coffee Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a beverage consisting of an infusion of ground coffee beans
    java.
    • he ordered a cup of coffee
  2. noun any of several small trees and shrubs native to the tropical Old World yielding coffee beans
    coffee tree.
  3. noun a seed of the coffee tree; ground to make coffee
    coffee bean; coffee berry.
  4. noun a medium brown to dark-brown color
    umber; deep brown; burnt umber; chocolate.

WordNet

Cof"fee noun
Etymology
Turk. qahveh, Ar. qahuah wine, coffee, a decoction of berries. Cf. Café.
Definitions
  1. The "beans" or "berries" (pyrenes) obtained from the drupes of a small evergreen tree of the genus Coffea, growing in Abyssinia, Arabia, Persia, and other warm regions of Asia and Africa, and also in tropical America.
  2. The coffee tree. ✍ There are several species of the coffee tree, as, Coffea Arabica, C. occidentalis, and C. Liberica. The white, fragrant flowers grow in clusters at the root of the leaves, and the fruit is a red or purple cherrylike drupe, with sweet pulp, usually containing two pyrenes, commercially called "beans" or "berries".
  3. The beverage made from the roasted and ground berry.
    They have in Turkey a drink called coffee . . . This drink comforteth the brain and heart, and helpeth digestion. Bacon.
    ✍ The use of coffee is said to have been introduced into England about 1650, when coffeehouses were opened in Oxford and London.

Webster 1913