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]

	

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

	

	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

	

	JavaBeans
bean

    A component architecture for the Java
   programming language, developed initially by Sun, but now
   available from several other vendors.  JavaBeans components
   are called "beans".

   JavaBeans allows developers to create reusable software
   components that can then be assembled together using visual
   application builder tools including Sybase's PowerJ,
   Borland's JBuilder, IBM's Visual Age for Java,
   SunSoft's Java Workshop and Symantec's Visual Cafe.

   JavaBeans support Introspection (a builder tool can analyze
   how a Bean works), Customisation (developers can customise the
   appearance and behaviour of a Bean), Events (Beans can
   communicate), Properties (developers can customise and program
   with Beans(?)) and Persistence (customised Beans can be stored
   and reused).

   (http://javasoft.com/beans/).

   (1997-11-20)