bean
Listen:Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
bean/biːn/
▶noun
- 1 an edible kidney-shaped seed growing in long pods on certain leguminous plants.
- 2 a leguminous plant bearing beans in pods. [Phaseolus and other genera: numerous species.]
- 3 the hard seed of coffee, cocoa, and certain other plants.
- 4 (N. Amer. also beans) [with neg.] informal a very small amount or nothing at all.
- 5 informal, dated a person's head.
– phrases
full of beans informal lively; in high spirits.
old bean Brit. informal, dated a friendly form of address.
full of beans informal lively; in high spirits.
old bean Brit. informal, dated a friendly form of address.
– origin OE bēan, of Gmc origin.
'bean' also found in these Oxford entries:
accra
- adzuki
- banshee
- bean counter
- bean curd
- bean goose
- beanie
- bean sprouts
- beanstalk
- black bean
- black-eyed bean
- borlotti bean
- broad bean
- butter bean
- cacao
- Calabar bean
- cannellini bean
- castor bean
- chop suey
- cluster bean
- cocoa bean
- coffee
- coumarin
- faba bean
- fava bean
- feijoada
- flageolet
- French bean
- haricot
- hilum
- horsebean
- jelly bean
- jicama
- jumping bean
- kidney bean
- lima bean
- loment
- lucky bean
- mesquite bean
- mung bean
- navy bean
- physostigmine
- pinto bean
- runner bean
- scarlet runner
- snap bean
- soya milk
- soybean
- string
