wild bean

American  

noun

1. groundnut.

2. any of several other leguminous plants, especially of the genus Strophostyles.

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Etymology

Origin of wild bean

An Americanism dating back to 1770–80

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

wild bean

But businessmen are already harvesting and processing the wild bean, and demand is strong.

From Time Magazine Archive

There is a native wild bean found growing over an area of wide distribution in North America.

From A Book Written by the Spirits of the So-Called Dead by Helleberg, C. G. (Carl Gustaf)

The wild bean is found in all parts of the valleys where the land is moist and rich.

From The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c. by Simmonds, P. L.

Among these are—1st, the mendo, or wild sweet potato; 2nd, the tip-sin-ah, or wild prairie turnip; 3rd, the omen-e-chah, or wild bean.

From The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c. by Simmonds, P. L.

Everywhere the flowering boneset, and the rose-bloom of the wild bean.

From Complete Prose Works Specimen Days and Collect, November Boughs and Goodbye My Fancy by Whitman, Walt