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

Synonyms:

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