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Glite Dictionary
lima bean

lima bean

9 2.5
A flat pale green or white bean that people cook and eat
  • noun
  • /ˈlaɪmə bin/
translation icon : haba lima
  • You should take foods like lima beans and black beans.
  • frozen lima beans
  • baby lima beans
  • a cup of lima beans

The only food that I can think of, and I just could really easily say I hate Lima beans.

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Examples

  • After boiling, serve the lima beans with a sprinkle of salt and pepper for flavor.

  • You know how you grow lima beans in school?

    Sky High (2005)

  • So we got what, one or two Lima bean plants here, so you know better than nothing.

  • "Her hands trembled as she gave him a portion of lima beans."

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Some folks would be sitting under shade trees in their yards, maybe shelling lima beans.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • Another checker leaned over to ask for a price check on baby lima beans.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • Mom had fixed fried chicken, lima beans, and scalloped potatoes, Stan's favorite meal.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • Tori has ordered grilled vegetables for her appetizer and cod with lima beans for her dinner.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • You should soak the lima beans overnight before cooking them for the best texture.

  • In the recipe, add fresh lima beans to the salad for a nutritious boost.

Synonyms

lima
vslima bean
9 2.6

A flat pale green or white bean often used in cooking

is used for both the living organism and its edible seed rather than only the seed
Phaseolus limensis
vslima bean
  • Specialized
9.1

A plant that produces large flat seeds called Lima beans

is the general description for the organism and its cooked seed rather than scientific term
Phaseolus lunatus
vslima bean
  • Specialized
7.6

A bush plant that grows small flat edible lima beans

is the broader common term for the organism and its edible seed without regional detail
lima bean plant
vslima bean
2.8

A plant that grows pods with large flat beans people eat

also names the edible seed as food as well as the living organism itself

How Big

broad bean
  • UK
2.4
lima bean
9 2.5
garbanzo
  • US
4 3.8
pea
89 1.0
lentil
26 1.0

Surface Forms

lima bean singular
lima beans plural

Morphology

lima + bean

The meaning 'a type of bean' is directly predictable from combining 'lima' (a flat edible bean variety) with 'bean' — a straightforward noun–noun compound denoting a specific kind of bean. This compositional, non-idiomatic pattern follows regular English noun modifier rules and is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will understand it.

Etymology

The noun lima bean may come from the city of Lima in Peru, where farmers long ago grew and exported the flat, pale bean. So the place name stuck, and today lima bean means the cooked, edible bean often used in stews and soups.