bananas
[buh-nan-uh z]
- crazy; deranged: All that chatter is driving me bananas.
- wildly enthusiastic: The crowd went bananas when the music began.
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Origin of bananas
banana
[buh-nan-uh]
- a tropical plant of the genus Musa, certain species of which are cultivated for their nutritious fruit.Compare banana family.
- the fruit, especially that of M. paradisiaca, with yellow or reddish rind.
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Origin of banana
1590–1600; < Spanish < Portuguese (perhaps via Sp); akin to various words for banana or plantain in WAfr languages (e.g., Wolof, Malinke banana, Vai (Mande language of Liberia) bana), but ultimate source and direction of borrowing uncertain
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
crazy, lunatic, cuckoo, maniac, nuts, sick, psycho, crackers, bonkers, brainsick, daft, demented, deranged, distraught, disturbed, dotty, kooky, loco, mad, maniacalExamples from the Web for bananas
Contemporary Examples
Duarte owns a small plot of land where she grazes cattle and grows beans, maize, bananas, and oranges.
I love its late daylight against old building facades; its 30-cent bananas from the stands on the corner; its new bike lanes.
At the checkout, her total for bananas, arugula, blackberries, kale, yogurt, rice noodles, and tofu comes to $34.21.
Medical errors in television shows and movies drive me bananas.
Zoe has come a long way since her days of screaming “I die” and “Bananas!”
Historical Examples
No artillery was captured, but a great quantity of bananas was taken.
The bananas of this region were found to be especially luscious and appetizing.
Aztec LandMaturin M. Ballou
At first the greengrocer's baby did not like bananas and its cries were awful.
He is advising all his customers to feed their babies on bananas.
Olive produced her biscuits and bananas, and they munched together in amity.
Olive in ItalyMoray Dalton
bananas
- slang crazy (esp in the phrase go bananas)
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banana
- any of several tropical and subtropical herbaceous treelike plants of the musaceous genus Musa, esp M. sapientum, a widely cultivated species propagated from suckers and having hanging clusters of edible fruit
- the crescent-shaped fruit of any of these plantsCompare plantain 2
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Word Origin
C16: from Spanish or Portuguese, of African origin
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for bananas
adj.
"crazy," 1968; earlier (1935) it was noted as an underworld slang term for "sexually perverted."
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banana
n.
1590s, borrowed by Spanish or Portuguese from a West African word, possibly Wolof banana. The plant was introduced to the New World from Africa in 1516. Top banana, second banana, etc. are 1950s, from show business slang use of banana for "comedian, especially in a burlesque show." Banana split first attested 1920. Banana oil "nonsense" is slang from c.1910.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with bananas
banana
In addition to the idiom beginning with banana
- banana oil
also see:
- drive someone crazy (bananas)
- go bananas
- top banana
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.