Dictionary

yellow wax bean en · NOUN

Etymology

First use appears c. 1915. See cite below.

Meanings

1. A tender-crisp, stringless variety of snap bean lacking chlorophyll, Phaseolus vulgaris, characterized by their bright yellow pods and mild, slightly sweet flavor.
   • The primary benefits to the consumer are improved and sweeter flavor, a firmer texture, and improved color, particularly with yellow wax beans. 1963, Commerce Clearing House (contributor), Food, Drug, Cosmetic Law Reporter:
   • I went toward the office as Floyd Parmlee came into the room with a covered tray. I had met Floyd on Monday. He was as bland on the inside as he was on the outside. He reminded me of yellow wax beans. I hate yellow wax beans. 1987, Joan Lowery Nixon, The Dark and Deadly Pool, page 26:
   • This meager uptake was assumed to indicate that the polyphenol oxidase system was either absent from or relatively weak in the roots of the yellow wax bean. 1948, Austin Clayton Wagenknecht, Effect of Growth Regulators on Certain Plant Enzymes, page 21:
   • The yellow wax bean is not a good seller when canned, the trade demanding a green bean, tender, and of a size known in common parlance as the rat tail. 1915, Progressive Farmer Company (publisher), “For Our Club Girls, Mrs. McKimmon Tells About Canning String Beans”, in Progressive Farmer, volume 30, page 19:
   • Three hundred and seventy-five pods sufficiently ripe to have turned color, of the variety commonly known as the yellow wax bean, were examined at Haleiwa in March and were found free from attack, although growing close to a field of badly affected pumpkins. 1920, Earl Hazeltine Frothingham, Otto William Schleussner, U.S. Department of Agriculture (publisher), Statistics of Fruit in Principal Countries, Production, Exports, and Imports for the United States and Foreign Countries, Volumes 476-500, page 14:

Forms

Coordinates

purple wax bean

Synonyms

golden bean · butter bean