lentil

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A leguminous plant (Lens culinaris) native to southwest Asia, having flat pods containing lens-shaped, edible seeds.
2. n. The round, flattened seed of this plant.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. The annual leguminous plant Lens esculenta, or its seeds. Its native country is unknown; but it is now widely cultivated in the Mediterranean region and the Orient, having been in use in Egypt and the East from a high antiquity. The small flattened seeds furnish a nutritious food, similar to peas and beans, and are cooked whole or split or ground into meal. The leafy stems of the lentil serve as fodder, and when in blossom the plant is a good source of honey.
2. n. plural Freckles; lentigo.
3. n. In apparatus for rectifying alcohol, one of the lentil-shaped bulbs (of which there are generally two, but may be more) placed in the condenser between the coil and the pipe leading from the column of the still. See still and rectification.
4. n. A body or mass having the general form of double-convex lens; a lenticular body or mass; a lenticle.

Wiktionary

1. n. Any of several plants of the genus Lens, especially Lens culinaris, from southwest Asia, that have edible, lens-shaped seeds within flattened pods.
2. n. The seed of these plants, used as food.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Bot.) A leguminous plant of the genus Ervum (Ervum Lens), of small size, common in the fields in Europe. Also, its seed, which is used for food on the continent.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. widely cultivated Eurasian annual herb grown for its edible flattened seeds that are cooked like peas and also ground into meal and for its leafy stalks that are used as fodder
2. n. the fruit or seed of a lentil plant
3. n. round flat seed of the lentil plant used for food