags and similar items
slang: head or brain
guinea coin — see guinea
Verb
bean (third-person singular simple present beans, present participle beaning, simple past and past participle beaned)
- (chiefly baseball) To hit with a projectile, especially a deliberately aimed blow to the head.
- The pitcher beaned the batter, rather than letting him hit another home run.
- 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter IX and XI:
- Though I shall have to exercise an iron self-restraint to keep me from beaning that pie-faced little hornswoggler Mrs Bertram Wooster, nee Wickham, with the shaker.
[...]
dudgeon might easily lead her to reach for the ginger ale bottle and bean me with it.
Further reading
bean on Wikipedia.Wikipedia - Bean (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- “bean n.1”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present
Anagrams
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Basque
Noun
bean
Gagauz
Pronoun
Further reading
- Ciachir, Mihail (1938), “bean”, in Dicționar gagauzo (tiurco)–român pentru gagauzii din Basarabia (in Romanian), Chișinău, page 14
Irish
Middle English
Old English
Polish
Scottish Gaelic
Swedish
West Frisian
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