See Also: Banyan(medicine)
banyan(dictionary)
banyan(encyclopedia)
Banyan Investment, SICAV, S.A.(finance)
Banyan Tree Bangkok(tourism)
Banyan Tree Phuket(tourism)

banyan (iou)



banyan noun. Also banian. L16.
[Portuguese from Gujarati vaiyo man of the trading caste, from Sanskrit vaija merchant.]
I.
= BANIA. L16.
An Indian broker or steward attached to a firm or individual; a sircar. M17.
In full banyan shirt etc. A loose flannel shirt or jacket. E18.
II. [Orig. applied by Europeans to a particular tree under which traders had built a pagoda.]
In full banyan tree. An Indian fig tree, Ficus benghalensis, the branches of which root themselves over a wide area. M17.
Comb.: banyan-day arch. (chiefly Nautical): on which no meat is served; banyan shirt: see sense 3 above; banyan tree: see sense 4 above.