Definition of "bean" []

• Any of various New World twining herbs of the genus Phaseolus in the pea family, having leaves with three leaflets, variously colored flowers, and edible pods and seeds. (noun)
• A seed or pod of any of these plants. (noun)
• Any of several related plants or their seeds or pods, such as the adzuki bean, broad bean, or soybean. (noun)
• Any of various other plants or their seeds or fruits, especially those suggestive of beans, such as the coffee bean or the vanilla bean. (noun)
• Slang A person's head. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "When you get condensation on your coffee and it starts extracting, all the good stuff starts coming out, and before too long, all that's left inside the bean is the bitter parts."
• "When the word bean is used in European texts prior to 1492, it is almost always the fava."
• "So they did take a helicopter up, and apparently they shot what they call a bean bag full of food over to them while they're hanging on the side of the cliff to get them through the night."