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Peanut

 - 3 dictionary results

pea⋅nut

[pee-nuht, -nuht]
–noun
1. the pod or the enclosed edible seed of the plant, Arachis hypogaea, of the legume family: the pod is forced underground in growing, where it ripens.
2. the plant itself.
3. any small or insignificant person or thing.
4. peanuts,
a. Informal. a very small amount of money: working for peanuts.
b. Slang. barbiturates.
c. small pieces of Styrofoam used as a packing material.
–adjective
5. of or pertaining to the peanut or peanuts.
6. made with or from peanuts.
7. Informal. small, insignificant, or petty.

Origin:
1790–1800, Americanism; pea 1 + nut
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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pea·nut   (pē'nŭt')   
n.  
  1. A prostrate southern Brazilian plant (Arachis hypogaea) widely cultivated in tropical and warm temperate regions, having yellow flowers on stalks that bend over so that the seed pods ripen underground.

  2. The edible, nutlike, oily seed of this plant, used for food and as a source of oil. Also called regionally goober, goober pea.

  3. A peanut-shaped piece of polystyrene, used in cushioning items during shipment.

  4. Slang

    1. A person small in stature.

    2. A person who is regarded as being insignificant.

  5. peanuts Informal A very small amount of money; a trifling sum.

adj.   Slang
Having little or no importance; insignificant: peanut politicians.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

peanut 
1807, earlier ground nut, ground pea (1769). The plant is native to S.America. Portuguese traders took peanuts from Brazil and Peru to Africa by 1502 and it is known to have been cultivated in Chekiang Province in China by 1573, probably arriving with Port. sailors who made stops in Brazil en route to the Orient. Peanut butter is first attested 1903. Peanut gallery "topmost rows of a theater" is from 1888; peanuts "trivial sum" is from 1934.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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