Definition of Mexican jumping bean

1. Noun. Seed of Mexican shrubs of the genus Sebastiana containing the larva of a moth whose movements cause the bean to jerk or tumble.

Exact synonyms: Jumping Bean, Jumping Seed
Group relationships: Genus Sebastiana, Sebastiana
Generic synonyms: Seed

Definition of Mexican jumping bean

1. Noun. A type of seed of a shrub of the genus ''Sebastiania'' in which a larva has hatched from an egg laid there by a moth, the movement of the larva causing the seed to move around. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Lexicographical Neighbors of Mexican Jumping Bean

Mexican cypress
Mexican duck
Mexican ducks
Mexican fire plant
Mexican flameleaf
Mexican freetail bat
Mexican green
Mexican hairless
Mexican hairlesses
Mexican hand tree
Mexican hat
Mexican hat cell
Mexican hat corpuscle
Mexican husk tomato
Mexican hyssop
Mexican jumping bean (current term)
Mexican jumping beans
Mexican juniper
Mexican mint
Mexican monetary unit
Mexican nut pine
Mexican onyx
Mexican overdrive
Mexican peso
Mexican plateau
Mexican pocket mouse
Mexican poppy
Mexican standoff
Mexican sunflower
Mexican swamp cypress

Literary usage of Mexican jumping bean

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Report of the Secretary of Agriculture by United States Dept. of Agriculture (1894)
"Yon have doubtless heard of the Mexican jumping bean. \Vill you bo kind enough to inform mo whether this beau actually grows in Mexico; and if so, ..."

2. The Natural History of Plants: Their Forms, Growth, Reproduction, and by Anton Kerner von Marilaun (1902)
"... of the " Mexican jumping bean ", the larvae are those of the small lepidopterous insect named Car/Mta/aa ..."

3. Sunset by Southern Pacific Company, Southern Pacific Company. Passenger Dept (1914)
"... but the eggs, about to hatch, of a tiny black fly that deposits them on the under side of the leaves of oaks. "Did you see the Mexican jumping' bean? ..."

4. The Entomologist's Record and Journal of Variation by James William Tutt, Malcolm Burr (1890)
"These cases become detached and move on the ground by little hops somewhat like the Mexican jumping bean. ..."

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