Nearby Words
noun
1.
the edible nutritious seed of various plants of the legume family, especially of the genus Phaseolus.
2.
a plant producing such seeds.
3.
the pod of such a plant, especially when immature and eaten as a vegetable.
4.
any of various other beanlike seeds or plants, as the coffee bean.
5.
EXPANDSlang.
a.
a person's head.
b.
a coin or a bank note considered as a coin: I can't pay for the ticket, I don't have a bean in my jeans.
6.
British Informal. a minimum amount of money: They've been disinherited and now haven't a bean.
7.
COLLAPSEbeans, Informal. the slightest amount: He doesn't know beans about navigation.
verb (used with object)
8.
Slang. to hit on the head, especially with a baseball.
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Spill the beans
is always a great word to know.
So is quincunx. Does it mean:
| an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle. |
| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
interjection
Idioms9.
beans, (used to express disbelief, annoyance, etc.).
10.
full of beans, Informal.
a.
energetic; vigorously active; vital: He is still full of beans at 95.
b.
stupid; erroneous; misinformed.
11.
spill the beans, Informal. to disclose a secret, either accidentally or imprudently, thereby ruining a surprise or plan: He spilled the beans, and she knew all about the party in advance.
Origin:
before 950; Middle English bene, Old English bēan; cognate with Old Norse baun, Old Frisian bāne, Dutch boon, Old Saxon, Old High German bona (German Bohne), probably < Germanic *babnō, cognate with Russian bob, Latin faba < European Indo-European *bhabh-
before 950; Middle English bene, Old English bēan; cognate with Old Norse baun, Old Frisian bāne, Dutch boon, Old Saxon, Old High German bona (German Bohne), probably < Germanic *babnō, cognate with Russian bob, Latin faba < European Indo-European *bhabh-
Related forms
bean·like, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To spill the beans
Etymonline
Word Origin & History
bean
O.E. bean "bean, pea, legume," from P.Gmc. *bauno (cf. O.N. baun, Ger. bohne), perhaps from a PIE reduplicated base *bha-bha- and related to L. faba "bean." As a metaphor for "something of small value" it is attested from c.1300. Meaning "head" is U.S. baseball slang c.1905 (in bean-ball "a pitch thrown
EXPANDat the head"); thus slang verb bean meaning "to hit on the head," attested from 1910. Slang bean-counter is first recorded 1975. The notion of lucky or magic beans in English folklore is from the exotic beans or large seeds that wash up occasionally in Cornwall and western Scotland, carried from the Caribbean or South America by the Gulf Stream. They were cherished, believed to ward off the evil eye and aid in childbirth. To not know beans (Amer.Eng. 1933) is perhaps from the "of little worth" sense, but may have a connection to colloquial expression recorded around Somerset, to know how many beans make five "be a clever fellow."
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary
bean definition |
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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spill the beans definitionand spill the works
|
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases
spill the beans
Disclose a secret or reveal something prematurely, as in You can count on little Carol to spill the beans about the surprise. In this colloquial expression, first recorded in 1919, spill means "divulge," a usage dating from the 1500s.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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