The Virgin Mary's Peas: ballot

[Ranjit Bhatnagar]

Definitions presented in alphabetical order by first significant word.
 The usual voting rules apply: give two points to one def, and one
point to another.  Get me your votes by, oh, next Tuesday night,
please!



The Virgin Mary's Peas - buboes; the inflamed swelling of a lymph
node, especially in the area of the armpit or groin, that is
characteristic of certain infections, esp. bubonic plague and syphilis



The Virgin Mary's Peas (n.) -- A derisive name, coined by a skeptical
Sir Ronald Fisher, for the pea variety Pisum sativum subsp. sativum
var. leningradii (Vavilov 1934), on account of (1) its bluish seed
albumen, and (2) its property of spontaneously producing fertile seeds
which are genetically identical to crosses of the plant with other pea
varieties from which it has been completely isolated.  The phenomenon
is no longer in doubt, although the origin of the alien alleles
remains imperfectly understood.



The Virgin Mary's Peas - A desolate area in southern Albania, between
Gjirokaster and Permet. [hobson-jobson derivation from "dofertsjin me
respis" (valley without green)]



The Virgin Mary's Peas - noun. (slang, c. 1935) Freshmen or first year
students at a Catholic usu. boys boarding school.  Derived from "green
peas" and "virgin" meaning inexperienced.



"The Virgin Mary's Peas":  Lily-of-the-valley buds.



The Virgin Mary's Peas - In petanque, a circumstance where, after the
completion of an end, one team has no boules within the boundary of
the playing area, while the other team has at least three.



The Virgin Mary's Peas - rutabaga



The Virgin Mary's Peas - The seeds of a plant, Aotus gemmarius, used
in northern Mexico to make rosaries in a manner similar to jequirity.



The Virgin Mary's Peas: the stones called "Elijah's melons," on Mount
Carmel, and "the Virgin Mary's peas," near Bethlehem, are instances of
crystallization well known in limestone formations, etc.