Phrase guide

keen as a bean

adj · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

adj

Meaning 1

Very keen; enthusiastic; eager.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: informal, not-comparable

Qualifier: simile

Examples

  • 2018 Alasdair Duncan, Here’s How To Improve Your Pitiful Uber Rating From Someone Who Did It Pedestrian, 17 September 2018. Accessed 4 May 2019. On my afternoon trip home, I struck a driver who seemed keen as a bean to get me to mash that five star rating – his Mitsubishi Outlander was stocked with mints and bottled water and he offered them all to me and even asked if I wanted to make any extra stops on the way home.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Chosen for the rhyme.