BANANA

banana

(noun) elongated crescent-shaped yellow fruit with soft sweet flesh

banana, banana tree

(noun) any of several tropical and subtropical treelike herbs of the genus Musa having a terminal crown of large entire leaves and usually bearing hanging clusters of elongated fruits

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

BANANA (plural BANANAs)

(informal, humorous, derogatory, often, attributively) One who objects to the building of any structure in their neighbourhood or a certain type of structure anywhere, especially in public policy debate. [from 1991 (Australia)]

Synonym: NIMBY (less strong)

Usage notes

• The term is used as an expression of irritation towards people who are thought to be worse than NIMBYs.

Anagrams

• Annaba

Etymology

Noun

banana (countable and uncountable, plural bananas)

An elongated curved tropical fruit that grows in bunches and has a creamy flesh and a smooth skin.

(North America, UK, Ireland) Especially, the sweet, yellow fruit of the Cavendish banana cultivar.

The tropical tree-like plant which bears clusters of bananas. The plant, usually of the genus Musa but sometimes also including plants from Ensete, has large, elongated leaves and is related to the plantain.

(uncountable) A yellow colour, like that of a banana's skin.

(mildly, pejorative, slang, ethnic slur) A person of Asian descent, especially a Chinese American, who has assimilated into Western culture or married a Caucasian (from the "yellow" outside and "white" inside). Compare coconut (“assimilated Hispanic or Black”) or Oreo (“Black person who is "black outside" and "white inside"”).

(nuclear physics) A banana equivalent dose.

(colloquial) A catamorphism (from the use of banana brackets in the notation).

(slang) The penis.

(sports) A banana kick.

Synonyms

• (Asian assimilated into Western culture): jook-sing, Twinkie

Antonyms

• (Asian assimilated into Western culture): egg (Western assimilated into Asian culture)

Coordinate terms

• (Asian assimilated into Western culture): coconut

Adjective

banana (not comparable)

Curved like a banana, especially of a ball in flight.

Hypernyms

• bunch

• hand

• Appendix:English collective nouns

Anagrams

• Annaba

Source: Wiktionary


Ba*na"na, n. Etym: [Sp. banana, name of the fruit.] (Bot.)

Definition: A perennial herbaceous plant of almost treelike size (Musa sapientum); also, its edible fruit. See Musa.

Note: The banana has a soft, herbaceous stalk, with leaves of great length and breadth. The flowers grow in bunches, covered with a sheath of a green or purple color; the fruit is five or six inches long, and over an inch in diameter; the pulp is soft, and of a luscious taste, and is eaten either raw or cooked. This plant is a native of tropical countries, and furnishes an important article of food. Banana bird (Zoöl.), a small American bird (Icterus leucopteryx), which feeds on the banana.

– Banana quit (Zoöl.), a small bird of tropical America, of the genus Certhiola, allied to the creepers.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

28 December 2024

ACERVULUS

(noun) small asexual fruiting body resembling a cushion or blister consisting of a mat of hyphae that is produced on a host by some fungi


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