Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Kidney \Kid"ney\ (k[i^]d"n[y^]), n.; pl. Kidneys (k[i^]d"n[i^]z). [OE. kidnei, kidnere, from Icel. koi[eth]r belly, womb (akin to Goth. gipus, AS. cwi[thorn] womb) + OE. nere kidney; akin to D. nier, G. niere, OHG. nioro, Icel. n[=y]ra, Dan. nyre, Sw. njure, and probably to Gr. nefro`s Cf. Kite belly.]
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(Anat.) A glandular organ which excretes urea and other waste products from the animal body; a urinary gland.
Note: In man and in other mammals there are two kidneys, one on each side of vertebral column in the back part of the abdomen, each kidney being connected with the bladder by a long tube, the ureter, through which the urine is constantly excreted into the bladder to be periodically discharged.
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Habit; disposition; sort; kind; as, a man of a different kidney.
--Shak.There are in later times other decrees, made by popes of another kidney.
--Barrow.Millions in the world of this man's kidney.
--L'Estrange.Your poets, spendthrifts, and other fools of that kidney, pretend, forsooth, to crack their jokes on prudence.
--Burns.Note: This use of the word perhaps arose from the fact that the kidneys and the fat about them are an easy test of the condition of an animal as to fatness. ``Think of that, -- a man of my kidney; -- . . . as subject to heat as butter.''
--Shak. -
A waiter. [Old Cant]
--Tatler.Floating kidney. See Wandering kidney, under Wandering.
Kidney bean (Bot.), a sort of bean; -- so named from its shape. It is of the genus Phaseolus ( Phaseolus vulgaris). See under Bean.
Kidney ore (Min.), a variety of hematite or iron sesquioxide, occurring in compact kidney-shaped masses.
Kidney stone. (Min.) See Nephrite, and Jade.
Kidney vetch (Bot.), a leguminous herb of Europe and Asia ( Anthyllis vulneraria), with cloverlike heads of red or yellow flowers, once used as a remedy for renal disorders, and also to stop the flow of blood from wounds; lady's-fingers.
Wiktionary
n. A variety of common bean, ''Phaseolus vulgaris'', with a dark-red skin.
WordNet
Wikipedia
The kidney bean is a variety of the common bean ( Phaseolus vulgaris). It is named for its visual resemblance in shape and color to a kidney. Red kidney beans can be confused with other beans that are red, such as adzuki beans.
Usage examples of "kidney bean".
It is of the genus of the kidney bean to which the Indian gram belongs.
From his fingers dropped a small object of the size of a kidney bean.
Kang saw, with growing excitement, that the chamber was shaped like a kidney bean and that massive blocks formed a wall opposite him, a wall that sealed off one side.
The first chamber, the starting point on the map, was shaped like a kidney bean.
There were friends, of course: Billy and Stella Soles who had come from California and subsisted on kidney bean soup, the publication of an amateur science fiction journal and endless bed-bouts.
Billy and Stella Soles who had come from California and subsisted on kidney bean soup, the publication of an amateur science fiction journal and endless bed-bouts.
We saw the first one just moments later: a kidney bean-shaped body of water that lapped up against a bend in the road.
The coffee table in the sunken living room was shaped like a kidney bean, and it sported a fabulous collection of grotesquely rude toys, including a wizened old Ferengi wearing a barrel: when the unsuspecting guest lifted the barrel, he got an eye full of water from the old Ferengi's.
The last thing I ate here that looked like a kidney bean tasted exactly like boiled cabbage.