Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A variety of Phaseolus lunatus cultivated for the table in the United States. See bean, 2.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Well, sir, I looked at wife, an 'wife, she looked at me, an' then we both thess looked out at the butter-bean arbor.

    Short Stories for English Courses Rosa Mary Redding [Editor] Mikels

  • We were the first to see the frost that "lies heavy on the palings and tips with silver the tops of the butter-bean poles, where the sere and yellow pods are chattering in the chilly breeze."

    Literary Hearthstones of Dixie La Salle Corbell Pickett 1889

  • But when it was sent, Ezra found the circuit of the butter-bean arbor too circumscribed a promenade, and began taking the imaginary Miss Myrtle with him down through his orchard and potato-patch.

    Moriah's Mourning and Other Half-Hour Sketches Ruth McEnery Stuart 1886

  • Two weeks passed before Ezra saw his way clearly to write the proposed letter, but he did, nevertheless, in the interval, walk up and down his butter-bean arbor on moonlight nights, imagining Miss Myrtle beside him -- Miss Myrtle, named for his favorite flower.

    Moriah's Mourning and Other Half-Hour Sketches Ruth McEnery Stuart 1886

  • Well, sir, I looked at wife, an 'wife, she looked at me, an' then we both thess looked out at the butter-bean arbor.

    Sonny, a Christmas Guest Ruth McEnery Stuart 1886

  • o 'the butter-bean arbor -- clumb it thess like a cat -- an' there he set, a-swingin 'his feet under him, an' laughin ', the rain thess a-streakin' his hair all over his face.

    Sonny, a Christmas Guest Ruth McEnery Stuart 1886

  • "Rose Mary," said Uncle Tucker as he came and stood beside her as she began to train the clambering butter-bean vines around their tall poles, "young Everett has got to go on to New York to-night on the train from Boliver, and I told him you would be mighty glad to help him off in time.

    Rose of Old Harpeth Maria Thompson Daviess 1898

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