Found 2 items, similar to plantain.
English → English (WordNet)
Definition: plantain
plantain
n 1: any of numerous plants of the genus Plantago; mostly small
roadside or dooryard weeds with elliptic leaves and
small spikes of very small flowers; seeds of some used
medicinally
2: a banana tree bearing hanging clusters of edible angular
greenish starchy fruits; tropics and subtropics [syn:
plantain tree
,
Musa paradisiaca]
3: starchy banana-like fruit; eaten (always cooked) as a staple
vegetable throughout the tropics
English → English (gcide)
Definition: Plantain
Plantain
\Plan"tain\, n. [Cf. F. plantain-arbre, plantanier, Sp.
pl['a]ntano, pl['a]tano; prob. same word as plane tree.]
1. (Bot.) A treelike perennial herb (
Musa paradisiaca) of
tropical regions, bearing immense leaves and large
clusters of the fruits called plantains. See
Musa.
[1913 Webster]
2. The fruit of this plant. It is long and somewhat
cylindrical, slightly curved, and, when ripe, soft,
fleshy, and covered with a thick but tender yellowish
skin. The plantain is a staple article of food in most
tropical countries, especially when cooked.
[1913 Webster]
Plantain cutter, or
Plantain eater (Zo["o]l.), any one of
several large African birds of the genus
Musophaga, or
family
Musophagid[ae], especially
Musophaga violacea.
See
Turaco. They are allied to the cuckoos.
Plantain squirrel (Zo["o]l.), a Java squirrel (
Sciurus plantani
) which feeds upon plantains.
Plantain tree (Bot.), the treelike herb
Musa paradisiaca.
See def. 1 (above).
[1913 Webster]
Plantain
\Plan"tain\, n. [F., fr. L. plantago. Cf.
Plant.]
(Bot.)
Any plant of the genus
Plantago, but especially the
Plantago major, a low herb with broad spreading radical
leaves, and slender spikes of minute flowers. It is a native
of Europe, but now found near the abode of civilized man in
nearly all parts of the world.
[1913 Webster]
Indian plantain. (Bot.) See under
Indian.
Mud plantain, a homely North American aquatic plant
(
Heteranthera reniformis), having broad, reniform
leaves.
Rattlesnake plantain, an orchidaceous plant (
Goodyera pubescens
), with the leaves blotched and spotted with
white.
Ribwort plantain. See
Ribwort.
Robin's plantain, the
Erigeron bellidifolium, a common
daisylike plant of North America.
Water plantain, a plant of the genus
Alisma, having acrid
leaves, and formerly regarded as a specific against
hydrophobia. --Loudon.
[1913 Webster]