[W/K] :: vanilla

  Vanilla \Va*nil"la\, n. [NL., fr. Sp. vainilla, dim. of Sp.
     vaina a sheath, a pod, L. vagina; because its grains, or
     seeds, are contained in little pods.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. (Bot.) A genus of climbing orchidaceous plants, natives of
        tropical America.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. 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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: As a medicine, vanilla is supposed to possess powers
           analogous to valerian, while, at the same time, it is
           far more grateful.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     Cuban vanilla, a sweet-scented West Indian composite shrub
        ({Eupatorium Dalea).
  
     Vanilla bean, the long capsule of the vanilla plant.
  
     Vanilla grass. Same as Holy grass, under Holy.
        [1913 Webster]

  vanilla
       n 1: 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
       2: a flavoring prepared from vanilla beans macerated in alcohol
          (or imitating vanilla beans) [syn: vanilla extract]
       3: a distinctive fragrant flavor characteristic of vanilla
          beans

  vanilla adj. [from the default flavor of ice cream in the U.S.]
     Ordinary flavor, standard. When used of food, very often does not mean
     that the food is flavored with vanilla extract! For example, `vanilla
     wonton soup' means ordinary wonton soup, as opposed to hot-and-sour
     wonton soup. Applied to hardware and software, as in "Vanilla Version 7
     Unix can't run on a vanilla 11/34." Also used to orthogonalize chip
     nomenclature; for instance, a 74V00 means what TI calls a 7400, as
     distinct from a 74LS00, etc. This word differs from canonical in that
     the latter means `default', whereas vanilla simply means `ordinary'. For
     example, when hackers go on a great-wall, hot-and-sour soup is the
     canonical soup to get (because that is what most of them usually
     order) even though it isn't the vanilla (wonton) soup.
  
  

  vanilla
       
          1. (Default flavour of ice cream in the US) Ordinary
          flavour, standard.  When used of food, very often does not
          mean that the food is flavoured with vanilla extract!  For
          example, "vanilla wonton soup" means ordinary wonton soup, as
          opposed to hot-and-sour wonton soup.  Applied to hardware and
          software, as in "Vanilla Version 7 Unix can't run on a
          vanilla PDP 11/34."  Also used to orthogonalise chip
          nomenclature; for instance, a 74V00 means what TI calls a
          7400, as distinct from a 74LS00, etc.  This word differs from
          canonical in that the latter means "default", whereas
          vanilla simply means "ordinary".  For example, when hackers go
          to a chinese restaurant, hot-and-sour wonton soup is the
          canonical wonton soup to get (because that is what most of
          them usually order) even though it isn't the vanilla wonton
          soup.
       
          [{Jargon File]
       
          (1994-11-04)
       
          2. Snobol4 by Catspaw, Inc. for MS-DOS.
       
          ftp://cs.arizona.edu/snobol4/vanilla.arc).html">(ftp://cs.arizona.edu/snobol4/vanilla.arc).
       
          (1992-02-05)