vanilla definition | Dictionary.com

va⋅nil⋅la

[vuh-nil-uh or, often, -nel-uh]

–noun

1.	any tropical, climbing orchid of the genus Vanilla, esp. V. planifolia, bearing podlike fruit yielding an extract used in flavoring food, in perfumery, etc.

2.	Also called vanilla bean. the fruit or bean of this orchid.

3.	the extract of this fruit.

–adjective

4.	containing or flavored with vanilla: vanilla custard.

5.	Informal. plain-vanilla.

Origin:
1655–65; < NL < Sp vainilla little pod, equiv. to vain(a) a sheath (< L vāgīna sheath) + -illa dim. suffix (< LL)

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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va·nil·la (və-nĭl'ə)

Any of various tropical American vines of the genus Vanilla in the orchid family, especially V. planifolia, cultivated for its long narrow seedpods from which a flavoring agent is obtained.
The seedpod of this plant. Also called vanilla bean.
A flavoring extract prepared from the cured seedpods of this plant or produced synthetically.

adj.

Flavored with vanilla: vanilla pudding.
Lacking adornments or special features; basic or ordinary: "We went through a period of vanilla cars" (Charles Jordan).

[Obsolete Spanish vainilla, diminutive of vaina, sheath (from the shape of its seedpods), from Latin vāgīna.]

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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Vanilla

Va*nil"la\, n. [NL., fr. Sp. vainilla, dim. of Sp. vaina a sheath, a pod, L. vagina; because its grains, or seeds, are contained in little pods.]

1. (Bot.) A genus of climbing orchidaceous plants, natives of tropical America.

2. The long podlike capsules of Vanilla planifolia, and V. claviculata, remarkable for their delicate and agreeable odor, for the volatile, odoriferous oil extracted from them; also, the flavoring extract made from the capsules, extensively used in confectionery, perfumery, etc.

Note: As a medicine, vanilla is supposed to possess powers analogous to valerian, while, at the same time, it is far more grateful.

Cuban vanilla, a sweet-scented West Indian composite shrub (Eupatorium Dalea).

Vanilla bean, the long capsule of the vanilla plant.

Vanilla grass. Same as Holy grass, under Holy.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : vanilla

Spanish: vainilla,

German: die Vanille,

Japanese: バニラ

More Translations »

vanilla

adj. [from the default flavor of ice cream in the U.S.] Ordinary flavor, standard. When used of food, very often does not mean that the food is flavored with vanilla extract! For example, `vanilla wonton soup' means ordinary wonton soup, as opposed to hot-and-sour wonton soup. Applied to hardware and software, as in "Vanilla Version 7 Unix can't run on a vanilla 11/34." Also used to orthogonalize chip nomenclature; for instance, a 74V00 means what TI calls a 7400, as distinct from a 74LS00, etc. This word differs from canonical in that the latter means `default', whereas vanilla simply means `ordinary'. For example, when hackers go on a great-wall, hot-and-sour soup is the canonical soup to get (because that is what most of them usually order) even though it isn't the vanilla (wonton) soup.

Jargon File 4.2.0
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vanilla

1662, from Sp. vainilla "vanilla plant," lit. "little pod," dim. of vaina "sheath," from L. vagina "sheath" (see vagina). So called from the shape of the pods. European discovery 1521 by Hernando Cortes' soldiers on reconnaissance in southeastern Mexico. Meaning "conventional, of ordinary sexual preferences" is 1970s, from notion of whiteness and the common choice of vanilla ice cream. Vanillin is from 1868.

Main Entry: va·nil·la
Pronunciation: v&-'nil-&, -'nel-
Function: noun
1 a : VANILLA BEAN b : a commercially important extract of the vanilla bean that is prepared by soaking comminutedvanilla beans in water and ethyl alcohol and that is used especially as a flavoring (as in pharmaceutical preparations)
2 : any of a genus (Vanilla) of tropical Americanclimbing orchids

vanilla va·nil·la (və-nĭl'ə)
n.

Any of various tropical American vines of the genus Vanilla, especially V. planifolia, cultivated for its long narrow seedpods from which a flavoring agent is obtained.
The seedpod of this plant. Also called vanilla bean.
A flavoring extract prepared from the cured seedpods of this plant or produced synthetically.

adj.
Flavored with vanilla.

vanilla
1. (Default flavour of ice cream in the US) Ordinary flavour, standard. When used of food, very often does not mean that the food is flavoured with vanilla extract! For example, "vanilla wonton soup" means ordinary wonton soup, as opposed to hot-and-sour wonton soup. Applied to hardware and software, as in "Vanilla Version 7 Unix can't run on a vanilla PDP 11/34." Also used to orthogonalise chip nomenclature; for instance, a 74V00 means what TI calls a 7400, as distinct from a 74LS00, etc. This word differs from canonical in that the latter means "default", whereas vanilla simply means "ordinary". For example, when hackers go to a chinese restaurant, hot-and-sour wonton soup is the canonical wonton soup to get (because that is what most of them usually order) even though it isn't the vanilla wonton soup.
[The Jargon File]
(1994-11-04)
2. Snobol4 by Catspaw, Inc. for MS-DOS.
(ftp://cs.arizona.edu/snobol4/vanilla.arc).
(1992-02-05)

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