Bean Definition

bēn
beans
noun
beans
Any of various twining herbs of the genus Phaseolus in the pea family, native to the Americas, having leaves with three leaflets and variously colored flowers, and widely cultivated for their edible pods and seeds.
American Heritage
Any of various leguminous plants; esp., any of several species of a genus (Phaseolus) of the pea family, including the kidney bean and lima bean.
Webster's New World
A seed or pod of any of these plants.
American Heritage
The edible, smooth, kidney-shaped seed of any of these plants.
Webster's New World
Any of several related plants or their seeds or pods, such as the adzuki bean, broad bean, or soybean.
American Heritage
verb
To hit (another) on the head with a thrown object, especially a pitched baseball.
American Heritage
To hit on the head.
Webster's New World
To hit (a batter) on the head with a pitched ball.
Webster's New World

(chiefly baseball) To hit deliberately with a projectile, especially in the head.

The pitcher beaned the batter, rather than letting him hit another home run.
Wiktionary
pronoun

A surname​.

Wiktionary
idiom
full of beans
  • Energetic; frisky:

    The children were too full of beans to sit still.

  • Badly mistaken:

    Don't believe him; he's full of beans.

American Heritage
spill the beans
  • To disclose a secret.
American Heritage
full of beans
  • full of energy and vitality; lively
  • mistaken; in error
Webster's New World
spill the beans
  • to divulge secret information
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Bean

Noun

Singular:
bean
Plural:
beans

Idioms, Phrasal Verbs Related to Bean

Origin of Bean

  • From Middle English bene, from Old English bēan (“bean, pea, legume”), 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”), Danish bønne (“bean”), Icelandic baun (“bean”), Latin faba (“bean”), Russian боб (bob, “bean”).

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English ben broad bean from Old English bēan bha-bhā- in Indo-European roots

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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