From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Legume \Leg"ume\ (l[e^]g"[-u]m or l[-e]*g[=u]m"), noun [F. l['e]gume, L. legumen, fr. legere to gather. So called because they may be gathered without cutting. See {Legend}.]
1. (Bot.) A pod dehiscent into two pieces or valves, and having the seed attached at one suture, as that of the pea.
Note: 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.
2. pl. The fruit of leguminous plants, as peas, beans, lupines; pulse.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: an erect or climbing bean or pea plant of the family Leguminosae [syn: {leguminous plant}]
2: the fruit or seed of any of various bean or pea plants consisting of a two-valved case that splits along both sides when ripe and having the seeds attached to one edge of the valves
3: the seedpod of a leguminous plant (such as peas or beans or lentils)
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
70 Moby Thesaurus words for "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, wrack
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