bananan.
/bəˈnɑːnə/, U.S. /bəˈnænə/ 1. A tree ( Musa sapientum) cultivated largely in tropical and subtropical climates, especially in the islands of the Atlantic and Pacific; it grows to a height of 20 feet, and has its stem marked with purple spots and streaks.
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular fruit-tree or -plant > [noun] > tropical or exotic fruit-tree or -plant > banana tree
platano1555
Indian fig tree1598
pisang tree1671
banana1697
banana-tree1792
1697 W. Dampier New Voy. around World xi. 316 The Bonano Tree is exactly like the Plantain.
1810 R. Southey Curse of Kehama xvi. 173 That, like the broad banana growing, Rais'd their long wrinkled leaves of purple hue.
1830 J. Lindley Introd. Nat. Syst. Bot. 270 The young shoots of the Banana are eaten as a delicate vegetable.
2.
a. The fruit of the banana tree, growing in clusters of angular, finger-like berries, containing within their rind a luscious and highly nutritious pulp.
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the world > food and drink > food > fruit and vegetables > fruit or a fruit > banana > [noun]
finger?a1425
fig1582
banana1597
pisang1662
pisang fig1700
nana1929
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular types of fruit > [noun] > tropical exotic fruit > banana
finger?a1425
muse1578
fig1582
banana1597
adam's figc1602
pisang1662
pisang fig1700
1563 G. de Orta Coloquios dos Simples f. 93v Tambem ha estes figos em Guiné, chamam lhe bananas.]
1597 A. Hartwell tr. D. Lopes Rep. Kingdome of Congo 111 Other fruites there are, which they call Banana, and we verily thinke to be the Muses of Ægypt and Soria.
1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage v. xvi. 452 Amboyna bringeth forth..Coquos, Bonana's..and other fruits.
1796 J. G. Stedman Narr. Exped. Surinam I. ix. 205 Refreshed with..plaintains, bananas, oranges.
1823 Ld. Byron Island iv. viii. 67 The ripe banana from the mellow hill.
b. The yellow colour of a ripe banana. Also banan (= French banane).
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the world > matter > colour > named colours > yellow or yellowness > [noun] > bright yellow
canary1835
sunshine yellow1835
banana1923
sun-yellow1931
1923 Daily Mail 3 Apr. 10 In shades of..Banana and Cream.
1923 Daily Mail 7 May 1 In Pale Jade, Banan, Tuscan.
3. plural. Crazy, mad, wild (with excitement, anger, frustration, etc.), esp. in the phrase to go (also drive) bananas. colloquial.
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the mind > emotion > excitement > riotous excitement > [adjective]
hog-wild1893
rah-rah1896
rootin' tootin'1901
bananas1957
ring-a-ding1960
the mind > emotion > excitement > riotous excitement > behave with riotous excitement [verb (intransitive)]
rehayte1526
tear1602
to play up1849
to whoop things up1873
to raise sand1892
to raise (also kick up, play, etc.) merry hell1931
to go ape1955
to go (also drive) bananas1957
the mind > emotion > excitement > riotous excitement > make (oneself) riotously excited [verb (transitive)]
to go mad (about, for, over, etc.)1850
to go (also drive) bananas1957
1935 A. J. Pollock Underworld Speaks 53/1 He's bananas, he's sexually perverted; a degenerate.]
1957 Chron.-Telegram (Elyria, Ohio) 30 Mar. 30/3 (caption) We heard the police broadcast!! They say you're bananas!!
1968–70 Current Slang (Univ. S. Dakota) 3–4 6 Bananas, adj., excited and upset; ‘wild’.—College students, both sexes, Kentucky.—I'd say it, but everyone would just go bananas.
1970 Times 9 Mar. 43 Liza [Minnelli] moved into the sheltered regimented Barbizon Hotel for Women. Liza says: ‘I went bananas!’
1974 Sunday Sun (Brisbane) 3 Feb. 38/3 He just went bananas. My husband tried to take the bottle from him and he wouldn't let go... He jumped onto the television and then onto the china cabinet.
1974 TV Times (Brisbane) 28 Sept. 17/1 ‘I admit I'm half-bananas—not completely bananas,’ he said, ‘and the part I play in Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry is a lot like me. Larry is a stock-car racer who goes ape behind the wheel.’
1974 K. Millet Flying (1975) ii. 194 It was driving me bananas, with my sainted mother at the wheel.
1976 Observer 11 Jan. 3/5 She says with her usual verve: ‘The Government have gone bananas over a woman tortured in Chile.’
1978 J. Krantz Scruples xiv. 412 Jesus, thought Lester, his first movie star and she turns out to be a bit bananas.
1980 Times 1 Oct. 4/1 When the left wing of the Labour Party looks as if it is going to lose, it is described as bananas.
1985 Sunday Times 13 Jan. 5/2 Before we all go bananas about electric cars let me remind you that this is nothing new.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
banana-leaf n.
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular fruit-tree or -plant > [noun] > tropical or exotic fruit-tree or -plant > banana tree > leaf
banana-leaf1809
1809 G. Shaw Gen. Zool. VII. 431 The under side of a Banana-leaf.
1839 C. Darwin in R. Fitzroy & C. Darwin Narr. Surv. Voy. H.M.S. Adventure & Beagle III. xx. 490 It rained very heavily; but the good thatch of banana-leaves kept us dry.
banana-tree n. (see sense 1).
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular fruit-tree or -plant > [noun] > tropical or exotic fruit-tree or -plant > banana tree
platano1555
Indian fig tree1598
pisang tree1671
banana1697
banana-tree1792
1792 M. Riddell Voy. Madeira 95 The musa paradisaica, or banana tree,..is of a vivid green, soft and pappy, insomuch that the juice spurts out on the least pressure.
1958 C. Achebe Things fall Apart viii. 57 Where are the young suckers that will grow when the old banana tree dies? If Ezinma had been a boy I would have been happier. She had the right spirit.
2004 D. Dalton Rough Guide Philippines 493/4 Puso ng saging Banana heart, the rust-coloured pod that forms on the banana tree and contains the flowers; it's chopped up and added to dishes such as Bicol Express.
banana skin n. (in sense 2; also figurative).
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the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > danger > [noun] > instance or cause of
stone-rochec1200
perilc1300
doubta1400
Charybdisc1400
rocka1475
hazard1524
dangera1538
shelve1582
reef1841
kettle-de-benders1872
ankle-breaker1899
danger-spot1905
banana skin1907
1907 Westm. Gaz. 19 Sept. 2/3 The banana-skin trouble in this direction had seemed to be sufficient of a fresh nuisance.
1934 P. G. Wodehouse Right ho, Jeeves i. 17 Treading upon Life's banana skins.
1961 H. R. Trevor-Roper in Encounter July 96 The love of..laying banana-skins to disconcert the gravity and upset the balance of the orthodox.
C2.
banana bird n. a gregarious West Indian bird ( Xanthornus icterus), belonging to the Starling family; (also) a name applied to certain South American and West Indian species now included in the genus Icterus; also = banana quit n.
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the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > larger song birds > [noun] > family Sturnidae > miscellaneous types of
banana bird1713
bluebird1731
locust bird1756
the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > arboreal families > family Icteridae > [noun] > genus Icterus (oriole) > other types of
banana bird1713
orchard oriole1808
1713 H. Sloane Catalogus in J. Ray Synopsis Avium & Piscium i. App. 187 Passer coeruleo-fuscus. The Bonana Bird... Arbores Bonanas dictas frequentat, unde nomen.
1734 E. Albin Nat. Hist. Birds II. 37 The Banana Bird from Jamaica..of the Bigness of our English Starling.
1756 P. Browne Civil & Nat. Hist. Jamaica ii. ii. 477 Icterus major... The large Banana Bird.
1847 P. H. Gosse & R. Hill Birds of Jamaica 226 Banana-bird. Icterus leucopteryx... Fruit is his principal diet; a ripe banana, or orange.
banana boat n. a boat carrying bananas; also Military slang (see quot. 1945).
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1916 W. A. Du Puy Uncle Sam 119 The skipper of the banana boat.
1943 J. L. Hunt & A. G. Pringle Service Slang 12 Banana boat, an invasion barge.
1945 E. Partridge Dict. R.A.F. Slang 14 Banana boat, an aircraft-carrier, according to the R.A.F. To soldiers it means an invasion barge.
1962 Guardian 12 Oct. 15/4 They travel by any convenient method, from..luxury liners to banana boats.
banana flour n. a flour made from dried bananas.
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the world > food and drink > food > flour > [noun] > flour from non-cereals
flour1660
tapioca1707
cassava1750
wood-meal1758
pea-flour1766
gram flour1820
nardoo1861
banana flour1890
soya1897
chickpea flour1913
garri1926
soy1945
bean-flour-
1890 F. D. Lugard Diary 6 Dec. (1959) I. 409 The flour of the country is almost solely banana flour.
1951 Good Housek. Home Encycl. 345/2 Banana Flour..is ideal for flavoring cakes, buns and biscuits.
banana fly n. rare (see quot. 1921).
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Diptera or flies > [noun] > suborder Cyclorrhapha > family Drosophilidae > drosophila ampelophila (banana fly)
banana fly1921
1921 Conquest Sept. 493/2 The common Banana Fly (Drosophila ampelophila).
banana liquid n. (see quot. 1916).
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the world > matter > chemistry > chemical substances > esters > [noun] > named > banana-oil
banana liquid1916
banana-oil1927
1916 L. A. Flemming Pract. Tanning (ed. 3) x. 474 Because of its characteristic odor the amyl acetate solution is frequently called banana liquid.
banana-oil n. (a) = banana liquid n.; (b) slang nonsense; insincere or insane talk or behaviour; cf. apple sauce n. at apple n. Compounds 2.
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the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > absence of meaning > nonsense, rubbish > insincere or pretentious talk > [noun]
flash1605
sniffling1653
canting1659
cant1710
galbanum1764
gas1793
blarney1796
gammon1805
slum1812
claptrap1819
flam1825
glittering generality1849
bull's wool1850
eyewash1857
bunkum1862
hot air1873
kid1874
fustian1880
flubdub1888
bull1914
oil1917
blah1918
drip1919
piss and wind1922
banana-oil1927
flannel1927
crud1943
old talk1956
ole talk1964
okey-doke1969
yada yada1991
the world > matter > chemistry > chemical substances > esters > [noun] > named > banana-oil
banana liquid1916
banana-oil1927
1927 Wodehouse in Sunday Express 16 Oct. 9/5 This is pure banana oil. It is not like you to..gibber.
1934 H. Hiler Notes Technique Painting i. 44 The watercolour fixative..is usually known as ‘banana oil’ or ‘banana solution’.
1960 P. G. Wodehouse Jeeves in Offing ix. 95 The sort of banana oil that passes between statesmen at conferences..before they tear their whiskers off and get down to cases.
banana oriole n. a name given by early writers to some South American and West Indian species now included in the genus Icterus, containing the so-called American orioles.
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1809 G. Shaw Gen. Zool. VII. 431 Banana Oriole.
banana quit n. a name applied in Jamaica to any bird of the genus Certhiola, esp. C. flaveola, the black and yellow honey-creeper.
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1847 P. H. Gosse & R. Hill Birds of Jamaica 84 Black and yellow creeper. Banana Quit.
1894 A. Newton Dict. Birds 761 The Banana Quit is the Sugar-bird.
banana republic n. colloquial applied to a small state, esp. in central America, whose economy is almost entirely dependent on its fruit-exporting trade.
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society > authority > rule or government > a or the state > [noun] > state ruled by the people > types of
rota1660
theo-democracy1831
banana republic1935
1935 Esquire July 70/1 We strung along with Major Brown on the inhuman aspects of war in the banana republics.
1949 A. Koestler Promise & Fulfilm. xiii. 143 The somewhat jerky behaviour displayed by the Central American banana republics.
banana solution n. a solution, having the odour of bananas, used as a vehicle in applying bronze pigments.
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1934 H. Hiler Notes Technique Painting i. 44 The watercolour fixative..is usually known as ‘banana oil’ or ‘banana solution’.
banana split n. originally U.S. a popular concoction of ice-cream and a split banana.
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the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > confections or sweetmeats > ices > [noun] > ice-cream > ice-cream dishes
plombière1818
Alaska1882
parfait1884
taster1891
sundae1892
pêche Melba1902
black and white1903
peach Melba1906
banana split1920
split1920
cassata1927
spumoni1929
Knickerbocker Glory1936
Melba1953
coupe1969
semifreddo1973
affogato1992
1920 G. Ade Hand-made Fables 151 I recall many useful and interesting citizens who would walk around a banana split to get to a rickey.
1931 E. Linklater Juan in Amer. ii. ix. 117 Brighter lights and larger jazz-bands and stronger gin and sweeter banana-splits.
1938 E. Bowen Death of Heart ii. v. 257 They ate poached eggs on haddock and banana splits.
Draft additions September 2013
colloquial (chiefly North American). Originally: a stage comedian having a specified position within a team or act (earliest in top banana n., second banana n. at second adj. and n.2 Compounds 1). Later: any person capable of being ranked in order of importance or preference within a group (usually with preceding word denoting the position or ranking). [The expression top banana apparently derives from a skit involving the sharing of a banana: see quot. 1958.]
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1948 Delta Democrat-Times (Greenville, Mississippi) 11 Aug. 4/6 Joey was a ‘top banana’ (burlesque for comic) at a time when A. & C. [sc. Abbott and Costello] were second and third bananas.
1953 N.Y. Times 24 May x. 11/2 In television and radio, Mr Carnay has played second banana to many star comedy performers.
1958 N.Y. Times 30 Mar. sm 53/3 [Phil] Silvers..credits another burlesque comedian, Harry Steppe, with introducing the phrase ‘top banana’ into show business jargon in 1927 as a synonym for the top comic on the bill. It rose out of a routine..in which three comedians tried to share two bananas.
1977 N.Y. Mag. 20 June 77/1 I almost signed on a few months ago as fifth banana at NewsCenter 4.
1981 Underground Grammarian Feb. 3/1 Other schools will have a top banana and a few seconds, maybe, but we have middle bananas, bottom bananas, and even a platoon of assistant vice-bananas.
2005 Uncut June 49/2 Sizemore has slipped so far that he was recently reduced to playing third banana to a minor Baldwin brother in the woeful Paparazzi.
Draft additions September 2013
North American (chiefly Canadian) slang (depreciative). A person of East or South-East Asian birth or descent perceived as behaving in a way associated with white people or as identifying more closely with white culture than his or her own ethnic culture. Cf. Oreo n.1 2.
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1970 Seattle Times Mag. 5 July 9/3 These Filipinos may not be ‘oreos’ or ‘bananas’, as blacks and other Asians depict their colleagues having dark skins outside and a white mentality inside.
1993 Gazette (Montreal) 20 June c2 I was, in other words, ‘a banana’... ‘Daad!’ I would whine every time my parents foolishly attempted to coerce me into speaking Vietnamese, ‘we're in Canada now. We have to speak French.’
2002 enRoute July 47/1 Mark Simon is a banana... The 28-year-old first heard the expression as a child in Vancouver's Chinatown. Older folk used it to describe Asians who abandoned the traditions of their mother countries.
Draft additions September 2013
banana beer n.
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1866 Daily Evening Bull. (San Francisco) 25 Oct. A native man and woman (husband and wife) got intoxicated on banana beer.
1965 G. B. Schaller Year of Gorilla v. 113 A woman entered with a gourd of banana beer which made its rounds.
1996 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 6 June 58/1 When, as with potent banana beer.., drink comes unbottled from a common pot..the provider must take the first sip.
2006 P. Rusesabagina & T. Zoellner Ordinary Man i. 14 There were side dishes of beans and corn and peas and bananas, and, of course, banana beer.
Draft additions September 2013
banana belt n. a region in which bananas are grown, or where it is warm enough for bananas to grow; (in extended use) any area noted for warm or mild weather.
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1874 Galveston (Texas) Daily News 21 Apr. A cold snap in J. Cook's banana belt last winter destroyed about 1200 head of cattle near Snake river, Idaho.
1874 Appletons' Jrnl. 26 Sept. 415/3 The gracious treatment which Lord Gordon Harcourt Gordon so recently received..upon his..journey through the banana belt.
1899 Privileges & Elections Comm. 1 Aug. in Jrnls. House of Commons Dominion Canada (1900) 34 311 This section of Canada's belt is a great place in which to enjoy a holiday in winter time... It is a ‘banana belt’.
1994 Denver Post 18 Sept. c6/1 Retirees are flocking to Colorado's banana belt.
2003 Budget Living June 104/1 This horseshoe-shaped isle is part of the San Juan Islands, which locals call the Banana Belt for its weather.
Draft additions September 2013
banana-bender n. Australian slang a native or inhabitant of Queensland (cf. Bananaland n.).
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1964 D. Lockwood Up Track 110 We are so close to Queensland that I think we should hop over the border. What do you say to a quick look at the banana-benders?
1979 H. Post Maintain your Rage 87 He's not a Victorian any more, the state where he lived for a long time; he's a straight-out banana-bender now.
2011 R. Conger Chased across Austral. xix. 180 We banana benders are rather courteous, especially once we realize you're a tourist.
Draft additions June 2020
banana bread n. †(a) bread made with banana flour (obsolete); (b) a sweet, cake-like loaf made with mashed bananas.
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1892 Morning Bull. (Rockhampton, Queensland) 26 Apr. 3/5 Mr. Stanley claims that banana bread would be a good substitute for wheaten bread as a standing article of human dietary.
1901 Western Gaz. (Yeovil) 1 Mar. (N. Dorset ed.) 12/6 Banana bread will..very soon be introduced into England... Banana flour is stated to be superior to wheat flour for dietetic purposes.
1966 Times 14 Mar. 13/7 (heading) Banana Bread. Ingredients: 4 oz. butter 8 oz. caster sugar..3 bananas, thoroughly mashed [etc.].
2003 H. Fielding Olivia Joules & Overactive Imagination xxxvii. 206 She consumed scrambled eggs and bacon,..one blueberry muffin, three small slices of banana bread, two orange juices, three cappuccinos and a Bloody Mary.
Draft additions June 2020
banana cake n. any of various cakes in which bananas are a principal ingredient; (now) esp. a cake in which mashed banana is added to the mixture before baking (cf. banana bread n. (b) at Additions).In quot. 1726: a type of bread made with bananas and maize.
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the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > cake > [noun] > a cake > other cakes
honey appleeOE
barley-cake1393
seed cakea1400
cake?a1425
pudding-cake?1553
manchet1562
biscuit cake1593
placent1598
poplin1600
jumbal1615
bread pudding1623
semel1643
wine-cakea1661
Shrewsbury cake1670
curd cake1675
fruitcake1687
clap-bread1691
simnel cake1699
orange-flower cake1718
banana cake1726
sweet-cake1726
torte1748
Naples cake1766
Bath cake1769
gofer1769
yeast-cake1795
nutcake1801
tipsy-cake1806
cruller1808
baba1813
lady's finger1818
coconut cake1824
mint cake1825
sices1825
cup-cake1828
batter-cake1830
buckwheat1830
Dundee seed cake1833
fat-cake1839
babka1846
wonder1848
popover1850
cream-cake1855
sly-cake1855
dripping-cake1857
lard-cake1858
puffet1860
quick cake1865
barnbrack1867
matrimony cake1871
brioche1873
Nelson cake1877
cocoa cake1883
sesame cake1883
marinade1888
mystery1889
oblietjie1890
stuffed monkey1892
Greek bread1893
Battenberg1903
Oswego cake1907
nusstorte1911
dump cake1912
Dobos Torte1915
lekach1918
buckle1935
Florentine1936
hash cake1967
space cake1984
1726 Four Years Voy. Capt. G. Roberts 258 Every Day some..Inhabitants would come to see how I did;..bringing something for me,..Banana Cakes, Pompion, Water-Melons, &c.
1884 Mich. Farmer 1 Apr. 4/1 Banana Cake—..eggs,..sugar;..melted butter;..flour; bake in four layers... Slice four large bananas and place between the layers and on top.
1928 F. F. Fox Fannie Fox's Cook Bk. 349 Banana Cake... Beat in the banana pulp... Bake the cake in two layers in a moderate oven.
2019 Belfast Tel. Online (Nexis) 9 Dec. I'm asking my grandchildren to bake me a banana cake for Christmas. Delicious. Nutritious. Not too sweet.
Draft additions September 2013
banana fritter n.
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1854 Tait's Edinb. Mag. Mar. 136/1 The Soobadar's lady had tossed us up some excellent banana fritters.
1902 Daily Chron. 16 May 5/2 There has appeared in the Midlands an enthusiast just fresh from South America;..we may expect..banana fritters, banana bread, banana biscuits, and banana cake.
1967 Transition 32 35/2 Five shillings at a Nepalese restaurant buys home-made tomato soup, buffalo steak,..and dessert of banana fritters.
2001 B. Geddes World Food: Caribbean 59 Those bananas that are not exported are used in..dessert recipes such as banana fritters (great with ice cream).
Draft additions September 2013
banana peel n. the peel of a banana, esp. regarded as something on which a person may slip and fall; (hence figurative) a cause of humiliation or misfortune. Frequently in to slip (also tread) on a banana peel.
ΚΠ
1870 A. S. Evans Our Sister Republic v. 146 The mob in the galleries..hurling banana-peel, oranges, and stale vegetables at his head.
1895 Argosy Sept. 51/2 At this instant he slipped on a banana peel someone had dropped.
1903 A. C. M. Refl. Lonely Man v. 260 If, after one has learned these things, one deliberately puts one's hand into a fire or treads on a banana peel, it is because [of] one's own ignorance.
1964 Flying Mag. Oct. 35/3 Parachutes are the banana peel of flying.
1991 Sports View (U.S.) 60/1 Delaware State had one foot in the grave, the other on a banana peel.
2003 N.Y. Times 14 Dec. ii. 47/4 [He] has produced a passel of photographs to smile at... He..consistently catches the world slipping on a banana peel.
Draft additions September 2013
banana plantation n.
ΚΠ
1756 Gentleman's & London Mag. Feb. 84/2 Provisions: Maize..Potatoes..Banana plantations.
1878 Proc. Royal Geogr. Soc. 22 390 In the clearings..one may see the glorious banana plantations, which are the pride of the African tropics.
1933 Times Lit. Suppl. 9 Nov. 776/4 The Tweed River district of New South Wales, where banana plantations compete with the lantana creeper for a foothold.
2009 Wall St. Jrnl. 13 Feb. w1/2 On the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, we drove around the ring road..in a jeep exploring banana plantations and tropical gardens.
Draft additions September 2013
banana-yellow adj.
ΚΠ
1883 News & Observer (Raleigh, N. Carolina) 4 Feb. An exceedingly elegant evening dress for a young lady is made out of cameo-tinted or banana-yellow satin surah.
1939 K. Mansfield Scrapbook 234 Banana-yellow shoes.
1992 R.-M. Testa After Fire i. 1 Tooling from house to house on a banana-yellow moped.
2004 Cosmo Girl Aug. 45 The secret is to wear something you feel comfortable in, whether it's low-slung skater pants or a banana yellow sundress.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1885; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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