1. Any of various tropical American vines of the genus Vanilla in the orchid family, especially V. planifolia, cultivated for its long narrow seedpods from which a flavoring agent is obtained.
2. The seedpod of this plant. Also called vanilla bean.
3. A flavoring extract prepared from the cured seedpods of this plant or produced synthetically.

1. Flavored with vanilla: vanilla pudding.
2. Lacking adornments or special features; basic or ordinary: "We went through a period of vanilla cars" (Charles Jordan).

[Obsolete Spanish vainilla, diminutive of vaina, sheath (from the shape of its seedpods), from Latin vāgīna.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.