Definition of "peanut" []

• A prostrate southern Brazilian plant (Arachis hypogaea) widely cultivated in tropical and warm temperate regions, having yellow flowers on stalks that bend over so that the seed pods ripen underground. (noun)
• The edible, nutlike, oily seed of this plant, used for food and as a source of oil. Also called regionally goober, goober pea. (noun)
• A peanut-shaped piece of polystyrene, used in cushioning items during shipment. (noun)
• Slang A person small in stature. (noun)
• Slang A person who is regarded as being insignificant. (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.

• "The Sierra region of Puebla does, in fact, have several peanut-based dishes, and the peanut is an important ingredient in mole poblano."
• "They join the rest of what I call the peanut gallery those of us, left and right, who cannot understand the bank bailouts."
• "Like Haldane, they tend to be in the policy-making community rather than in what I call the peanut gallery."