plantain

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A tropical plant, Musa paradisaca or its fruit.
• noun Plantago aristata, a species with very narrow leaves and long narrow bracts, native mostly west of the Mississippi but now a common weed eastward from Maine to Georgia.
• noun A plant of the genus Plantago, especially P. major, the common or greater plantain.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun (Bot.) Any plant of the genus Plantago, but especially the Plantago major, a low herb with broad spreading radical leaves, and slender spikes of minute flowers. It is a native of Europe, but now found near the abode of civilized man in nearly all parts of the world.
• noun (Bot.) See under Indian.
• noun a homely North American aquatic plant (Heteranthera reniformis), having broad, reniform leaves.
• noun an orchidaceous plant (Goodyera pubescens), with the leaves blotched and spotted with white.
• noun See Ribwort.
• noun the Erigeron bellidifolium, a common daisylike plant of North America.
• noun a plant of the genus Alisma, having acrid leaves, and formerly regarded as a specific against hydrophobia.
• noun (Bot.) A treelike perennial herb (Musa paradisiaca) of tropical regions, bearing immense leaves and large clusters of the fruits called plantains. See musa.
• noun The fruit of this plant. It is long and somewhat cylindrical, slightly curved, and, when ripe, soft, fleshy, and covered with a thick but tender yellowish skin. The plantain is a staple article of food in most tropical countries, especially when cooked.
• noun (Zoöl.) any one of several large African birds of the genus Musophaga, or family Musophagidæ, especially Musophaga violacea. See Turaco. They are allied to the cuckoos.
• noun (Zoöl.) a Java squirrel (Sciurus plantani) which feeds upon plantains.
• noun (Bot.) the treelike herb Musa paradisiaca. See def. 1 (above).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun A plant of the genus Plantago, with a rosette of sessile leaves about 10 cm long with a narrow part instead of a petiole, and with a spike inflorescence with the flower spacing varying widely among the species. See also psyllium.
• noun A plant in the genus Musa, the genus that includes banana, but with lower sugar content than banana.
• noun The fruit of the plant, usually cooked before eating and used like potatoes.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun starchy banana-like fruit; eaten (always cooked) as a staple vegetable throughout the tropics
• noun a banana tree bearing hanging clusters of edible angular greenish starchy fruits; tropics and subtropics
• noun any of numerous plants of the genus Plantago; mostly small roadside or dooryard weeds with elliptic leaves and small spikes of very small flowers; seeds of some used medicinally