Bean

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Bean \Bean\ (b[=e]n), n. [OE. bene, AS. be['a]n; akin to D.
     boon, G. bohne, OHG. p[=o]na, Icel. baun, Dan. b["o]nne, Sw.
     b["o]na, and perh. to Russ. bob, L. faba.]
     1. (Bot.) A name given to the seed of certain leguminous
        herbs, chiefly of the genera {Faba}, {Phaseolus}, and
        {Dolichos}; also, to the herbs.


        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: The origin and classification of many kinds are still
           doubtful. Among true beans are: the black-eyed bean and
           China bean, included in {Dolichos Sinensis}; black
           Egyptian bean or hyacinth bean, {Dolichos Lablab}; the
           common haricot beans, kidney beans, string beans, and
           pole beans, all included in {Phaseolus vulgaris}; the
           lower bush bean, {Phaseolus vulgaris}, variety nanus;
           Lima bean, {Phaseolus lunatus}; Spanish bean and
           scarlet runner, {Phaseolus multiflorus}; Windsor bean,
           the common bean of England, {Faba vulgaris}.
           [1913 Webster] As an article of food beans are classed
           with vegetables.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     2. The popular name of other vegetable seeds or fruits, more
        or less resembling true beans.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Bean aphis} (Zool.), a plant louse ({Aphis fab[ae]}) which
        infests the bean plant.
  
     {Bean fly} (Zool.), a fly found on bean flowers.
  
     {Bean goose} (Zool.), a species of goose ({Anser segetum}).
        
  
     {Bean weevil} (Zool.), a small weevil that in the larval
        state destroys beans. The American species is {Bruchus
        fab[ae]}.
  
     {Florida bean} (Bot.), the seed of {Mucuna urens}, a West
        Indian plant. The seeds are washed up on the Florida
        shore, and are often polished and made into ornaments.
  
     {Ignatius bean}, or {St. Ignatius's bean} (Bot.), a species
        of {Strychnos}.
  
     {Navy bean}, the common dried white bean of commerce;
        probably so called because an important article of food in
        the navy.
  
     {Pea bean}, a very small and highly esteemed variety of the
        edible white bean; -- so called from its size.
  
     {Sacred bean}. See under {Sacred}.
  
     {Screw bean}. See under {Screw}.
  
     {Sea bean}.
        (a) Same as {Florida bean}.
        (b) A red bean of unknown species used for ornament.
  
     {Tonquin bean}, or {Tonka bean}, the fragrant seed of
        {Dipteryx odorata}, a leguminous tree.
  
     {Vanilla bean}. See under {Vanilla}.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  bean
       n 1: any of various edible seeds of plants of the family
            Leguminosae [syn: {edible bean}]
       2: any of various seeds or fruits suggestive of beans
       3: any of various leguminous plants grown for their edible
          seeds and pods [syn: {bean plant}]
       4: informal terms for a human head [syn: {attic}, {bonce}, {noodle},
           {noggin}, {dome}]
       v : hit on the head, esp. with a pitched baseball

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  153 Moby Thesaurus words for "bean":
     Irish potato, Kraut, a continental, a curse, a damn, a darn,
     a hoot, algae, aubergine, autophyte, bagatelle, bauble, beans,
     belfry, bibelot, bit, bracken, brain, brass farthing, brow,
     brown algae, button, cabbage, cent, climber, conferva, confervoid,
     conk, creeper, crown, curio, diatom, dome, eggplant, encephalon,
     farce, farthing, feather, fern, fig, fleabite, folderol, fribble,
     frippery, fruits and vegetables, fucus, fungus, gaud, gewgaw,
     gimcrack, grapevine, gray matter, green algae, greens, gulfweed,
     hair, halfpenny, head, headpiece, herb, heterophyte, hill of beans,
     ivy, jest, joke, kelp, kickshaw, knickknack, knickknackery, legume,
     legumes, lentil, liana, lichen, liverwort, love apple, mad apple,
     minikin, mockery, mold, molehill, moss, mushroom, noddle, noggin,
     noodle, organ of thought, parasite, parasitic plant, pate, pea,
     peppercorn, perthophyte, phytoplankton, picayune, pieplant, pin,
     pinch of snuff, pinprick, planktonic algae, plant families, poll,
     potato, potherbs, produce, puffball, pulse, rap, red algae,
     red cent, rhubarb, ridge, rockweed, row of pins, rush, rust,
     saprophyte, sargasso, sargassum, sconce, sea lentil, sea moss,
     sea wrack, seat of thought, seaweed, sensation, sensorium, sensory,
     shit, smut, snap, sneeshing, sou, spud, straw, succulent, tater,
     toadstool, tomato, toy, trifle, trinket, triviality, tuppence,
     two cents, twopence, vegetables, vetch, vine, whim-wham,
     white potato, wort, wrack
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  bean
       
          {JavaBeans}