from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. A member of the pea family.
- n. A Eurasian climbing annual vine (Pisum sativum) cultivated in all temperate zones, having compound leaves with terminal leaflets modified into tendrils and globose, edible seeds enclosed in a green, elongated pod.
- n. The seed of this plant, used as a vegetable.
- n. The unopened pods of this plant.
- n. A plant, and its fruit, of the genus Pisum, of many varieties, much cultivated for food. It has a papilionaceous flower, and the pericarp is a legume, popularly called a pod.
- n. A name given, especially in the Southern States, to the seed of several leguminous plants (species of Dolichos, Cicer, Abrus, etc.) esp. those having a scar (hilum) of a different color from the rest of the seed.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The seed of an annual hardy; leguminous vine, Pisum sativum; also, the vine itself.
- n. Pea-spawn of a fish. See spawn.
- n. plural Canned peas prepared in France, reputed to be superior to those canned in other countries.
- n. Heisteria coccinea (French pois perdrix). See Heisteria.
- n. A peafowl.
- n. In the manufacture of sulphuric acid, the workman's name for a fragment of iron pyrites, from an eighth to a half inch in diameter.
- n. The balance or sliding weight used on a steelyard.
- n. In the West Indies, Dolichos sphærospermus. Both of the plants bear white beans having a black spot around the hilum.