seed, n. [OE. seed, sed, AS. s, fr. sāwan to sow; akin to D. zaad seed, G. saat, Icel. sā, sæ, Goth. manas seed of men, world. See Sow to scatter seed, and cf. Colza.].

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. [1913 Webster]
" The seed proper has an outer and an inner coat, and within these the kernel or nucleus. The kernel is either the embryo alone, or the embryo inclosed in the albumen, which is the material for the nourishment of the developing embryo. The scar on a seed, left where the stem parted from it, is called the hilum, and the closed orifice of the ovule, the micropyle." [1913 Webster]

"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." [1913 Webster]

The generative fluid of the male; semen; sperm; -- not used in the plural. [1913 Webster]

That from which anything springs; first principle; original; source; as, the seeds of virtue or vice. [1913 Webster]

The principle of production. [1913 Webster]
"Praise of great acts he scatters as a seed,
Which may the like in coming ages breed." [1913 Webster]

Progeny; offspring; children; descendants; as, the seed of Abraham; the seed of David. [1913 Webster]
" In this sense the word is applied to one person, or to any number collectively, and admits of the plural form, though rarely used in the plural." [1913 Webster]

Race; generation; birth. [1913 Webster]
"Of mortal seed they were not held." [1913 Webster]

Seed bag (Artesian well), 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 (Bot.), the germ or rudiment of the plant in the embryo state; the ovule. -- Seed coat (Bot.), the covering of a seed. -- Seed corn, or Seed grain (Bot.), 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. Hence: any desparate action which creates a disastrous situation in the long-term, done in order to provide temporary relief. -- Seed down (Bot.), the soft hairs on certain seeds, as cotton seed. -- Seed drill. See 6th Drill, 2 (a). -- Seed eater (Zoöl.), any finch of the genera Sporophila, and Crithagra. They feed mainly on seeds. -- Seed gall (Zoöl.), any gall which resembles a seed, formed on the leaves of various plants, usually by some species of Phylloxera. -- Seed leaf (Bot.), a cotyledon. -- Seed lobe (Bot.), 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, or Seed plot, the ground on which seeds are sown, to produce plants for transplanting; a nursery. -- Seed stalk (Bot.), the stalk of an ovule or seed; a funicle. -- Seed tick (Zoöl.), one of several species of ticks resembling seeds in form and color. -- Seed vessel (Bot.), that part of a plant which contains the seeds; a pericarp. -- Seed weevil (Zoöl.), 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. [Southern U.S.]

seed, v. i.

To sow seed. [1913 Webster]

To shed the seed. Mortimer. [1913 Webster]

To grow to maturity, and to produce seed. [1913 Webster]
"Many interests have grown up, and seeded, and twisted their roots in the crevices of many wrongs." [1913 Webster]

seed, v. t.

To sprinkle with seed; to plant seeds in; to sow; as, to seed a field. [1913 Webster]

To cover thinly with something scattered; to ornament with seedlike decorations. [1913 Webster]
"A sable mantle seeded with waking eyes." [1913 Webster]

To seed down, to sow with grass seed.

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OXFORD DICTIONARY

seed, n. & v.
--n.
1 a a flowering plant's unit of reproduction (esp. in the form of grain) capable of developing into another such plant. b seeds collectively, esp. as collected for sowing (is full of seed; to be kept for seed).
2 a semen. b milt.
3 (foll. by of) prime cause, beginning, germ (seeds of doubt).
4 archaic offspring, progeny, descendants (the seed of Abraham).
5 Sport a seeded player.
6 a small seedlike container for the application of radium etc.
7 a seed crystal.
--v.
1 tr. a place seeds in. b sprinkle with or as with seed.
2 intr. sow seeds.
3 intr. produce or drop seed.
4 tr. remove seeds from (fruit etc.).
5 tr. place a crystal or crystalline substance in (a solution etc.) to cause crystallization or condensation (esp. in a cloud to produce rain).
6 tr. Sport a assign to (a strong competitor in a knockout competition) a position in an ordered list so that strong competitors do not meet each other in early rounds (is seeded seventh). b arrange (the order of play) in this way.
7 intr. go to seed.

Idiom

go (or run) to seed 1 cease flowering as seed develops.
2 become degenerate, unkempt, ineffective, etc. raise up seed archaic beget children.
seed-bed
1 a bed of fine soil in which to sow seeds.
2 a place of development. seed-cake cake containing whole seeds esp. of caraway as flavouring. seed-coat the outer integument of a seed.
seed-corn
1 good quality corn kept for seed.
2 assets reused for future profit or benefit. seed crystal a crystal used to initiate crystallization. seed-eater a bird (esp. a finch) living mainly on seeds. seed-fish a fish that is ready to spawn. seed-leaf a cotyledon. seed-lip a basket for seed in sowing by hand. seed money money allocated to initiate a project. seed-pearl a very small pearl. seed-plot a place of development. seed-potato a potato kept for seed. seed-time the sowing season. seed-vessel a pericarp.

Derivative

seedless adj.

Etymology

OE s{aelig}d f. Gmc, rel. to SOW(1)

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THESAURUS

seed
Anlage, acorn, affiliation, androcyte, antheridium, antherozoid, apparentation, basis, bed, berry, bird seed, birth, blood, bloodline, branch, breed, broadcast, brood, bud, bulb, cause, children, common ancestry, conceit, concept, conception, consanguinity, core, corm, decay, decline, degenerate, derivation, descendants, descent, deteriorate, dibble, direct line, disseminate, distaff side, distribute, drill, egg, embryo, extraction, family, female line, filiation, flaxseed, forest, fruit, germ, germen, go downhill, go to pot, grain, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, grounds, hayseed, heirs, hostages to fortune, house, image, implant, impression, inheritors, inseminate, issue, kernel, kids, line, line of descent, lineage, linseed, little ones, loins, male gamete, male line, milt, motivation, motive, new generation, notion, nucleus, nut, offspring, origin, ovule, ovum, phylum, pip, pit, pitch, plant, pollen, posterity, pot, progeniture, progeny, protein, provocation, put in, race, reason, reforest, reset, retimber, rising generation, root, rudiment, run down, scatter, scatter seed, scum, seed down, semen, seminal fluid, seminate, sept, set, side, sons, source, sow, sow broadcast, spark, spear side, sperm, sperm cell, spermagonium, spermatic fluid, spermatid, spermatiophore, spermatium, spermatocyte, spermatogonium, spermatophore, spermatozoa, spermatozoid, spermatozoon, spindle side, spore, stem, stirps, stock, stone, strain, succession, successors, sword side, transplant, treasures, tuber, young, younglings, youngsters

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ROGET THESAURUS

seed

Smallness
N smallness, littleness, tenuity, paucity, fewness, meanness, insignificance (unimportance), mediocrity, moderation, small quantity, modicum, trace, hint, minimum, vanishing point, material point, atom, particle, molecule, corpuscle, point, speck, dot, mote, jot, iota, ace, minutiae, details, look, thought, idea, soupcon, dab, dight, whit, tittle, shade, shadow, spark, scintilla, gleam, touch, cast, grain, scruple, granule, globule, minim, sup, sip, sop, spice, drop, droplet, sprinkling, dash, morceau, screed, smack, tinge, tincture, inch, patch, scantling, tatter, cantlet, flitter, gobbet, mite, bit, morsel, crumb, seed, fritter, shive, snip, snippet, snick, snack, snatch, slip, scrag, chip, chipping, shiver, sliver, driblet, clipping, paring, shaving, hair, nutshell, thimbleful, spoonful, handful, capful, mouthful, fragment, fraction, drop in the ocean, animalcule, trifle, mere nothing, next to nothing, hardly anything, just enough to swear by, the shadow of a shade, finiteness, finite quantity, small, little, diminutive, minute, fine, inconsiderable, paltry, faint, slender, light, slight, scanty, scant, limited, meager, sparing, few, low, so-so, middling, tolerable, no great shakes, below par, under par, below the mark, at a low ebb, halfway, moderate, modest, tender, subtle, inappreciable, evanescent, infinitesimal, homeopathic, very small, atomic, corpuscular, microscopic, molecular, subatomic, mere, simple, sheer, stark, bare, near run, dull, petty, shallow, stolid, ungifted, unintelligent, to a small extent, on a small scale, a little bit, a wee bit, slightly, imperceptibly, miserably, wretchedly, insufficiently, imperfectly, faintly, passably, pretty well, well enough, partially, in part, in a certain degree, to a certain degree, to a certain extent, comparatively, some, rather in some degree, in some measure, something, somewhat, simply, only, purely, merely, at least, at the least, at most, at the most, ever so little, as little as may be, tant soit peu, in ever so small a degree, thus far, pro tanto, within bounds, in a manner, after a fashion, so to speak, almost, nearly, well-nigh, short of, not quite, all but, near upon, close upon, peu s'en faut, near the mark, within an ace of, within an inch of, on the brink of, scarcely, hardly, barely, only just, no more than, about, thereabouts, somewhere about, nearly, say, be the same, be little more or less, no ways, no way, no wise, not at all, not in the least, not a bit, not a bit of it, not a whit, not a jot, not a shadow, in no wise, in no respect, by no means, by no manner of means, on no account, at no hand, dare pondus idonea fumo, magno conatu magnas nugas, small sands the mountain, moments make the year.

Cause
N cause, origin, source, principle, element, occasioner, prime mover, primum mobile, vera causa, author, mainspring, agent, leaven, groundwork, foundation, spring, fountain, well, font, fountainhead, spring head, wellhead, fons et origo, genesis, descent, remote cause, influence, pivot, hinge, turning point, lever, crux, fulcrum, key, proximate cause, causa causans, straw that breaks the camel's back, ground, reason, reason why, why and wherefore, rationale, occasion, derivation, final cause, les dessous des cartes, undercurrents, rudiment, egg, germ, embryo, bud, root, radix radical, etymon, nucleus, seed, stem, stock, stirps, trunk, tap-root, gemmule, radicle, semen, sperm, nest, cradle, nursery, womb, nidus, birthplace, hotbed, causality, causation, origination, production, caused, causal, original, primary, primitive, primordial, aboriginal, protogenal, radical, embryonic, embryotic, in embryo, in ovo, seminal, germinal, at the bottom of, connate, having a common origin, because, behind the scenes, causa latet vis est notissima, felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.

Posterity
N posterity, progeny, breed, issue, offspring, brood, litter, seed, farrow, spawn, spat, family, grandchildren, heirs, great-grandchild, child, son, daughter, butcha, bantling, scion, acrospire, plumule, shoot, sprout, olive-branch, sprit, branch, off-shoot, off- set, ramification, descendant, heir, heiress, heir-apparent, heir- presumptive, chip off the old block, heredity, rising generation, straight descent, sonship, line, lineage, filiation, primogeniture, filial, diphyletic, the child is father of the man, the fruit doesn't fall far from the tree, like father, like son.

Pulverulence
N powderiness, pulverulence, sandiness, efflorescence, friability, powder, dust, sand, shingle, sawdust, grit, meal, bran, flour, farina, rice, paddy, spore, sporule, crumb, seed, grain, particle, limature, filings, debris, detritus, tailings, talus slope, scobs, magistery, fine powder, flocculi, smoke, cloud of dust, cloud of sand, cloud of smoke, puff of smoke, volume of smoke, sand storm, dust storm, pulverization, comminution, attenuation, granulation, disintegration, subaction, contusion, trituration, levigation, abrasion, detrition, multure, limitation, tripsis, filing, mill, arrastra, gristmill, grater, rasp, file, mortar and pestle, nutmeg grater, teeth, grinder, grindstone, kern, quern, koniology, powdery, pulverulent, granular, mealy, floury, farinaceous, branny, furfuraceous, flocculent, dusty, sandy, sabulous, psammous, arenose, arenarious, arenaceous, gritty, efflorescent, impalpable, lentiginous, lepidote, sabuline, sporaceous, sporous, pulverizable, friable, crumbly, shivery, pulverized, attrite, in pieces.

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