|
Search over 100 encyclopedias and dictionaries: |
Research categories | Follow us on Twitter |
Research categories
View all topics in the newsView all reference sources at Encyclopedia.com |
|||
Peanuts
PEANUTSChildhood SeriousnessThe comic strip Peanuts, written and drawn by Charles Schulz, was immensely popular in the 1950s. First syndicated in eight newspapers in 1950, the comic strip Peanuts was the most successful strip of the decade. By the end of the 1950s the strip appeared in more than four hundred newspapers in the United States and in thirty-five foreign papers. The strip was notable in that its characters, all children, acted and talked through their childhood activities with all the seriousness and insecurities of adults. As the Saturday Evening Post commented in 1957, readers of the comic strip imagined Schulz as a "superintellectual." Mistaken IntellectualIn 1956 a staffer for Adlai Stevenson telephoned Schulz to ask him to support her candidate. During their conversation she called Schulz, on the basis of his comic strip Peanuts, "the youngest existentialist." Schulz politely declined to endorse Stevenson but did have one question: "What is an existentialist?" Early YearsSchulz began his career as a cartoonist in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1949 drawing cartoons that were published once a week in a Saint Paul newspaper. He began selling cartoons to the Saturday Evening Post in 1950. Later that year he sent eight of the cartoons published in the Post and a selection of his Saint Paul publications to the United Features Syndicate. In October Peanuts premiered in eight newspapers. The strip steadily grew in popularity. A Sunday strip was added, and Schulz began to publish book collections of his strips. Wide SuccessIn 1958 Schulz was making ninety thousand dollars per year from his cartoons and books, and newspaper circulation of Peanuts was continuing to rise. Charlie Brown, Lucy, Snoopy, Linus, Schroeder, Peppermint Patty, Sally, and the rest of the Peanuts cast became a stock part of American popular culture. The Coasters' 1959 song "Charlie Brown" exemplifies the cultural role the comic strip had come to play, as the reference to it was indirect but unmistakable. Peanuts continued to grow in readership as one of the most popular of postwar comic strips. Sources:"Child's Garden of Reverses," Time, 71 (3 November 1958): 58; "A Handful of Peanuts," Look, 22 (22 July 1958): 66-68; Hugh Morrow, "The Success of an Utter Failure," Saturday Evening Post (12 January 1957): 34-35, 70-72; Gerald Weales, "Good Grief, More Peanuts!," Reporter, 20 (30 April 1959): 45-46. |
|
|
Cite this article
"Peanuts." American Decades. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Peanuts." American Decades. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3468301990.html "Peanuts." American Decades. 2001. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3468301990.html |
|
peanut
peanut name for a low, annual leguminous plant ( Arachis hypogaea ) of the family Leguminosae ( pulse family) and for its edible seeds. Native to South America and cultivated there for millenia, it is said to have been introduced to Africa by early explorers, and Africans transported as slaves brought the plant with them to North America. In the United States it has been extensively cultivated only since the late 19th cent. It is now grown in most tropical, subtropical, and temperate regions, especially in India and China (the major world producers), W Africa, and the SE United States. The seeds—peanuts—are eaten fresh or roasted and are used in cookery and confectionery. They are ground for peanut butter, an important article of commerce, and yield an oil used for margarine, cooking oil, soap manufacture, and industrial purposes. The herbage is used for hay, the residue from oil extraction (called peanut-oil cakes) for stock feed, and the whole plant, left in the ground, as pasturage for swine. Peanut crops are usually harvested by hand except in the United States. Europe is the chief importer and processor, especially for oil manufacture. In the United States the amount of the crop converted to oil depends on the demand for whole peanuts; it is usually only 15% to 20%. Because of its numerous uses (George Washington Carver developed several hundred), high protein content, and adaptability to varying demand, the peanut is an advantageous agricultural crop. There are two types of peanut plant—bunch nuts and vine, or trailing, nuts—named for the way the plants grow. The peanut plant is unusual for its habit of geocarpy: when the pod starts to form, it is pushed into the ground by the elongation of its stalk and matures underground. Other names for the peanut are goober, pinder, earthnut, groundnut, and ground pea. Peanuts are classified in the division Magnoliophyta , class Magnoliopsida, order Rosales, family Leguminosae. |
|
|
Cite this article
"peanut." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "peanut." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-peanut.html "peanut." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-peanut.html |
|
peanut
pea·nut / ˈpēnət/ • n. 1. the oval seed of a South American plant, widely roasted and salted and eaten as a snack. ∎ (peanuts) inf. a paltry thing or amount, esp. a very small amount of money. ∎ a small person (often used as a term of endearment). ∎ (peanuts) small pieces of Styrofoam used for packing material. 2. the plant (Arachis hypogaea) of the pea family that bears these seeds, which develop in pods that ripen underground. It is widely cultivated, esp. in the southern US, and large quantities are used to make oil or animal feed. |
|
|
Cite this article
"peanut." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "peanut." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-peanut.html "peanut." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-peanut.html |
|
peanut
peanut (groundnut) Annual, leguminous plant Arachis hypogaea of the pea family. Native to South America, it is now grown in many temperate regions of the world. A versatile plant, in the 19th century, US scientist George Washington Carver researched more than 300 uses for it. The seeds (peanuts) are a valuable source of protein and yield an oil used both in food and in industry. The body of the plant can be used as animal feed. Family: Fabaceae/Leguminosae.
|
|
|
Cite this article
"peanut." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "peanut." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-peanut.html "peanut." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-peanut.html |
|
Peanuts
Peanuts name of the comic strip (1950–99) by the American cartoonist Charles Schulz (1922–2000), featuring a range of characters including the likeable loser Charlie Brown, his dog Snoopy, bossy Lucy, and the philosophical Linus.
|
|
|
Cite this article
ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Peanuts." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Peanuts." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-Peanuts.html ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Peanuts." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-Peanuts.html |
|
peanut
peanut See ARACHIS.
|
|
|
Cite this article
MICHAEL ALLABY. "peanut." A Dictionary of Plant Sciences. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MICHAEL ALLABY. "peanut." A Dictionary of Plant Sciences. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O7-peanut.html MICHAEL ALLABY. "peanut." A Dictionary of Plant Sciences. 1998. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O7-peanut.html |
|
peanut
peanut •abut, but, butt, cut, glut, gut, hut, intercut, jut, Mut, mutt, nut, phut, putt, rut, scut, shortcut, shut, slut, smut, strut, tut, undercut
•sackbut • scuttlebutt • catgut
•midgut • Vonnegut • rotgut • haircut
•offcut • cross-cut • linocut • crew cut
•woodcut • uppercut • chestnut
•hazelnut • peanut • wing nut • cobnut
•locknut • walnut • groundnut
•doughnut (US donut) • coconut
•butternut
|
|
|
Cite this article
"peanut." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "peanut." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-peanut.html "peanut." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-peanut.html |
|
Search over 100 encyclopedias and dictionaries:
HighBeam™ Research, Inc. © Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.
The Encyclopedia.com advertising network includes:
