wolf bean
- noun
- Specialized
:
haba lobo
- On the steep hillside she planted wolf bean rows to reduce runoff and stop soil erosion.
Examples
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The agricultural guide recommended wolf bean as a sustainable forage crop for summer grazing.
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The wolf bean is known for its white flowers.
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Farmers often plant wolf bean to restore nitrogen to depleted pasture soils before seeding.
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Farmers often plant wolf beans to enrich the soil.
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Farmers often plant wolf bean to restore nitrogen to depleted pasture soils before seeding.
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The agricultural guide recommended wolf bean as a sustainable forage crop for summer grazing.
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On the steep hillside she planted wolf bean rows to reduce runoff and stop soil erosion.
Synonyms
A plant with white flowers grown to feed animals and stop soil erosion
A plant with white flowers grown to feed animals and stop soil from washing away
A plant with white flowers in the pea family that people grow for animal food and to stop soil erosion
A plant with white flowers grown to feed animals and stop soil erosion
Surface Forms
Morphology
wolf + bean
The constituent 'bean' clearly signals a plant/legume, so a B1 learner would likely infer this is a type of plant or bean; however, the modifier 'wolf' is historical/metaphorical (cf. Latin lupin-) and does not transparently convey the specific senses of white flowers, forage use, or erosion control. Because learners can guess it is a plant but cannot predict the precise referent or its agronomic properties from the parts alone, the expression is best classified as semi-transparent.
Etymology
Wolf bean may come from the idea that this plant grows 'wild' and strong, so people compared it to a wolf and its long pods to a bean. Because it feeds animals and helps hold soil on hills, the name stuck, and today wolf bean means this hardy forage plant used to stop erosion.
