Emily Dickinson Lexicon

LE'GUME, or LE-GU'MEN, n. [L. legumen; Fr. legume; probably from L. lego, to collect, and signifying that which collects or holds, or a collection.]

1. In botany, a pericarp or seed vessel, of two valves, in which to the seeds are fixed to one suture only. 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 a cod; as, pea-pod, or peas-cod. – Martyn.
2. In the plural, pulse, peas, beans, &c.