Bean Idioms

Several words have found themselves used in a number of phrases. We looked at 'food' last time and this time it's 'bean'.

Baked beans have been (pun intended) since 1803.

Kidney bean is first recorded in the 1560s, so called because of its shape.

Runner bean is seen from around 1900, a reference to the long shoots which run out from the parent plant.

Bean counter, a slang term for an accountant, is first recorded in 1971.

Bean shooter, an Americansism for a catapult, is recorded from 1876.

Bean bag appears in print from 1871.

Lima beans are first seen in 1756, although mispronounced as it should rhyme with ‘beamer’ and not ‘timer’, the vegetable named after the capital of Peru where the vegetable is held to have come.

Old bean, a term of endearment but usually restricted to those of the upper classes and to males, came into being during the First World War. Sadly nobody knows where it started.