peanut
/'pi:nʌt/
Definition
Noun:
- A type of legume plant: A widely cultivated plant (Arachis hypogaea) with showy yellow flowers. After pollination, the flower stalk bends down and pushes the developing pod underground where it matures.
- The edible seed of this plant: The small, oval, typically two-seeded pod (nut) that grows underground. It is often roasted, salted, or processed into butter or oil.
- (Informal) A very small or insignificant person or thing: Used to describe someone or something considered unimportant or trivial.
- (Informal, often plural) A very small amount of money: A trivial sum.
Adjective:
- Of little importance or value: Insignificant, petty, or minor.
Usage and Examples
- Noun (Plant/Seed):
- Farmers grow peanut crops in warm climates.
- She spread peanut butter on her toast.
- He bought a bag of salted peanuts.
- Noun (Insignificant thing/person):
- The salary increase was just peanuts compared to the cost of living.
- He dismissed his critics as a bunch of peanuts.
- Adjective:
- They were arguing over peanut issues while ignoring the major crisis.
- He's just a peanut politician with no real influence.
Advanced Usage
- "To work for peanuts": To work for a very low salary.
- She has a degree in engineering, but she's working for peanuts at that startup.
- "Peanut gallery": (Originally U.S.) Refers to the cheapest seats in a theater, often in a balcony. Now used informally to describe people who offer unsolicited, often critical, opinions from the sidelines.
- Ignore the comments from the peanut gallery; they don't know what they're talking about.
Variants and Related Words
- Peanut butter (n): A paste made from ground, roasted peanuts.
- A peanut butter and jelly sandwich is a classic lunch.
- Peanut oil (n): An oil pressed from peanuts, used in cooking.
- Peanuty (adj): Having the taste or aroma of peanuts.
- The sauce had a rich, peanuty flavor.
Synonyms
- Noun (seed): Groundnut, goober (U.S. informal), monkey nut (British).
- Noun (trivial amount): Pittance, trifle, chicken feed (informal).
- Adjective: Insignificant, trivial, minor, petty, paltry.
Phrasal Verbs / Common Phrases
(No common phrasal verbs exist for "peanut". See idioms and phrases in "Advanced Usage".)
Related Idioms
- "In a nutshell": Concisely; in a few words. (Note: This idiom uses "nut," not specifically "peanut," but is a common nut-related phrase).
- To put it in a nutshell, the project failed due to poor planning.
Adjective
-
of little importance or influence or power; of minor status
-
a minor, insignificant bureaucrat
-
peanut politicians
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Noun
-
pod of the peanut vine containing usually 2 nuts or seeds; `groundnut' and `monkey nut' are British terms
-
a young child who is small for his age
-
widely cultivated American plant cultivated in tropical and warm regions; showy yellow flowers on stalks that bend over to the soil so that seed pods ripen underground
-
underground pod of the peanut vine
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