Word Study
legume
CIDE DICTIONARY
legume, n. [F. légume, L. legumen, fr. legere to gather. So called because they may be gathered without cutting. See Legend.].
- A pod dehiscent into two pieces or valves, and having the seed attached at one suture, as that of the pea. [1913 Webster]" 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." [1913 Webster]
- The fruit of leguminous plants, as peas, beans, lupines; pulse. [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
legume, n.
1 the seed pod of a leguminous plant.
2 any seed, pod, or other edible part of a leguminous plant used as food.
1 the seed pod of a leguminous plant.
2 any seed, pod, or other edible part of a leguminous plant used as food.
Etymology
F l{eacute}gume f. L legumen -minis f. legere pick, because pickable by hand
THESAURUS
legume
algae, autophyte, bean, boll, bracken, brown algae, burr, capsule, climber, cod, conferva, confervoid, creeper, diatom, fern, follicle, fruits and vegetables, fucus, fungus, grapevine, green algae, gulfweed, herb, heterophyte, hull, husk, ivy, kelp, legumen, lentil, liana, lichen, liverwort, mold, moss, mushroom, parasite, parasitic plant, pea, pease cod, pericarp, perthophyte, phytoplankton, planktonic algae, plant families, pod, puffball, pulse, red algae, rockweed, rust, saprophyte, sargasso, sargassum, sea lentil, sea moss, sea wrack, seaweed, seed pod, seed vessel, seedbox, seedcase, silique, smut, succulent, toadstool, vetch, vine, wort, wrackROGET THESAURUS
legume
Vegetable
N vegetable, vegetable kingdom, flora, verdure, plant, tree, shrub, bush, creeper, herb, herbage, grass, annual, perennial, biennial, triennial, exotic, timber, forest, wood, woodlands, timberland, hurst, frith, holt, weald, park, chase, greenwood, brake, grove, copse, coppice, bocage, tope, clump of trees, thicket, spinet, spinney, underwood, brushwood, scrub, boscage, bosk, ceja, chaparal, motte, arboretum, bush, jungle, prairie, heath, heather, fern, bracken, furze, gorse, whin, grass, turf, pasture, pasturage, turbary, sedge, rush, weed, fungus, mushroom, toadstool, lichen, moss, conferva, mold, growth, alfalfa, alfilaria, banyan, blow, blowth, floret, petiole, pin grass, timothy, yam, yew, zinnia, foliage, branch, bough, ramage, stem, tigella, spray, leaf, flower, blossom, bine, flowering plant, timber tree, fruit tree, pulse, legume, vegetable, vegetal, vegetive, vegitous, herbaceous, herbal, botanic, sylvan, silvan, arborary, arboreous, arborescent, arborical, woody, grassy, verdant, verdurous, floral, mossy, lignous, ligneous, wooden, leguminous, vosky, cespitose, turf-like, turfy, endogenous, exogenous, green-robed senators of mighty woods, this is the forest primeval.For further exploring for "legume" in Webster Dictionary Online