seed Hear it!

seed Definition

seed (sēd)

noun pl. seeds or seed

  1. the part of a flowering plant that typically contains the embryo with its protective coat and stored food and that can develop into a new plant under the proper conditions; fertilized and mature ovule
  2. loosely
    1. any part, as a bulb, tuber, etc., from which a new plant can grow a potato seed
    2. a small, usually hard, seedlike fruit
  3. seeds collectively
  4. the source, origin, or beginning of anything the seeds of revolt
  5. Archaic
    1. descendants; posterity
    2. ancestry
    1. in the development of certain lower animals, a form suitable for transplanting, as spat
    2. the seed-bearing stage or condition in seed
  7. spore ()
  8. sperm or semen
  9. something tiny, like a seed; esp.,
    1. ☆ a tiny crystal or other particle, as one added to a solution or liquid to start crystallization
    2. a tiny bubble, as a flaw in glassware
  10. ☆ Sports a seeded player

Etymology: ME sede < OE sæd, akin to Ger saat < IE base *sē(i)-, to cast, let fall > L serere, to sow, plant, sator, sower, semen, seed

transitive verb

  1. to plant with seeds
  2. to sow (seeds)
  3. to remove the seeds from
  4. ☆ to inject, fill, or scatter with seeds (see seed, sense ); esp., to sprinkle particles of dry ice, silver iodide, etc. into (clouds) in an attempt to induce rainfall
  5. to provide with the means or stimulus for growing or developing
  6. Sports
    1. to distribute the names of the ranking contestants in (the draw for position in a tournament) so that those with the greatest skill are not matched together in the early rounds
    2. to treat (a player) as a ranking contestant in this way

intransitive verb

  1. to form seeds; specif., to become ripe and produce seeds
  2. to go to seed; shed seeds
  3. to sow seeds

seed Related Forms
seed′ed adjective seed′·less adjective
seed Idioms

go to seed

or run to seed
  1. to shed seeds after the time of flowering or bearing has passed
  2. to become weak, useless, unprofitable, etc.; deteriorate
seed Synonyms

seed

n.

  1. A botanical ovule].

    Seeds and fruits commonly called seeds include: grain, kernel, berry, ear, corn, nut.

  2. Something to be planted

    grain, bulbs, cuttings, ears, tubers, roots; seed corn, seed potatoes, etc.

go<strong> or </strong>run to seed

decline, worsen, run out; see decay, waste 3.

seed Synonyms

seed

v.

scatter, strew, broadcast; see plant, sow.

seed Usage Examples

Converse of subject

  • propagate: It can be propagated by seed in the spring or divided in the autumn or spring.

Converse of object

  • sow: To grow, sow seed indoors during the late winter.
  • germinate: The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh also has facilities to germinate seed to test for viability.
  • sprout: Shri Mataji says: " How much do you pay to the Mother Earth to sprout a seed?
  • scatter: Rattle, rattle rattle, scattering scarlet poppy seeds.

Adjective modifier

  • poppy: Rattle, rattle rattle, scattering scarlet poppy seeds.
  • viable: Wych Elm produces a mass of viable seed with relatively young trees reach fruiting maturity.
  • seventh: The seventh seeds now face Canada's 11th seeds Runa Reta & Matthew Giuffre for a place in the quarter-finals.

Modifies a noun

  • pod: Our seed taken from ornamental plants exhibits bright scarlet seed pods on two year old or more plants.
  • rape: These crops along Oil seed rape will be cut in August, combines everywhere will be working flat out to bring in the harvest.
  • germination: My suggestions apply both to small scale seed germination & to keeping adult plants ticking over in UK winter.
  • dispersal: Persistence and Spread: There is no obvious seed dispersal mechanism.
  • packet: Before planting, have the children figure the area and read seed packets for spacing requirements.
  • tray: Seed trays are good enough for plants that you are beginning with.

Noun used with modifier

  • sesame: Grind toasted sesame seeds to a meal in a electric blender.
  • sunflower: Sunflower seeds reduce cravings for nicotine by filling nicotine receptor sites.
  • mustard: Mustard seeds are available from Philip Harris, garden centers or health food shops.
  • pumpkin: What is it about pumpkin seeds - pinging off everywhere!
  • cumin: Add tomato paste, vegetable pulp, chopped onion, chopped celery, and cumin seeds.
  • weed: The next hurdle to overcome is the weeds seeds.
seed Quotes

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

—Bible (Old Testament)

Plures efficimus quoties metimur a vobis, semen est sanguis Christianorum. As often as we are mown down by you, the more we grow in numbers; the blood of the Christians istheseed.

—Tertullian full name  Quintus SeptimiusFlorensTertullianus

Hombre, tienes un hijo, un hijo que te hicieron creer podr|¤a inmortalizarte llevando el germen de ti mismo por siglos de generaciones† Tu carne, Hombre, carne deleznable, carne podrida que no puede soportar el peso de tu inmortalidad. No, no hay nada de ti mismo en esa carne. ‚Tu hijo no te hara¤   inmortal!' Man, you have a son, a son who they made you believe would make you immortal by carrying your seed through centuries of generations† Your flesh,O man, your despicable and rotten flesh that cannot bear the sight of your immortality. No: there's nothing of yourself in that flesh.Your son won't make you immortal!'

—Marque¤  s, Rene¤

The aristocrat is the democrat ripe, and gone to seed.

—Emerson, RalphWaldo

And the L God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly thou shalt go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: And I will put enmity between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

—Bible (Old Testament)

Each daya few more lies eat into the seed with whichwe are born, little institutional lies from the print of newspapers, the shock waves of television, and the sentimental cheats of the movie screen.

—Mailer, Norman Kingsley

In this broad earth of ours, Amid the measureless grossness and the slag, Enclosed and safe within its central heart, Nestles the seed perfection.

—Whitman,Walt(er)

I have been young and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

—Bible (Old Testament)

He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.

—Bible (NewTestament)

But hethat received seed into the good ground ishethat heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

—Bible (NewTestament)

   Who, of men, can tell That flowers would bloom, or that green fruit would swell To melting pulp, that fish would have bright mail, The earth its dower of river, wood, and vale, The meadows runnels, runnels pebble-stones, The seed its harvest, or the lute its tones, Tones ravishment, or ravishment its sweet, If human souls did never kiss and greet?

—Keats,John

For all knowledge and wonder (which is the seed of knowledge) is an impression of pleasure in itself.

—Bacon, Francis,Viscount St Albans

And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother.

—Bible (Old Testament)

We wove a web in childhood, A web of sunny air; We dug a spring in infancy Of water pure and fair; We sowed in youth a mustard seed, We cut an almond rod; We are now grown up to riper ageö Are they withered in the sod?

—Bronte«  , Charlotte

The vanity of translation; it were as wise to cast a violet into a crucible that you might discover the formal principle of its colour and odour, as seek to transfuse from one language to another the creations of a poet. 786 The plant must spring again from its seed, or it will bear no flower.

—Shelley, Percy Bysshe

Icall heavenand earthtorecord thisdayagainst you, that Ihaveset before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.

—Bible (Old Testament)

Desire of power, on earth a vicious weed, Yet, sprung from high, is of celestial seed: In God 'tisglory; and when men aspire, 'Tis but a spark too much of heavenly fire.

—Dryden,John