Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A plant of the pea family.
  • noun A pod of such a plant, which splits into two valves with the seeds attached to one edge of the valves.
  • noun Such a pod or seed used as food. Peas, beans, and lentils are legumes.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun plural The fruit of leguminous plants of the pea kind; pulse.
  • noun A pod formed of a simple pistil, which is dehiscent by both sutures and so divides into two valves, the seeds being borne at the inner or ventral suture only.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Bot.) A pod dehiscent into two pieces or valves, and having the seed attached at one suture, as that of the pea.
  • noun The fruit of leguminous plants, as peas, beans, lupines; pulse.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The fruit or seed of leguminous plants (as peas or beans) used for food.
  • noun Any of a large family (Leguminosae syn. Fabaceae) of dicotyledonous herbs, shrubs, and trees having fruits that are legumes or loments, bearing nodules on the roots that contain nitrogen-fixing bacteria, and including important food and forage plants (as peas, beans, or clovers).
  • noun A pod dehiscent into two pieces or valves, and having the seed attached at one suture, as that of the pea.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an erect or climbing bean or pea plant of the family Leguminosae
  • noun the fruit or seed of any of various bean or pea plants consisting of a case that splits along both sides when ripe and having the seeds attach to one side of the case
  • noun the seedpod of a leguminous plant (such as peas or beans or lentils)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French légume, from Latin legūmen, bean.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French légume, from Latin legūmen ("bean").

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Examples

  • He can't help but look around, distracted by the vendors selling cooking oil and the mashed vegetable stew called "legume," the rum stands and the ubiquitous lottery shops where impoverished Haitians place tiny quixotic bets.

    In Haiti's shattered capital, metal scavengers take to the streets 2010

  • He can't help but look around, distracted by the vendors selling cooking oil and the mashed vegetable stew called "legume," the rum stands and the ubiquitous lottery shops where impoverished Haitians place tiny quixotic bets.

    In Haiti's shattered capital, metal scavengers take to the streets 2010

  • He can't help but look around, distracted by the vendors selling cooking oil and the mashed vegetable stew called "legume," the rum stands and the ubiquitous lottery shops where impoverished Haitians place tiny quixotic bets.

    In Haiti's shattered capital, metal scavengers take to the streets Manuel Roig-Franzia 2010

  • He can't help but look around, distracted by the vendors selling cooking oil and the mashed vegetable stew called "legume," the rum stands and the ubiquitous lottery shops where impoverished Haitians place tiny quixotic bets.

    In Haiti's shattered capital, metal scavengers take to the streets Manuel Roig-Franzia 2010

  • Then it didnt even have half the words such as legume and glycogen.

    sierrazen Diary Entry sierrazen 2003

  • As the application of fertilizers is not always economical in the semi-arid tropics of Niger, non-fertilizer-based methods to improve soil conditions, such as legume use, deserve special attention.

    1. Soil constraints on sustainable plant production in the tropics. 1992

  • I particularly like the combination of cannellini beans and dark leafy vegetables such as the kale I used today, but any kind of legume such as kidney beans, chickpeas or even lentils would be delicious in this recipe.

    TreeHugger 2010

  • Meat alternatives like plant food such as legume, nuts and beancurd they also provide the same vitamins and minerals that you can get from meat products.

    ReadABlog.com New Blogs and RSS Feeds 2010

  • Meat alternatives like plant food such as legume, nuts and beancurd they also provide the same vitamins and minerals that you can get from meat products.

    ReadABlog.com New Blogs and RSS Feeds 2010

  • I particularly like the combination of cannellini beans and dark leafy vegetables such as the kale I used today, but any kind of legume such as kidney beans, chickpeas or even lentils would be delicious in this recipe.

    TreeHugger 2010

Comments

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  • A plant such as beans. Legumes are healthy foods.

    December 6, 2010

  • Not all of them.

    December 6, 2010

  • On a family excursion into the sagebrush desert of the western US we happened upon a huge flock of sheep that had been poisoned by grazing on loco-weed, the small herbaceous legume, Astragalus spp.. The Basque sheepherder asked if my father had a gun (he didn't). I watched my father and the herder, with knives, put out of their misery dozens of ewes and lambs who were violently convulsing. A powerful image and memory from my youth that lives with me today.

    December 6, 2010