groundnut Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a North American vine with fragrant blossoms and edible tubers; important food crop of Native Americans
    wild bean; Indian potato; Apios tuberosa; Apios americana; potato bean; groundnut vine.
  2. noun nutlike tuber; important food of Native Americans
    wild bean; potato bean.
  3. noun pod of the peanut vine containing usually 2 nuts or seeds; `groundnut' and `monkey nut' are British terms
    goober; peanut; monkey nut; earthnut; goober pea.

WordNet

Ground"nut` noun
Definitions
  1. (Bot.) (a) The fruit of the Arachis hypogæa (native country uncertain); the peanut; the earthnut. (b) A leguminous, twining plant (Apios tuberosa), producing clusters of dark purple flowers and having a root tuberous and pleasant to the taste. (c) The dwarf ginseng (Aralia trifolia). U. S. Gray. (d) A European plant of the genus Bunium (B. flexuosum) having an edible root of a globular shape aud sweet, aromatic taste; -- called also earthnut, earth chestnut, hawknut, and pignut.

Webster 1913