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. Obs.
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.
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. Amazons, II. ii. 49. The fruit, which, although a legume, is of a rounded shape, and has but one seed, can be gathered only when it falls to the ground.
