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Entry 11 senses · 3 variants Webster, 1913

Seed

/(sēd)/ · IPA /siːd/
01 n. A ripened ovule, consisting of an embryo with one or more integuments, or coverings; as, an apple seed; a currant seed. By germination it p…
pl. Seed, Seeds ((#))
  1. 1.
    A ripened ovule, consisting of an embryo with one or more integuments, or coverings; as, an apple seed; a currant seed. By germination it produces a new plant.(Bot.)
    “And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself.” — Gen. i. 11.
  2. 2.
    The generative fluid of the male; semen; sperm; -- not used in the plural.(Physiol.)
  3. 3.
    That from which anything springs; first principle; original; source; as, the seeds of virtue or vice.
  4. 4.
    The principle of production.
    “Praise of great acts he scatters as a seed, Which may the like in coming ages breed.” — Waller.
  5. 5.
    Progeny; offspring; children; descendants; as, the seed of Abraham; the seed of David.
  6. 6.
    Race; generation; birth.
    “Of mortal seed they were not held.” — Waller.
Phrases & compounds
Seed bag — a packing to prevent percolation of water down the bore hole. It consists of a bag encircling the tubing and filled with flax seed, which swells when wet and fills the space between the tubing and the sides of the hole.
Seed bud — the germ or rudiment of the plant in the embryo state; the ovule.
Seed coat — the covering of a seed.
Seed corn — corn or grain for seed.
To eat the seed corn — To eat the corn which should be saved for seed, so as to forestall starvation; -- a desparate measure, since it only postpones disaster.
Seed down — the soft hairs on certain seeds, as cotton seed.
Seed drill — See 6th Drill, 2 (a).
Seed eater — any finch of the genera Sporophila, and Crithagra. They feed mainly on seeds.
Seed gall — any gall which resembles a seed, formed on the leaves of various plants, usually by some species of Phylloxera.
Seed leaf — a cotyledon.
Seed lobe — a cotyledon; a seed leaf.
Seed oil — oil expressed from the seeds of plants.
Seed oyster — a young oyster, especially when of a size suitable for transplantation to a new locality.
Seed pearl — a small pearl of little value.
Seed plat — the ground on which seeds are sown, to produce plants for transplanting; a nursery.
Seed stalk — the stalk of an ovule or seed; a funicle.
Seed tick — one of several species of ticks resembling seeds in form and color.
Seed vessel — that part of a plant which contains the seeds; a pericarp.
Seed weevil — any one of numerous small weevils, especially those of the genus Apion, which live in the seeds of various plants.
Seed wool — cotton wool not yet cleansed of its seeds.
02 v. i. To sow seed.
  1. 1.
    To sow seed.
  2. 2.
    To shed the seed.
  3. 3.
    To grow to maturity, and to produce seed.
    “Many interests have grown up, and seeded, and twisted their roots in the crevices of many wrongs.” — Landor.
03 v. t. To sprinkle with seed; to plant seeds in; to sow; as, to seed a field.
imp. & p. p. Seeded; p. pr. & vb. n. Seeding
  1. 1.
    To sprinkle with seed; to plant seeds in; to sow; as, to seed a field.
  2. 2.
    To cover thinly with something scattered; to ornament with seedlike decorations.
    “A sable mantle seeded with waking eyes.” — B. Jonson.
Phrases & compounds
To seed down — to sow with grass seed.