See Also: peanut(dictionary)
peanut oil(medicine)
peanut(medicine)
peanut(dictionary)
peanut(encyclopedia)
Peanut(recipes)
Peanut Pitas(recipes)
Peanut Gems(recipes)
Peanut Sauce(recipes)
Peanut Clusters(recipes)

peanut (iou)



peanut noun & adjective. E19.
[from PEA noun1 + NUT noun.]
A. noun.
A S. American leguminous plant, Arachis hypogaea, widely grown in the tropics, bearing underground pods which contain nutlike seeds valuable as a food and a source of oil (also called groundnut); a seed of this plant. Also, (the seed of) any of several legumes with similar seeds, esp. (more fully hog peanut) Amphicarpaea bracteata of N. America. E19.
Electricity. In full peanut valve. A kind of small thermionic valve. E20.
a. sing. & in pl. A small or unimportant person or thing. colloq. M20.
S. Bellow Never, you bloody little peanut! J. M. Coetzee This isn't a life sentence. This is just a labour gang. It's peanuts.
b. spec. In pl. A small or inadequate sum of money. colloq. M20.
Sunday Times I've worked very hard..and now I realise that I've been earning peanuts.
Comb.: peanut brittle a brittle toffee containing whole roasted peanuts; peanut butter a paste of ground roasted peanuts; peanut gallery N. Amer. slang the top gallery in a theatre; peanut valve: see sense 3 above; peanut worm = SIPUNCULID noun.
b. attrib. or as adjective. Unimportant; worthless. slang. M19.