peanut
[pee-nuht, -nuh t]
- the pod or the enclosed edible seed of the plant, Arachis hypogaea, of the legume family: the pod is forced underground in growing, where it ripens.
- the plant itself.
- any small or insignificant person or thing.
- peanuts,
- Informal.a very small amount of money: working for peanuts.
- Slang.barbiturates.
- small pieces of Styrofoam used as a packing material.
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- of or relating to the peanut or peanuts.
- made with or from peanuts.
- Informal. small, insignificant, or petty.
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Origin of peanut
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for peanut
Contemporary Examples
A famous 1916 publication proclaimed: “How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing it For Human Consumption.”
The following year, he testified before Congress about the U.S. peanut industry.
Titanic once bet a peanut vendor $10 he could throw a peanut across Times Square in New York.
Soon Johnny Carson was having more fun with Cleveland and its mayor than a monkey with a peanut.
The media and peanut gallery missed that class and immediately cast them as “others.”
Historical Examples
Did you ever notice how tiresome the whistle on a peanut roaster gets?
Common ScienceCarleton W. Washburne
Why is the whistle of a peanut roaster so shrill, and why is the whistle of a boat so deep?
Common ScienceCarleton W. Washburne
A camel is indistinguishable from a peanut—if only their humps be considered.
The Book of the DamnedCharles Fort
My lady, do you happen to have such a thing as a peanut in your pocket?
Prudy Keeping HouseSophie May
Before it dries, the peanut seed is easily injured by frost.
Agriculture for BeginnersCharles William Burkett
peanut
- a leguminous plant, Arachis hypogaea, of tropical America: widely cultivated for its edible seeds. The seed pods are forced underground where they ripenSee also hog peanut
- Also called: goober, goober pea, (Brit) groundnut, (Brit) monkey nutthe edible nutlike seed of this plant, used for food and as a source of oil
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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 peanut
n.
1807, earlier ground nut, ground pea (1769). The plant is native to S.America. Portuguese traders took peanuts from Brazil and Peru to Africa by 1502 and it is known to have been cultivated in Chekiang Province in China by 1573, probably arriving with Portuguese sailors who made stops in Brazil en route to the Orient. Peanut butter attested by 1892; peanut brittle is from 1894. Peanut gallery "topmost rows of a theater" is from 1874, American English; peanuts "trivial sum" is from 1934.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper