legume

leg·ume

Use legume in a sentence

Different types of legumes.

noun

The definition of a legume is a pod or pea plant, or the seed of such a plant.

An example of a legume is a bean.

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"legume." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 22 April 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/LEGUME>.

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legume. (n.d.). Retrieved April 22nd, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/LEGUME

legume

any of an order (Fabales) of dicotyledonous herbs, shrubs, and trees, including the peas, beans, mimosas, and the Kentucky coffee tree, with usually compound leaves, flowers having a single carpel, and fruit that is a dry pod splitting along two sutures: many legumes are nitrogen-fixing and often are used as green manure and for forage
the pod or seed of some members of this order, used for food

Origin of legume

French légume, vegetable from Classical Latin legumen, literally , anything that can be gathered from legere, to gather: see logic

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"legume." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 22 April 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/LEGUME>.

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legume. (n.d.). Retrieved April 22nd, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/LEGUME

legume

noun

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

Origin of legume

French légume from Latin legūmen bean

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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"legume." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 22 April 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/LEGUME>.

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legume. (n.d.). Retrieved April 22nd, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/LEGUME

Any of a large number of eudicot plants belonging to the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae). Their characteristic fruit is a seed pod. Legumes live in a symbiotic relationship with bacteria in structures called nodules on their roots. These bacteria are able to take nitrogen from the air, which is in a form that plants cannot use, and convert it into compounds that the plants can use. Many legumes are widely cultivated for food, as fodder for livestock, and as a means of improving the nitrogen content of soils. Beans, peas, clover, alfalfa, locust trees, and acacia trees are all legumes.
The seed pod of such a plant.

Related Forms:

leguminous
adjective

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MLA Style

"legume." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 22 April 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/LEGUME>.

APA Style

legume. (n.d.). Retrieved April 22nd, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/LEGUME

Noun

(plural legumes)

The fruit or seed of leguminous plants (as peas or beans) used for food.
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).
A pod dehiscent into two pieces or valves, and having the seed attached at one suture, as that of the pea.

Origin

English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.