BAN'IAN, noun A man's undress or morning gown, as worn by the Banians in the E. Indies. 2. A Gentoo servant, employed as an agent in commerce. 3. A tree in India. Banian days, in seamen's language, are three days in a week, in which the sailors have no flesh meat served out to them. This use of the term seems to be borrowed from the Banians in Asia, who, believing in a metempsychosis, will eat no flesh, nor even kill noxious animals.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI