Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of several treelike plants of the genus Musa, especially M. acuminata, having a terminal crown of large, entire leaves and a hanging cluster of fruits.
- noun The elongated, edible fruit of these plants, having a thick yellowish to reddish skin and whitish, pulpy flesh.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun An endogenous plant of the genus Musa, M. sapientum, now cultivated for its fruit everywhere in the tropics.
- noun The papaw.
- noun Also called
false banana .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Bot.) A perennial herbaceous plant of almost treelike size (
Musa sapientum ); also, its edible fruit. Seemusa . - noun (Zoöl.) a small American bird (
Icterus leucopteryx ), which feeds on the banana. - noun (Zoöl.) a small bird of tropical America, of the genus Certhiola, allied to the creepers.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun An elongated curved
fruit , which grows in bunches, and has a sweet creamy flesh and a smooth yellow skin. - noun The tropical treelike plant which bears clusters of bananas. The plant, of the genus
Musa , has large, elongated leaves and is related to theplantain . - noun uncountable A yellow colour, like that of a banana's skin.
- noun mildly pejorative, slang, ethnic slur A person of Asian descent, especially a Chinese American, who has assimilated into Western culture or married a
Caucasian (from the “yellow” outside and “white” inside). Comparecoconut ("assimilated Hispanic or Black"). - adjective Curved like a banana, especially of a ball in flight.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun elongated crescent-shaped yellow fruit with soft sweet flesh
- noun any of several tropical and subtropical treelike herbs of the genus Musa having a terminal crown of large entire leaves and usually bearing hanging clusters of elongated fruits
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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They contain vitamins and tasty sugars, and the word banana comes from an Arab-language word, banan, which means “finger.”
E Is for Environment Ian James Corlett 2011
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They contain vitamins and tasty sugars, and the word banana comes from an Arab-language word, banan, which means “finger.”
E Is for Environment Ian James Corlett 2011
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The term banana republic is often used in a disparaging sense; it suggests an unstable government.
banana republics 2002
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Gives a whole new meaning to the name "banana spider".
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The term banana is a racial epithet typically used in a derogatory fashion to imply that someone is “yellow (Asian/American) on the outside, white on the inside;” synonyms include Twinkie
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Lovingly referred to as "Granny," Zhelesnik uses innovative strategies to teach the preschoolers at the Sundance School in New Jersey where she has worked for the last 15 years, such as baking banana bread to talk about the letter "N," as it appears twice in the word banana.
Passionate Senior Citizens Rule Classrooms Into Their 80s, 90s The Huffington Post News Editors 2011
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If a banana is a fruit, then what do you define say, an orange, and apple, or a grape as?
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No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world's leading athletes.
20 Fascinating Facts About the Natural Healing Power of Bananas 2008
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No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world's leading athletes.
Archive 2008-02-01 2008
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To most people, a banana is a banana: a simple yellow fruit.
Banana: Summary and book reviews of Banana by Dan Koeppel. 2008
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Politicians bow to BANANAs (voters who would “Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything”).
The Economist 2023
gangerh commented on the word banana
Move in a curve to allow the camera to see behind you.
May 13, 2008
Prolagus commented on the word banana
Did you know
humans share about 50% of their DNA with bananas?
Sigma-Aldrich ad.
(Sorry, chained_bear)
September 26, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word banana
Just proves my longstanding belief that humans, too, suck.
;)
September 26, 2008
gangerh commented on the word banana
Bahumanana nature.
September 26, 2008
bilby commented on the word banana
You been hanging with the wrong bunch c_b.
September 26, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word banana
AHUH! AHUH-HUH!! <---upper-class twit laugh
September 26, 2008
reesetee commented on the word banana
Oh, excuse me. I must have wandered onto the Corny Jokes page.
*wanders off*
September 26, 2008
gangerh commented on the word banana
*reesetee slips up on banana skin*
September 26, 2008
bilby commented on the word banana
Aren't the corny jokes on maize?
September 26, 2008
bilby commented on the word banana
Ana, nab a banana.
October 18, 2008
gangerh commented on the word banana
"It's like a banana saying 'I don't want to be a banana'. You're Spanish. Be Spanish."
Simon Cowell on The X-Factor.
October 26, 2008
bilby commented on the word banana
Yes we have no Spaniards, no Spaniards today.
October 26, 2008
reesetee commented on the word banana
Sweet mother of pearl.
March 5, 2009
Prolagus commented on the word banana
Oh, wow. I want it. I really do.
March 6, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word banana
Just makes me even less likely to ever want to eat a banana again. Eesh.
Though I admit, for those who like to take bananas with them in lunch bags, this is a necessary item.
March 6, 2009
lea commented on the word banana
What a dsgn piece of horror. Bananapocalypse. Now.
March 6, 2009
skipvia commented on the word banana
Am I the only person that thinks that some people may use these items for...umm...something other than protecting bananas?
March 6, 2009
lea commented on the word banana
Like safe sex? Hardly.
March 6, 2009
frogapplause commented on the word banana
Banana Guard
Let's all protect our bananas.
March 6, 2009
bilby commented on the word banana
Oh no! There's not only THE ORIGINAL BANANA PROTECTOR, there are IMPOSTORS!
I like this comment on Amazon:
"No matter how curved my banana is, it always provides adequate protection, regardless of how dicey the situations. I love my bananas and i love my banana bunker. I own 4 and am saving up for blue!"
- W.C. Page, 30 June 2008.
March 6, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word banana
Skipvia: No, you are not the only one. *shudders*
March 6, 2009
Prolagus commented on the word banana
...Which one, and which color, would you buy as a fourth-year-anniversary gift?
March 6, 2009
skipvia commented on the word banana
*whew*
March 6, 2009
bilby commented on the word banana
Please note that banana security issues have been on the agenda at least since abandannad.
March 6, 2009
reesetee commented on the word banana
Skipvia: No, you're not.
Prolagus: Definitely the green one.
March 9, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word banana
"Let's All Ignore the Phallic Implications of Bananas." (don't forget to click the "next" button for full enjoyment)
June 30, 2009
reesetee commented on the word banana
Yeti penis? Haaaahahaha!
Ew.
July 9, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word banana
How to open a banana like a monkey, here. (With thanks to Frindley.)
Someone who desperately needs to see that video, here.
July 17, 2009
bilby commented on the word banana
"Also called false banana."
August 18, 2021