legume
(ˈlɛgjuːm, lɪˈgjuːm)
Also 7 legum.
[a. F. légume, ad. L. legūmen, f. leg-ĕre to gather, in allusion to the fact that the fruit may be gathered by hand.]
1. a. The fruit, or the edible portion of a leguminous plant, e.g. beans, peas, pulse. b. By extension: A vegetable used for food; chiefly in pl.
| a. 1676 Phil. Trans. XI. 621 The boyling of Legums. 1704 Collect. Voy. (Churchill) III. 7/2 There is a great Plenty of Legumes, and Garden-product. 1732 Arbuthnot Rules of Diet 263 Farinaceous Legumes, as Pease, Beans, &c. 1792 A. Young Trav. France 443 Chesnuts, maiz, harricots, and other legumes, form principal objects of consumption. |
| b. 1693 Evelyn De la Quint. Compl. Gard. Pref., In those early times 'tis probable they knew no other Gardens than those of Fruits and Legumes. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Turnips, Turneps are a legume used in several sauces. 1824–9 Landor Imag. Conv. Wks. 1846 I. 131 The tyrant of Sicily demanded a tenth of the corn, but not a tenth of..hay or legumes. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 696 The dry edible fruit and other species of food, which we call by the general name of legumes. |
2. A leguminous plant.
| 1693 Robinson in Phil. Trans. XVII. 826 The Arachydna's, and some other Legumes, which flower above, but seed under ground. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict., Legumes,..in Botany it is that Species of Plants, which we call Pulse. 1870 J. Yeats Nat. Hist. Commerce ii. 137 The legumes of temperate climates are familiar plants. 1969 Oxf. Bk. Food Plants 34/2 There are a number of other tropical legumes which are only of very minor or local importance as sources of food. Ibid. 44/1 Cowpea..is an annual legume, originating in Africa. 1974 A. Huxley Plant & Planet xxx. 365 Various legume seeds have proved the best sources [of vegetable protein] so far. |
3. The pod or seed-vessel of a leguminous plant.
| 1785 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. iii. (1794) 36 The legume or pod. 1787 Fam. Plants I. 29 Legume long, compress'd, cloath'd with a double bark. 1811 A. T. Thomson Lond. Disp. (1818) 376 The legume compressed, brown, ciliated. 1863 Bates Nat. Amazon viii. (1864) 230 The fruit..although a legume, is of a rounded shape. |