string bean

American  

noun

1. any of various kinds of bean, as the green bean, the unripe pods of which are used as food, usually after stripping off the fibrous thread along the side.

2. the pod itself.

3. Informal. a tall, thin person.

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string bean British  

noun

1. any of several bean plants, such as the scarlet runner, cultivated for their edible unripe pods See also green bean wax bean

2. informal a tall thin person

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Etymology

Origin of string bean

An Americanism dating back to 1750–60

Example Sentences

The fruit that ultimately emerges is a pod that looks like a long, thick string bean and contains black seeds.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 5, 2024

Ginger said, "I think you’re right! You got the job string bean."

From Fox News • Jan. 7, 2022

Most delightfully of all, the over-confident string bean anachronistically decked out in Keanu’s Matrix costume isn’t the living worst.

From Slate • Nov. 5, 2020

It’s hard to square that horrific past with the sunny, 6-foot-4 string bean who strides through Lowe’s like a small-town mayor in a Fourth of July parade.

From Washington Post • Jul. 7, 2018

He plucked what looked like a four-foot version of a string bean from a branch, split it lengthwise, and showed me flattened, shiny seeds arrayed along its length like teeth in a jaw.

From "1491" by Charles C. Mann