4  definitions  found 
 
  From  Webster's  Revised  Unabridged  Dictionary  (1913)  [web1913]: 
 
  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.] 
  1.  (Bot.)  A  genus  of  climbing  orchidaceous  plants,  natives  of 
  tropical  America. 
 
  2.  The  long  podlike  capsules  of  {Vanilla  planifolia},  and  {V. 
  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 
 
  Note:  As  a  medicine,  vanilla  is  supposed  to  possess  powers 
  analogous  to  valerian,  while  at  the  same  time,  it  is 
  far  more  grateful. 
 
  {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}. 
 
  From  WordNet  r  1.6  [wn]: 
 
  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 
 
  From  Jargon  File  (4.2.3,  23  NOV  2000)  [jargon]: 
 
  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. 
 
 
 
  From  The  Free  On-line  Dictionary  of  Computing  (13  Mar  01)  [foldoc]: 
 
  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)} 
 
  (1992-02-05) 
 
 

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