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ordeal bean

American

noun

Calabar bean.

Etymology

Origin of ordeal bean

First recorded in 1880–85; so called because it was allegedly administered as a test to persons suspected of witchcraft

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.