peanut

noun

1. the pod or the enclosed edible seed of the plant, Arachis hypogaea, of the legume family: the pod is forced underground in growing, where it ripens.
2. the plant itself.
3. any small or insignificant person or thing.
4. peanuts,
   1. Informal.a very small amount of money: working for peanuts.
   2. Slang.barbiturates.
   3. small pieces of Styrofoam used as a packing material.

adjective

5. of or relating to the peanut or peanuts.
6. made with or from peanuts.
7. Informal. small, insignificant, or petty.

noun

1. 1. a leguminous plant, Arachis hypogaea, of tropical America: widely cultivated for its edible seeds. The seed pods are forced underground where they ripenSee also hog peanut
   2. Also called: goober, goober pea, (Brit) groundnut, (Brit) monkey nutthe edible nutlike seed of this plant, used for food and as a source of oil

   See also peanuts

n.1807, earlier ground nut, ground pea (1769). The plant is native to S.America. Portuguese traders took peanuts from Brazil and Peru to Africa by 1502 and it is known to have been cultivated in Chekiang Province in China by 1573, probably arriving with Portuguese sailors who made stops in Brazil en route to the Orient. Peanut butter attested by 1892; peanut brittle is from 1894. Peanut gallery “topmost rows of a theater” is from 1874, American English; peanuts “trivial sum” is from 1934.