Hypertext Webster Gateway: "legume"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Legume \Leg"ume\ (l[e^]g"[-u]m or l[-e]*g[=u]m"), n. [F.
l['e]gume, L. legumen, fr. legere to gather. So called
because they may be gathered without cutting. See {Legend}.]
1. (Bot.) A pod dehiscent into two pieces or valves, and
having the seed attached at one suture, as that of the
pea.
Note: In the latter circumstance, it differs from a siliqua,
in which the seeds are attached to both sutures. In
popular use, a legume is called a pod, or cod; as, pea
pod, or peas cod.
2. pl. The fruit of leguminous plants, as peas, beans,
lupines; pulse.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
legume
n 1: an erect or climbing bean or pea plant of the family
Leguminosae [syn: {leguminous plant}]
2: the fruit or seed of any of various bean or pea plants
consisting of a two-valved case that splits along both
sides when ripe and having the seeds attached to one edge
of the valves
3: the seedpod of a leguminous plant (such as peas or beans or
lentils)
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