Hypertext Webster Gateway: "banyan"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Banian \Ban"ian\, n. [Skr. banij merchant. The tree was so named
by the English, because used as a market place by the
merchants.]
1. A Hindoo trader, merchant, cashier, or money changer.
[Written also {banyan}.]
2. A man's loose gown, like that worn by the Banians.
3. (Bot.) The Indian fig. See {Banyan}.
{Banian days} (Naut.), days in which the sailors have no
flesh meat served out to them. This use seems to be
borrowed from the Banians or Banya race, who eat no flesh.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Banyan \Ban"yan\, n. [See {Banian}.] (Bot.)
A tree of the same genus as the common fig, and called the
Indian fig ({Ficus Indica}), whose branches send shoots to
the ground, which take root and become additional trunks,
until it may be the tree covers some acres of ground and is
able to shelter thousands of men.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
banyan
n 1: East Indian tree that puts out aerial shoots that grow down
into the soil forming additional trunks [syn: {banyan
tree}, {banian}, {banian tree}, {Indian banyan}, {East
Indian fig tree}, {Ficus bengalensis}]
2: a loose fitting jacket; originally worn in India [syn: {banian}]
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