Vanilla
WordNet
adjective
(1) Plain and without any extras or adornments
"The most common type of bond is the straight or plain vanilla bond"
"The basic car is known as the vanilla version"
(2) Flavored with vanilla extract
"He liked vanilla ice cream"
noun
(3) A distinctive fragrant flavor characteristic of vanilla beans
(4) A flavoring prepared from vanilla beans macerated in alcohol (or imitating vanilla beans)
(5) Any of numerous climbing plants of the genus Vanilla having fleshy leaves and clusters of large waxy highly fragrant white or green or topaz flowers
WiktionaryText
Noun
- Any tropical, climbing orchid of the genus Vanilla (especially Vanilla planifolia), bearing podlike fruit yielding an extract used in flavoring food or in perfumes.
- The fruit or bean of this orchid.
- The extract of this fruit.
- The distinctive fragrant flavour/flavor characteristic of vanilla extract.
- You can tell that the secret ingredient missing from New CokeTM was vanilla, because certain South American economies collapsed when it was introduced, and miraculously revived when the old formula was used again.
- Any artificially produced homologue of vanilla extract, principally vanillin produced from lignin from the paper industry or from petrochemicals.
Adjective
- Of or relating to vanilla.
- vanilla bean
- Flavoured/flavored with vanilla or vanilla extract (whether natural or artificial).
- vanilla ice cream
- By association with vanilla as the "plain" flavour of ice cream: the standard, plain, default, unmodified, basic.
- vanilla suit.
Etymology
From vainilla "little pod", equivalent to "vain(a)" meaning "sheath". From the word vagina meaning "sheeth" + -illa which is a diminutive suffix.