Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Princess and the Pea, The
     
Princess and the Pea, The
a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen in which a young woman proves that she is a princess by noticing that there is a pea (=a small round green vegetable) under the pile of mattresses she has been sleeping on. A queen has put the pea under her bed as a test to see if the young woman will feel it, because only a real princess would be so delicate that she would notice a small pea. As a result, the queen allows the young woman to marry her son, a prince.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

Dictionary pictures of the day
Do you know what each of these is called?
What is the word for picture 1? What is the word for picture 2? What is the word for picture 3? What is the word for picture 4?
Click on any of the pictures above to find out what it is called.

Explore our topic dictionary

Browse the dictionary