Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - legume

 noun  Etymology: French legume, from Latin legumin-, ~n leguminous plant, from legere to gather — more at legend  Date: 1676  1.  a. the fruit or seed of plants of the ~ family (as peas or beans) used for food  b. a vegetable used for food  2. any of a large family (Leguminosae syn. Fabaceae, the ~ family) of dicotyledonous herbs, shrubs, and trees having fruits that are ~s (sense 3) or loments, bearing nodules on the roots that contain nitrogen-fixing bacteria, and including important food and forage plants (as peas, beans, or clovers)  3. a dry dehiscent one-celled fruit developed from a simple superior ovary and usually dehiscing into two valves with the seeds attached to the ventral suture ; pod