[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

vanilla \vanil"la\, n. nl., fr. sp. vainilla, dim. of sp.
   vaina a sheath, a pod, l. vagina; because its grains, or
   seeds, are contained in little pods.
   1913 webster
   1. bot. a genus of climbing orchidaceous plants, natives of
      tropical america.
      1913 webster

   2. the long podlike capsules of vanilla planifolia, and
      vanilla claviculata, remarkable for their delicate and
      agreeable odor, for the volatile, odoriferous oil
      extracted from them; also, the flavoring extract made from
      the capsules, extensively used in confectionery,
      perfumery, etc.
      1913 webster

   note: as a medicine, vanilla is supposed to possess powers
         analogous to valerian, while, at the same time, it is
         far more grateful.
         1913 webster

   cuban vanilla, a sweet-scented west indian composite shrub
      eupatorium dalea.

   vanilla bean, the long capsule of the vanilla plant.

   vanilla grass. same as holy grass, under holy.
      1913 webster
see also:
vanilla planifolia vanilla claviculata cuban vanilla eupatorium dalea vanilla bean vanilla grass 
holy grass holy 

[2] : WordNet (r) 2.0

vanilla
     n 1: any of numerous climbing plants of the genus vanilla having
          fleshy leaves and clusters of large waxy highly fragrant
          white or green or topaz flowers
     2: a flavoring prepared from vanilla beans macerated in alcohol
        or imitating vanilla beans syn: vanilla extract
     3: a distinctive fragrant flavor characteristic of vanilla
        beans
see also:
vanilla extract 

[3] : Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001)

vanilla adj. from the default flavor of ice cream in the u.s.
   ordinary flavor, standard. when used of food, very often does not mean
   that the food is flavored with vanilla extract for example, `vanilla
   wonton soup' means ordinary wonton soup, as opposed to hot-and-sour
   wonton soup. applied to hardware and software, as in "vanilla version 7
   unix can't run on a vanilla 11/34." also used to orthogonalize chip
   nomenclature; for instance, a 74v00 means what ti calls a 7400, as
   distinct from a 74ls00, etc. this word differs from canonical in that
   the latter means `default', whereas vanilla simply means `ordinary'. for
   example, when hackers go on a great-wall, hot-and-sour soup is the
   canonical soup to get because that is what most of them usually
   order even though it isn't the vanilla wonton soup.


see also:
flavor canonical great-wall 

[4] : The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)

vanilla
     
        1. default flavour of ice cream in the us ordinary
        flavour, standard.  when used of food, very often does not
        mean that the food is flavoured with vanilla extract  for
        example, "vanilla wonton soup" means ordinary wonton soup, as
        opposed to hot-and-sour wonton soup.  applied to hardware and
        software, as in "vanilla version 7 unix can't run on a
        vanilla pdp 11/34."  also used to orthogonalise chip
        nomenclature; for instance, a 74v00 means what ti calls a
        7400, as distinct from a 74ls00, etc.  this word differs from
        canonical in that the latter means "default", whereas
        vanilla simply means "ordinary".  for example, when hackers go
        to a chinese restaurant, hot-and-sour wonton soup is the
        canonical wonton soup to get because that is what most of
        them usually order even though it isn't the vanilla wonton
        soup.
     
        jargon file
     
        1994-11-04
     
        2. snobol4 by catspaw, inc. for ms-dos.
     
        ftp://cs.arizona.edu/snobol4/vanilla.arc.
     
        1992-02-05
     
     
see also:
flavour version 7 unix pdp 11 canonical jargon file 
snobol4 catspaw, inc. ms-dos lt;ftp://cs.arizona.edu/snobol4/vanilla.arcgt; 

Vanilla >> V Words
Vanilla, definition of term: Vanilla
vanilla_pag1.html

Vanilla Bean >> V Words
Vanilla Bean, definition of term: Vanilla Bean
vanilla+bean_pag1.html