vanilla

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun Any of various tropical American vines of the genus Vanilla in the orchid family, especially V. planifolia, widely cultivated for its long narrow seedpods, which yield an aromatic substance used especially as a flavoring.
• noun The seedpod of this plant.
• noun A flavoring extract prepared from the cured seedpods of this plant or produced synthetically.
• adjective Flavored with vanilla.
• adjective Scented with or smelling like vanilla.
• adjective Lacking adornments or special features; basic or ordinary.
• adjective White or off-white in color.
• adjective Slang Relating to or engaging in sexual activity that is regarded as conventional or unadventurous; not kinky, sadomasochistic, or fetishistic.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A plant of the genus Vanilla (see def. 3), especially one of several species yielding the vanilla of commerce.
• noun The vanilla-bean or its economic extract.
• noun [capitalized] [NL. (Plumier, 1703).] A genus of orchids, of the tribe Neottieæ, type of the subtribe Vanilleæ.

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

• noun (Bot.) A genus of climbing orchidaceous plants, natives of tropical America.
• noun The long podlike capsules of Vanilla planifolia, and Vanilla claviculata, remarkable for their delicate and agreeable odor, for the volatile, odoriferous oil extracted from them; also, the flavoring extract made from the capsules, extensively used in confectionery, perfumery, etc.
• noun a sweet-scented West Indian composite shrub (Eupatorium Dalea).
• noun the long capsule of the vanilla plant.
• noun Same as Holy grass, under Holy.

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

• noun countable Any tropical, climbing orchid of the genus Vanilla (especially Vanilla planifolia), bearing podlike fruit yielding an extract used in flavoring food or in perfumes.
• noun countable The fruit or bean of the vanilla plant.
• noun uncountable The extract of the fruit of the vanilla plant.
• noun uncountable The distinctive fragrant flavour/flavor characteristic of vanilla extract.
• noun uncountable Any artificially produced homologue of vanilla extract, principally vanillin produced from lignin from the paper industry or from petrochemicals.
• adjective colloquial By association with vanilla as the "plain" flavour of ice cream: the standard, plain, default, unmodified, basic.

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

• noun a flavoring prepared from vanilla beans macerated in alcohol (or imitating vanilla beans)
• adjective plain and without any extras or adornments
• noun a distinctive fragrant flavor characteristic of vanilla beans
• noun 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
• adjective flavored with vanilla extract