1. Fruit or seed of the cowpea plant
   "Southern cuisine often features dishes with black-eyed peas";
   - cowpea, black-eyed bean [Brit], black-eye bean [Brit]
    
2. A climbing or sprawling annual legume native to Africa, widely cultivated for its edible beans, animal fodder, and soil improvement
   "black-eyed peas thrive in the hot summers of the American South";
   - cowpea, cowpea plant, Vigna unguiculata, Vigna sinensis, black-eyed bean [Brit], black-eye bean [Brit]
    
3. Eaten fresh as shell beans or dried
   "She prepared a traditional New Year's dish of black-eyed peas for good luck";
   - cowpea, black-eyed bean [Brit], black-eye bean [Brit]

Derived forms: black-eyed peas

Type of: legume, leguminous plant

Part of: genus Vigna, Vigna

Encyclopedia: Black-eyed pea