jumping bean
1
7.3
- noun
- /ˈdʒʌmpɪŋ biːn/
- US
:
frijol saltarín
- It's so weak now it must've been made outta jumping beans.
- Mexican jumping bean
- magical jumping beans
Examples
-
My brother bragged that I must have escaped the anthropoid chain and mutated into a line of kangaroos who lived on Mexican jumping beans.
Fiction book (1994) -
He had brought me a little jar of Mexican jumping beans.
Fiction book (1991) -
It's just a jumping bean.
-
I'm, uh, looking for the head jumping bean.
-
Faster, you Mexican jumping bean!
-
The human Mexican jumping bean strikes again.
Fiction book (1995) -
You give Reid sideburns and a bottle of brilliantine, and he's as Latin as, er... you know, er... as a Mexican jumping bean.
-
The children were fascinated by the tiny movements of the jumping bean as the moth larva inside caused it to bounce around.
-
I watched a jumping bean dance around on the table, its abrupt movements making everyone laugh.
-
He explained that a jumping bean is actually the seed of a plant that contains a larva, which makes it jump.
Synonyms
1
8.3
A seed from a Mexican shrub that jumps when a baby moth moves inside
A seed from Mexican shrubs that moves because a baby moth inside wiggles
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a bean that jumps or moves' is directly and compositionally built from 'jumping' (moving by jumping) + 'bean' (the seed), so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer the referent. This is a literal, descriptive compound found across languages and follows straightforward noun-modifier composition, making it fully transparent.
Etymology
Jumping bean is the name for a seed that seems to move because a tiny baby moth lives inside and wiggles. The moth pushes the shell so the bean wobbles and the jumping comes from the moth's movement, which is why we call it a jumping bean.