banana

Noun (1)

banana (countable and uncountable, plural bananas)

1. An elongated curved tropical fruit of a banana plant, which grows in bunches and has a creamy flesh and a smooth skin.
   • Jimmy had a banana for breakfast.
   • I'll need a few things. I'll need some mayonnaise and a silver tin of sardines, a banana.2017, Sam Shepard, chapter 27, in Spy of the First Person, →ISBN, page 62
   1. (Canada, Ireland, UK, US) In particular, the sweet, yellow fruit of the Cavendish banana cultivar, which may be eaten raw, as distinct from e.g. a plantain for cooking.
2. The tropical tree-like plant which bears clusters of bananas, a plant of the genus Musa (but sometimes also including plants from Ensete), which has large, elongated leaves.
3. (uncountable) A yellow color, like that of a banana's skin.
4. (derogatory, ethnic, slur) A person of East or Southeast Asian descent, considered to be overly assimilated and subservient to white authority.

   Synonyms:

   Twinkie

5. (Malaysia, Singapore, derogatory, ethnic, slur) A person of Chinese descent who cannot speak Mandarin or any Chinese dialect
6. (slang) The penis.
   • The fact that the cop bought O'Brien a beer after feeling of his banana suggests that it must have been a promising one1986, Christopher Street, Cop Feels of Three Men's "Privates", volume 10
   • His you-know-what turned soft .. his eight o'clock class was the last thing on his mind five minutes ago, when his banana wasn't overripe.2012, Sarah Miynowski, Fishbowl, page 36
7. A banana kick.
8. (nuclear physics) A banana equivalent dose.
9. (colloquial) A catamorphism (from the use of banana brackets in the notation).
10. An incorrectly held handstand, often seen in beginners.

Adjective

banana (not comparable)

1. Curved like a banana, especially of a ball in flight.
   • Even the lowly banana ball, the bane of so many weekenders, sometimes can be exactly right, as in this case.2001, Rayne Barton, The Green Hills Golf Chronicles, →ISBN, page 155
   • He played the fading, low-banana shot as planned, and the ball whistled left of the oak tree and between the pines.2002, Andrew Collins, Guild of Honor, →ISBN, page 53

Proper noun capitalized: Banana

IPA/bə.næ.nə/

Banana

1. A surname.
2. A village on Kiritimati, Kiribati.
   • The principal economic activity is copra production, the Government copra plantation covering some 5,170 ha. The population in 1989 was estimated at 2,000, the great majority of whom live in London, Banana and Poland villages in the west.1993, Derek A. Scott, “A DIRECTORY OF WETLANDS IN OCEANIA”, in Wetlands International, archived from the original on 30 Aug 2018, page 188

Noun (2) capitalized: BANANA

BANANA (plural BANANAs)

1. (attributive, derogatory, humorous, informal, often) One who objects to the building of any structure in their neighbourhood or a certain type of structure anywhere, especially in public policy debate.
   • David Taylor (Letters, January 23) does not appear to be aware that the NIMBY syndrome, with all its parochial overtones, has been superseded by the all embracing BANANA syndrome – Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anyone.1991 January 31, David Williams, “Nowhere, no time [letter]”, in The Sydney Morning Herald, Sydney, N.S.W., page 10
   • Communities have gone far beyond the NIMBY, or not-in-my-backyard, syndrome. Jeff Langholtz, of EPA's Hazardous Site Control Division said, "Right now they don't want us to build them anywhere." Langholtz called the latest in public thinking "BANANA" –...1992, Environment Reporter, volume 23, Washington, D.C.: Bureau of National Affairs, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 2028, column 1

   Synonyms:

   NIMBY