French bean

American  

noun

1. British. the pod of a green bean or wax bean, eaten as a vegetable.

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French bean British  

noun

1. a small twining bushy or annual bean plant, Phaseolus vulgaris , with white or lilac flowers and slender green edible pods

2. the pod of this plant See also haricot

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Etymology

Origin of French bean

First recorded in 1545–55

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

French bean

Haricot, har′i-ko, -kot, n. a kind of ragout or stew of mutton and beans or other vegetables: the kidney-bean or French bean.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various

Then a sentimental passion of a vegetable fashion must excite your languid spleen, An attachment E LA Plato for a bashful young potato, or a not-too- French French bean.

From Songs of a Savoyard by Sir W. S. (William Schwenck) Gilbert

After all, when Bunthorne asked for a not-too-French French bean he showed more commonsense than he intended.

From Books and Characters French and English by Giles Lytton Strachey

Then a sentimental passion of a vegetable fashion must excite your languid spleen, An attachment a la Plato for a bashful young potato, or a not- too-French French bean!

From The Complete Plays of Gilbert and Sullivan by Sir W. S. (William Schwenck) Gilbert

Gilbert, again, in Patience has a reference to "a not-too-French French bean" that suggests a ribald estimate of this family of plants.

From The Pleasures of Ignorance by Robert Lynd