bean

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Other forms: beans; beaned; beaning

A bean is a seed you can eat. You might love garbanzo beans but detest large, green lima beans.

When you order rice and beans at a Mexican restaurant, you get a plate full of deliciously spiced, slightly mashed pinto or black beans. You might plant beans in your garden, vine-like climbing plants that grow pods with beans inside. Coffee and chocolate are both foods that start out as beans. If someone beans you during a softball game, it means they hit you with the ball, usually in the head — also colloquially called a bean.

Definitions of bean

1. noun

   any of various leguminous plants grown for their edible seeds and pods
   synonyms: bean plant

   types:

   bush bean

   a bean plant whose bushy growth needs no supports

   pole bean

   a climbing bean plant that will climb a wall or tree or trellis

   shell bean, shell bean plant

   a bean plant grown primarily for its edible seed rather than its pod

   Phaseolus vulgaris, common bean, common bean plant

   the common annual twining or bushy bean plant grown for its edible seeds or pods

   Dutch case-knife bean, Phaseolus coccineus, Phaseolus multiflorus, runner bean, scarlet runner, scarlet runner bean

   tropical American bean with red flowers and mottled black beans similar to Phaseolus vulgaris but perennial; a preferred food bean in Great Britain

   Phaseolus limensis, lima bean, lima bean plant

   bush or tall-growing bean plant having large flat edible seeds

   Phaseolus lunatus, butter bean, butter-bean plant, lima bean, sieva bean

   bush bean plant cultivated especially in southern United States having small flat edible seeds

   Phaseolus acutifolius latifolius, tepary bean

   twining plant of southwestern United States and Mexico having roundish white or yellow or brown or black beans

   English bean, European bean, Vicia faba, broad bean, broad-bean, broad-bean plant, field bean

   Old World upright plant grown especially for its large flat edible seeds but also as fodder

   type of:

   legume, leguminous plant

   an erect or climbing bean or pea plant of the family Leguminosae
2. noun

   any of various edible seeds of plants of the family Leguminosae used for food
   synonyms: edible bean

   types:

   goa bean

   Old World tropical bean

   common bean

   any of numerous beans eaten either fresh or dried

   soy, soya, soya bean, soybean

   the most highly proteinaceous vegetable known; the fruit of the soybean plant is used in a variety of foods and as fodder (especially as a replacement for animal protein)

   kidney bean

   large dark red bean; usually dried

   navy bean, pea bean, white bean

   white-seeded bean; usually dried

   pinto bean

   mottled or spotted bean of southwestern United States; usually dried

   frijole

   Mexican bean; usually dried

   black bean, turtle bean

   black-seeded bean of South America; usually dried

   fresh bean

   beans eaten before they are ripe as opposed to dried

   flageolet, haricot

   a French bean variety with light-colored seeds; usually dried

   field soybean

   seeds used as livestock feed

   type of:

   legume

   the seedpod of a leguminous plant (such as peas, beans, or lentils)
3. noun

   any of various seeds or fruits that are beans or resemble beans
   types:

   coumara nut, tonka bean

   fragrant black nutlike seeds of the tonka bean tree; used in perfumes and medicines and as a substitute for vanilla

   algarobilla, algarroba, algarrobilla

   mesquite pod used in tanning and dyeing

   calabar bean, ordeal bean

   dark brown highly poisonous seed of the calabar-bean vine; source of physostigmine and used in native witchcraft

   divi-divi

   twisted seed pods of the divi-divi tree; source of tannin

   algarroba, algarroba bean, carob, carob bean, locust bean, locust pod

   long pod containing small beans and sweetish edible pulp; used as animal feed and source of a chocolate substitute

   soy, soya bean, soybean

   a source of oil; used for forage and soil improvement and as food

   broad bean, fava bean, horsebean

   seed of the broad-bean plant

   type of:

   seed

   a small hard fruit
4. noun

   an informal term for a human head
   synonyms: attic, bonce, dome, noggin, noodle

   type of:

   human head

   the head of a human being
5. verb

   hit on the head, especially with a pitched baseball
   type of:

   hit

   deal a blow to, either with the hand or with an instrument