yellow wax bean

noun

A tender-crisp, stringless variety of snap bean lacking chlorophyll, Phaseolus vulgaris, characterized by their bright yellow pods and mild, slightly sweet flavor.

Meanings

nounyellow wax bean (plural yellow wax beans)

plural yellow wax beans

  1. A tender-crisp, stringless variety of snap bean lacking chlorophyll, Phaseolus vulgaris, characterized by their bright yellow pods and mild, slightly sweet flavor.

    The primary benefits to the consumer are improved and sweeter flavor, a firmer texture, and improved color, particularly with yellow wax beans.

    1963, Commerce Clearing House (contributor), Food, Drug, Cosmetic Law Reporter
    4 more examples

    The yellow wax bean is not a good seller when canned, the trade demanding a green bean, tender, and of a size known in common parlance as the rat tail.

    1915, Progressive Farmer Company (publisher), “For Our Club Girls, Mrs. McKimmon Tells About Canning String Beans”, in Progressive Farmer, volume 30, page 19

    Three hundred and seventy-five pods sufficiently ripe to have turned color, of the variety commonly known as the yellow wax bean, were examined at Haleiwa in March and were found free from attack, although growing close to a field of badly affected pumpkins.

    1920, Earl Hazeltine Frothingham, Otto William Schleussner, U.S. Department of Agriculture (publisher), Statistics of Fruit in Principal Countries, Production, Exports, and Imports for the United States and Foreign Countries, Volumes 476-500, page 14

    This meager uptake was assumed to indicate that the polyphenol oxidase system was either absent from or relatively weak in the roots of the yellow wax bean.

    1948, Austin Clayton Wagenknecht, Effect of Growth Regulators on Certain Plant Enzymes, page 21

    I went toward the office as Floyd Parmlee came into the room with a covered tray. I had met Floyd on Monday. He was as bland on the inside as he was on the outside. He reminded me of yellow wax beans. I hate yellow wax beans.

    1987, Joan Lowery Nixon, The Dark and Deadly Pool, page 26

    Synonyms: butter bean, golden bean

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA tender-crisp, stringless variety of snap bean lacking chlorophyll, Phaseolus vulgaris, characterized by their bright yellow pods and mild, slightly sweet flavor.

Origin

First use appears c. 1915. See cite below.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

yellow wax bean. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yellow%20wax%20bean

MLA

“yellow wax bean.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yellow%20wax%20bean. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “yellow wax bean,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yellow%20wax%20bean.

Source: yellow wax bean on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.