seedn.

Brit.

/siːd/, U.S.

/sid/

Forms: Old English sæþ (transmission error), Old English–early Middle English sæd, Old English (chiefly non-West Saxon)–1500s sed, late Old English sęd (Kentish), late Old English sied (Kentish), early Middle English sad, early Middle English sade, early Middle English sæt, early Middle English seð, Middle English ceed, Middle English ceede, Middle English seide, Middle English seod, Middle English ser (in compounds, transmission error), Middle English seth, Middle English seyd, Middle English seyde, Middle English syd, Middle English syde, Middle English zed (south-eastern), Middle English–1500s sedde, Middle English–1500s sede, Middle English–1500s side, Middle English–1600s seede, Middle English– seed, 1500s–1600s sead, 1500s–1600s seade; English regional 1800s sude (northern), 1800s zid (south-west midlands), 1800s zide (southern), 1800s– sid (west midlands and southern), 1800s– zeed (south-western); also Scottish pre-1700 sced, pre-1700 seid, pre-1700 seide, pre-1700 seiyde, pre-1700 seyd, pre-1700 sied, pre-1700 siede, pre-1700 1700s– sid, pre-1700 1800s sidd, 1700s sead, 1700s–1800s side, 1700s– sud; Irish English (Wexford) 1800s zeede. N.E.D. (1911) also records a form Middle English ced.

Origin: A word inherited from Germanic.

Etymology: Cognate with Old Frisian sēd (West Frisian sied ), Old Saxon sād (Middle Low German sāt ), Middle Dutch saet , saed , sāde (Dutch zaad ), Old High German sāt (Middle High German sāt , German Saat ), Gothic -sēþs (in the compound manasēþs humankind, lit. ‘seed of people’), Old Icelandic sáð , sæði , Old Swedish säþ (Swedish säd ), Old Danish sæth (Danish sæd ), and further (with different ablaut grade) with classical Latin satus , Welsh had < the Indo-European base of sow v.¹ + a dental suffix forming nouns. Compare sid n. Compare also semen n., which ultimately reflects a formation from the same Indo-European base, but with different suffix.The shortening of the vowel shown by some later forms (e.g. Middle English and early modern English sedde, English regional sid, Scots sid, sidd, etc.; compare sid n.) is probably the result of frequent use of the noun as the second element in compounds (e.g. oat seed n. at oat n. Compounds 2) where it lacks primary stress. In sense 8 after seed v. (compare seed v. 10). In sense 9 after seed v. (compare seed v. 11a).

a. As a mass noun: plant seeds (see sense 1b), esp. when used for sowing to produce a new crop. Also: various other parts of plants (esp. tubers and bulbs) used for this purpose.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > seed > [noun]

corna700

kernelc1000

seedOE

grain1377

pippina1382

acinusa1398

acine1597

seedling1675

vegetable egg1675

seedlet1754

pip1773

oilseed1887

the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > seed > [noun] > for the purpose of being sown

seedOE

the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > seed > [noun] > kinds of seed

seedOE

bonelet1787

the world > existence and causation > causation > source or origin > [noun] > source, seed, or germ > seeds or germs

seedOE

seminalities1651

lineament1683

OE Exodus 374 Eac þon sæda gehwilc on bearm scipes beornas feredon, þara þe under heofonum hæleð bryttigað.

OE tr. Pseudo-Apuleius Herbarium (Vitell.) (1984) cl. 192 Þæt sæd [L.semen] byþ cenned gind ealne þone stelan.

c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 15905 Swa þatt itt muȝhe takenn wel. Wiþþ sed to berenn wasstme.

a1350 in R. H. Robbins Hist. Poems 14th & 15th Cent. (1959) 9 (MED) To seche seluer to þe kyng y mi seed solde.

c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. vi. l. 34 I haue..Boþe I-sowed his seed and suwed his beestes.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 5230 His suns all and þair flitting..In weynis war þai don to lede, þat ioseph wit ful of side.

c1430 (c1380) G. Chaucer Parl. Fowls (Cambr. Gg.4.27) (1871) l. 328 But foul that lyuyth be sed sat on the grene.

1526 Grete Herball xlviii. sig. Cv^v/2 Auena is an herbe, the sede of it is called otes.

c1535 M. Nisbet New Test. in Scots (1901) I. 10 Christ..schewe the parrabile of the seide.

1611 Bible (King James) Gen. i. 29 Every herb bearing seed .

1697 J. Donaldson Husbandry Anatomized (new ed.) vi. 110 When you sow Seed of Trees, and they rise closer than they can well grow together, transplant them to another place of your Garden.

1729 Fog's Weekly Jrnl. 30 Aug. 2/2 To hinder the forestalling of Markets, by the Farmers selling Wheat..at home, or by buying Wheat for Seed.

1760 R. Brown Compl. Farmer: Pt. 2 15 All seed degenerates, if long sown upon any land.

1839 W. B. Stonehouse Hist. Isle of Axholme 32 Those [potatoes] grown upon the warp land are generally disposed of for seed to the market gardeners and others.

1856 G. Glenny Gardener's Every Day Bk. 174/1 Cut down the old plants that have rambled and are past their prime, unless you are saving seed.

1938 Amer. Home Jan. 38/2 You can easily grow your cactus garden from seed.

1990 P. T. Ewell et al. Farmer Managem. Potato Insect Pests Peru iv. 29 Damage to the sprouts can make tubers unfit for use as seed.

2015 BBC Gardeners' World (Special Subscriber ed.) Aug. 88/1 Make 2cm-deep drills in the soil with the tip of a trowel, water well, then sow seed sparingly.

b. As a count noun: the typically small, roundish structure by which certain higher plants reproduce and disperse themselves, which develops from a fertilized ovule and consists of an embryo plant and (often) nutritive endosperm enclosed in a protective coat. Also: the spore of a lower plant or fungus; a small hard fruit resembling a seed.

ΚΠ

OE Genesis A (1931) 1559 Noe..won and worhte, wingeard sette, seow sæda fela.

a1225 (c1200) Vices & Virtues (1888) 27 For ðas sades ȝekinde of ðare eorða.

a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 121 Of euerilc ougt, of euerilc sed, Was erðe mad moder of sped.

1340 Ayenbite (1866) 113 Þet zed o mostard is wel smal.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 22875 Þat mighti godd þat all waldes, Qua can sai me hu of a side He dos an hundret for to brede?

Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 64 Ceede of corne, as kyrnel, granum.

a1525 (c1448) R. Holland Bk. Howlat l. 31 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1925) II. 96 Vnder ye Cerkill solar yir sauoruss seidis War nurist be dame natur.

1599 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet v. i. 46 A beggerly account of emptie boxes, Greene earthen pots, bladders and mustie seedes .

1604 E. Grimeston tr. J. de Acosta Nat. & Morall Hist. Indies iv. xxxi. 294 I asked who had planted the fields with so many orange trees? they made mee answer, that it did come by chaunce, for that oranges being fallen to the ground, and rotten, their seeds did spring.

1651 R. Williams Physical Rarities 85 Take the seeds of Plantane, and make powder thereof, and give it to the Child to drink in red Wine, or in Ale, and it will stop the Flux.

1712 J. Browne tr. P. Pomet et al. Compl. Hist. Druggs I. 38 Little, thin, black Seeds, each one having a spiral head.

1791 World 27 Oct. The seeds [of the Greater Sunflower]..are converted into bread in Virginia, and make excellent pap for children.

1811 A. T. Thomson London Dispensatory iii. 556 Seeds are to be collected when they are ripe, and before they drop from the plant.

1837 W. Wordsworth Poet. Wks. (new ed.) V. 285 Like the dry remnant of a garden-flower Whose seeds are shed.

1901 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) B. 194 305 There is much evidence that only a certain number of the sporangia on each strobilus ever developed into ‘seeds’.

1936 Amer. Home Feb. 34/1 Seeds can be germinated a few weeks before the outdoors warms up sufficiently.

2004 Northern Woodlands Summer 29/2 Each seed produces a hawthorn that is an exact replica of the mother tree.

c. Any small, rounded object resembling a seed; a small piece or bit of something. See also seed coral n. at Compounds 3, seed ore n. at Compounds 3, seed pearl n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > wholeness > incompleteness > part of whole > [noun] > a separate part > a piece or bit > small piece

fingereOE

snedec1000

seed?a1200

morselc1300

bittlock?a1400

farthingc1405

spota1413

lipetc1430

offe?1440

drewc1450

remnantc1450

parcel1483

crap1520

flakec1525

patch1528

spark1548

a piece1559

sparklec1570

inch1573

nibbling?1577

scantling1585

scrat1593

mincing1598

scantle1598

halfpenny1600

quantity1600

nip1606

kantch1608

bit1609

catch1613

scripa1617

snap1616

sippeta1625

crumblet1634

scute1635

scantleta1642

snattock1654

cantlet1700

tab1729

pallion1738

smallness1818

knobble1823

wisp1836

?a1200 (?OE) Peri Didaxeon (1896) 35 Ac ceowe hwytes cuduwys sæd [L. granum masticum]..ælce dæȝ.

c1475 ( Surg. Treat. in MS Wellcome 564 f. 115 (MED) The signys of þis maner of cankris ben..ffirst whanne þat he wexiþ in wommans pappis, he is founden as it were a litil seed þat men callen a lentile.

a1500 in A. Zettersten Middle Eng. Lapidary (1968) 32 (MED) Iris is a stone þat hathe many seedis.

1682 G. Rose Perfect School Instr. Officers of Mouth 24 They ought to serve the Sweetmeats with a Fork, but the Dragee, or small Seeds of Sugar with a Spoon.

1693 R. Bentley Boyle Lect. viii. 36 The Seeds of subterraneous Minerals..sometimes cause Earthquakes and furious eruptions of Volcano's.

1836 J. Neal in Portland Sketch Bk. 171 The prisoner..straightway began balancing another of the glittering seeds [sc. pearls] and eyeing the window.

1897 ‘F. Mackenzie’ Sprays Northern Pine iii. 47 Here am I left withoot the seed o' siller, an' no' a rissom o' tobacco!

1993 Science 30 Apr. 664/3 The starting composition..consisted of mid-ocean ridge basalt..with seeds of garnet, omphacitic pyroxene, epidote, [etc.].

2015 tr. Dionysius Periegetes Descr. Known World in Across the Ocean vi. 97 Swiftest of streams, the Hypanis and the divine Margarsos carry down the shining seeds of gold.

d. As a mass noun: various kinds of grain considered collectively as suitable food for birds; = birdseed n. at bird n. Compounds 2a. Also as a count noun in plural in same sense.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > food > animal food > [noun] > food eaten by birds > food for caged birds

seed1562

Canary seed1578

alpiste1597

birdseed1661

1562 W. Turner 2nd Pt. Herball f. 134^v Men fede byrdes wyth the sede of it [sic sesamum]..namelye syskennes, and linnettes.

1674 J. Pettus Volatiles Hist. Adam & Eve ii. 96 The Horse speaks for his Provender, the Dog for his meat, and the Bird in the Cage for its seeds.

1770 G. White Let. 21 May in Nat. Hist. Selborne (1789) 130 When you talked of keeping a reed-sparrow, and giving it seeds, I could not help wondering.

1784 Gentleman's Mag. Feb. 116/2 The moment she rose every morning, her first thought was to procure him fresh seed, and the clearest water.

1844 A. R. Smith Adventures Mr. Ledbury I. xiv. 182 Seeds, which the bird had fluttered from his cage.

1897 F. Thompson New Poems 175 When the bird quits the cage, We set the cage outside, With seed and with water, And the door wide.

1923 A. Wetmore Canaries (U.S. Dept. Agric. Farmers' Bull. No. 1327) 7 A small packet or sack of seed should be tied to the outside of the cage.

1991 M. M. Vriends Gouldian Finches 23/2 (caption) Gouldian finches cannot be kept in top condition on a diet of seed only.

2001 Courier Mail (Queensland, Austral.) (Nexis) 16 Nov. d3 Never leave out for wildlife the cage-bottom droppings and old seed discarded by caged birds.

e. In plural. Chiefly Scottish. The husks of oat and other grain, separated in grinding; particles of bran. Cf. sid n. Sc. National Dict. records this sense as still in use in Galloway in 1969.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > food > corn, cereals, or grain > bran > [noun]

sivedsc725

boltingsa1300

branc1325

paly1407

hullc1450

cribble bread1552

cheesyl1577

clat1595

seeds1595

chisel1607

hulkage1869

1595 A. Duncan Appendix Etymologiae: Index in Latinae Grammaticae Furfur, purgamentum farinæ: branne, clats, seids of meale.

1598 in Rec. Parl. Scotl. to 1707 (2007) 1598/12/5 The haill subjectis susteinis greit lose and skayth in paying als deir for dust and seidis as gif the samyn wes guid meill.

1671 Forbes Baron Court Bk. in Publ. Sc. Hist. Soc. (1919) 2nd Ser. 19 282 That the tennentis vithtin thair seyverall suckines sall pay thair kenship of that samen meill of thair ferm vith the seides of the keiship of the ferm meill allennerallie.., and kenship of the rest of thair meill vithout seides.

1754 in Glasgow, Past & Present (1884) II. 533 A peck of good bran, or new sowan seeds.

1777 Whole Proc. Jockey & Maggy (rev. ed.) iv. 27 Your groat meal, and gray meal, sand dust and seeds.

1802 C. Findlater Gen. View Agric. County of Peebles iii. 45 These shells, thus separated, and having the finer particles of the meal adhering to them, called mill seeds, are preserved for sowins... The seeds, from the different makings of meal.., are preserved till the potatoes are exhausted.

1814 in J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. (1825) Suppl. at Dust Some of the dust and sheeling seeds..is left at the mill.

a1870 W. Lutton Montiaghisms (2007) 34 Seeds, the husk or cuticle of oats, which is separated from the grain by shelling and winnowing.

1898 J. Paton Castlebraes iv. 98 I fed in the seeds, an' fed the seeds, till the bleezes dazzled ma' blinkin' een.

1953 M. Traynor Eng. Dial. Donegal 249/2 Seed,..pl. the husks of oats which remain in meal; used for flummery.

f. In plural. Grasses which do not grow naturally in a locality and must be sown. Occasionally also: land sown with such grasses or with a cereal crop. Now historical and rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > by growth or development > defined by habit > herb or herbaceous plant > [noun] > herbage or grass > cultivated or for pasture

pasturea1400

fogc1400

vesture1455

vestiturec1460

pasturagea1522

feed1580

agistment1598

pasture grass1628

ear-grass1686

artificial grass1733

seeds1794

tath1807

green stuff1895

the world > food and drink > farming > farm > farmland > land raising crops > [noun] > corn-land or -field

cornlanda1387

cornfield?1523

corn-ground1548

granary1570

milpa1648

kerning-ground1732

seeds1794

walk1797

corn belt1882

1794 R. Lowe Gen. View Agric. Nottingham 9 Artificial grasses, (generally called here, simply seeds).

1841 Penny Cycl. XIX. 206/1 The only artificial grasses cultivated by the small holders are clover and seeds.

1852 Bell's Life in London 29 Feb. 5/1 The bitch took a clear lead, when the hare began to bend slightly to her; she turned several times on the seeds.

1883 Wallace's Monthly July 447/2 Constantly increasing multitudes of ignorant riders unable to distinguish seeds from squitch or turnips from tares.

1910 Daily News 4 July 6/4 Yet it is those who have had ‘seeds’ to cut that have come off best this haysel.

1982 Proc. Suffolk Inst. Archaeol. & Hist. 35 ii. 133 In a few parishes..a five-course rotation with two years of seeds was used.

a. figurative. The germ or latent beginning of some growth or development. Usually with of.Frequently (with allusion to the Parable of the Sower in the New Testament (Matthew 13:1–23, Mark 4:1–20, Luke 8:1–15)) applied to religious or other teaching, regarded as a fruitful enterprise.

ΘΚΠ

the world > existence and causation > causation > source or origin > [noun] > source, seed, or germ

seedeOE

mustard seed?1523

seed corn1586

seedness1597

sperm1639

seminal1646

germ1823

eOE Metres of Boethius (transcript of damaged MS) (2009) xxii. 37 Þeah bið sum corn sædes gehealden symle on ðære saule soðfæstnesse, þenden gadertang wunað gast on lice.

OE Blickling Homilies 55 Þæt halige sæd on him gedwan & gewat, þæt him ær of þæs lareowes muþe wæs bodad & sægd.

a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1959) Gen. xxxvii. 5 A seeyn sweuen he tolde to his breþeren, the which cause was seede [L. seminarium] of more hate.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 21226 In all þe stedes quar he yede, O godds word he sceued þe sede.

a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) (1891) l. 1617 For venus sone daun Cupido Hath sowne there of loue the seed.

a1505 R. Henryson Test. Cresseid 137 in Poems (1981) 115 The seid of lufe was sawin in my face, And ay grew grene throw ȝour supplie and grace.

1596 E. Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene v. i. sig. M6 Yet then likewise the wicked seede of vice Began to spring.

1645 S. Rutherford Tryal & Triumph of Faith xvi. 135 There's a seed of comfort and hope in Christs glowning and frownings.

1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica i. x. 37 Beside..the seed of error within our selves..there is an invisible Agent.

1732 G. Berkeley Alciphron II. vi. xviii. 65 The advantages which we experience from the seed of the Gospel sown in good ground.

1779 J. Duché Disc. I. xi. 207 Thou hast, within thee, a Seed of Eternal Life, a Birth of the Triune God,..a Reconception of the Light and Love of God.

1828 A. Jolly Observ. Sunday Services 245 The blood of the martyrs, in Tertullian's expression, proved the seed of the Church.

1870 J. R. Lowell Among my Bks. (1873) 1st Ser. 228 The sturdy commonwealths which have sprung from the seed of the Mayflower.

1916 J. Joyce Portrait of Artist iii. 120 From the evil seed of lust all other deadly sins had sprung forth.

1963 M. L. King Strength to Love viii. 63 All of this reminds us that evil carries the seed of its own destruction.

2011 Daily Trust (Abuja, Nigeria) (Nexis) 24 July Boko Haram is a seed of discord and can be crushed only by intensive prayers.

b. In plural with same sense.In early quots. it is sometimes difficult to distinguish unchanged plural from singular.

ΚΠ

OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Cambr. Gg.3.28) xxxvi. 308 Gif we eow þa gastlican sæd sawað, hwonlic bið þæt we eowere flæsclican ðing ripon.

a1200 (?OE) MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 151 Þe sed þat he sew were soðe wordes.

c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 9638 (MED) Þe deuel adde enuie þer to & sed bituene hom seu.

1531 T. Cromwell Let. May in R. B. Merriman Life & Lett. T. Cromwell (1902) I. 338 The semynacyon and sowing such euill seedes of dampnable and detestable heresies.

1581 W. Lowth tr. B. Batt Christian Mans Closet sig. C^v The seeds either of vertue, or vice once receiued, afterwards abideth foreuer.

1609 W. Shakespeare Pericles xix. 87 Your hearbe-woman, she that sets seeds and rootes of shame and iniquitie.

1692 R. L'Estrange Fables xxxviii. 38 We have the seeds of Virtue in us, as well as of Vice.

a1729 J. Rogers 12 Serm. (1730) viii. 238 Some Seeds of Grace are yet alive in him.

1751 S. Johnson Rambler No. 168. ⁋8 The seeds of knowledge may be planted in solitude, but must be cultivated in publick.

1821 C. Lamb in London Mag. Sept. 284/1 The seeds of exaggeration will be busy there.

1868 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest (1877) II. vii. 30 In all this the seeds of the Conquest were sowing.

1916 Jrnl. Switchmen's Union N. Amer. May 303/2 Seeds of discord, like seeds of weeds, grow and prosper even in the thinnest and poorest of soil.

1958 Visct. Montgomery Mem. (1961) 89 Leadership which is evil, while it may temporarily succeed, always carries within itself the seeds of its own destruction.

2002 AAP Newsfeed (Nexis) 18 Sept. Seeds of doubt were sown today over the benefits of genetically modified canola crops for Australia with the launch of a new report in Melbourne.

3. Semen; sperm. In early use also: †a fluid similar to semen thought to be produced by females (obsolete); †a single sperm cell or ovum (obsolete rare).There have been many theories about the extent and nature of male and female contributions in the development of the embryo, but it has generally been accepted that a mixture or mingling of both is necessary to produce offspring.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > reproductive substances or cells > [noun] > sperm

seedOE

spermc1386

sperma1527

the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > reproductive substances or cells > [noun] > sperm > semen

seedOE

naturec1390

semena1398

kindc1400

semence1480

mettle1612

egg-fry1674

ammunition1695

spunkc1890

jism1899

scum1967

OE Confessionale Pseudo-Egberti (Junius) 184 Wif seo ðe mencgð weres sæd in hire mete and ðone þigeð, þæt he[o] þam wæpnedmen sy ðe leofre, fæste iii winter.

c1300 St. Michael (Laud) 700 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 319 A swyþe foul þing is þat sed of ȝwan Man is i-spreind.

c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) l. 936 Telle schul wiues tvelue Ȝif ani child may be made Wiþouten knoweing of mannes sade.

a1425 (a1400) Prick of Conscience (Galba & Harl.) (1863) 445 He was geten aftir, als es knawen, Of vile sede of man with syn sawen.

?1473 W. Caxton tr. R. Le Fèvre Recuyell Hist. Troye (1894) I. lf. 51 She..also conceyued of his seed a sone that was named Abas.

1525 Anothomia in tr. H. von Brunschwig Noble Experyence Handy Warke Surg. sig. C.i/1 The sede is namyd sperma.

1577 Vicary's Profitable Treat. Anat. sig. M.iii The which seede of generation commeth from al the partes of the body both of the man and the woman.

1608 E. Topsell Hist. Serpents 293 When the male [viper] hath filled her with all his seed-genitall.

1668 N. Culpeper & A. Cole tr. T. Bartholin Anat. (new ed.) i. xvii. 48 Others have attributed to the Kidneys the preparation of Seed, because hot Kidneys cause a propensity to fleshly lust.

1713 W. Cheselden Anat. Humane Body iv. i. 162 The Office of the Testes, is to separate the Seed from the Blood.

1739 Ladies Dispensatory xii. 165 All along the Sheath there are abundance of Pores, from whence a thin humour always flows,..what is commonly supposed to be her Seed.

1762 J. Cook New Theory Generation 300 An Animalcule from the Male enters the Female Seed or Ovum of the Female.

1847–9 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. IV. i. 472/1 This fluid, so indispensably necessary as the medium of sexual generation, is the seed or semen.

1856 Veterinarian June 324 After this thorough mingling and incorporation of both the male and female seed has taken place,..is it possible, that the parts of the impregnated ovum should separate?

1895 Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst. Great Brit. & Ireland 24 442 If the blood is the life, the seed is the strength.

1914 J. London Let. 24 Feb. (1966) 415 I have never wantonly scattered my seed.

1990 N.Y. Times 21 Aug. c8 In an effort to spread their seed as widely as possible, some males go to exquisitely complicated lengths.

2003 R. Herring Talking Cock 119 His [sc. Onan's] real crime was not the spilling of the seed, but his blunt refusal to impregnate his sister-in-law.

4. Offspring, progeny; (also) race, line, stock. Also figurative. Now archaic and literary.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > [noun] > offspring

seedOE

offspringOE

begottena1325

birtha1325

issuea1325

burgeoninga1340

fruit of the loinsa1340

young onec1384

increasement1389

geta1400

gendera1425

procreation1461

progeniturec1487

engendera1500

propagation1536

feture1537

increase1552

breed1574

spawn1590

bowela1593

teeming1599

pullulation1641

prolifications1646

educt1677

produce1823

society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinsman or relation > child > [noun] > progeny or offspring

bairn-teamc885

childeOE

tudderc897

seedOE

teamOE

wastum971

offspringOE

i-cundeOE

fostera1175

i-streonc1175

strainc1175

brooda1300

begetc1300

barm-teamc1315

issuea1325

progenyc1330

fruit of the loinsa1340

bowel1382

young onec1384

suita1387

engendrurea1400

fruitinga1400

geta1400

birth?a1425

porturec1425

progenityc1450

bodyfauntc1460

generation1477

fryc1480

enfantement1483

infantment1483

blood issue1535

propagation1536

offspring1548

race1549

family?1552

increase1552

breed1574

begetting1611

sperm1641

bed1832

fruitage1850

society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinsman or relation > descendant > [noun] > collectively

bairn-teamc885

kinc950

seedOE

teamOE

offspringOE

kindOE

childrenc1175

lineage1303

generationa1325

issuea1325

successiona1340

kindredc1350

progenya1382

posterityc1410

sequelc1440

ligneea1450

posterior1509

genealogy1513

propagation1536

racea1547

postery1548

after-spring1583

bowela1593

afterworld1594

loin1608

descendance1617

succession1618

proles1640

descent1667

ramage1936

OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Mark xii. 22 Et acciperunt eam similiter septem et non reliquerunt semen : & onfengon ða ilca gelic ða seofona & ne forleorton uel ne læfdon seduel team.

OE West Saxon Gospels: Luke (Corpus Cambr.) i. 55 Swa he spræc to urum fæderum Abrahame & hys sæde on a woruld.

a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 133 Vre drihten cleopede monnes streon sed.

a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 1613 Ðis lond ic sal giuen ðin sed.

a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1959) Gen. xix. 34 Ȝisterday I slepte with my fader..& þou schalt slepe with hym: þat we sauen þe seed of oure fader.

c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Luke xx. 31 The firste took a wyf, and is deed, with outen sones; and the brother suwinge took hir, and he is deed..and alle seuene, and leften no seed.

c1400 Brut (Rawl. B. 171) 76 (MED) His seede shal bicome pure faderles in straunge lande.

c1450 (c1370) G. Chaucer A.B.C (Cambr. Ff.5.30) (1878) l. 182 Sithe þou canst and wilt Ben to þe seed of Adam merciable.

a1500 (c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) xxi. §23. 81 The sede of iacob is the folke of cristen men.

1529 T. Paynell tr. Assaute & Conquest Heuen vii. sig. D.ii^v The transgression of our fore fathers, of whom we that be come, by the sede of man and woman, be dettours.

1596 J. Dalrymple tr. J. Leslie Hist. Scotl. (1888) I. 80 (margin) The seid and successione of Simon Brechus stil inherited Irland.

1600 W. Vaughan Golden-groue iii. xiv. sig. S5^v Eueryman, I confesse, commeth of Noble seede, that is to say, from God.

1618 G. Chapman tr. Hesiod Georgicks i. 398 Iustice is seed to Ioue.

1645 Directory Publique Worship 22 The rest of the Royall seed.

1683 R. Dixon Canidia iii. x. 73 Witches are a Mongrel-Breed; Betwixt Imps and Human Seed.

1715 A. Pope tr. Homer Iliad I. ii. 724 'Till vain of Mortal's empty Praise, he strove To match the Seed of Cloud-compelling Jove.

1739 C. Wesley in J. Wesley & C. Wesley Hymns & Sacred Poems ii. 207 Rise, the Woman's Conqu'ring Seed, Bruise in Us the Serpent's Head.

1842 Ld. Tennyson Godiva in Poems (new ed.) II. 112 Not only we, the latest seed of Time,..have loved the people well.

1864 E. B. Pusey Daniel 397 Certain of the seed-royal and of the nobles were carried to Babylon.

1925 Woman's World (Chicago) Apr. 17/1 He would be a poor American who should not wish the best for his family and for their seed after them.

1989 W. Horwood Duncton Found i. ix. 111 ‘Your name?’ he asked the youngster, who was, after all, of his own seed.

2007 Keep Faith No. 29. 15/2 I don't think in his wildest imagination my African ancestor could have dreamed that one day his seed would possess the land to which he was banished.

†5. The activity of sowing; the time or season for sowing; = seed time n. 1 Often with prefixed modifying word denoting the particular crop sown. Obsolete (Scottish in later use).

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > [noun] > time of year > season for specific agricultural operation

seedOE

seed timeOE

season1393

barley-selec1440

seednessc1450

seeding timea1594

turf-time1594

tid1799

OE Ælfric Old Eng. Hexateuch: Gen. (Claud.) viii. 22 Eallum dagum ðære eorðan, sæd [L. sementis] & gerip, cyle & hæte, sumor & winter, dæg & niht ne geswicað.

c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) l. 523 (MED) Sesounez schal yow never sese of sede ne of hervest..Bot ever renne restlez.

a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Lev. xxvi. 5 The threschyng of ripe cornes schal take vyndage, and vyndage schal occupie seed [c1450 Bodl. 277 the seed tyme; E.V. a1425 Corpus Oxf. the sowynge tyme; L. sementem].

c1460 in A. Clark Eng. Reg. Oseney Abbey (1907) 155 (MED) Þey Entre with all þere Bestes to fede..vn-to þe tyme of lente sede of þe seyde ȝere folowyng.

1603 A. Nixon Elizaes Memoriall sig. B2^v The Husbandman then gladly tild the ground, And sowed the same with graine in time of seed.

1735 True Method treating Light Hazely Ground Buchan i. 7 If the Owner of such Fields be not provided of Dung in the Go-Harvest, he may lay it on before Oat-Seed.

1747 in D. Warrand More Culloden Papers (1930) V. 77 Should my Son's Company be called out till Bear seed is over.

1773 R. Fergusson Poems 89 Before the seed I sell'd my ferra cow.

1803 G. Culley Let. 27 Feb. in M. Culley & G. Culley Farming Lett. (2006) 417 The wheat and pease and bean seed is over for the present.

1829 Aberdeen Jrnl. 22 Apr. The oat seed over the country was probably about half done when the late storm set in.

6. As a mass noun or in plural.

a. The eggs of the silk moth.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Crustacea > [noun] > subclass Malacostraca > division Thoracostraca > order Decapoda > suborder Macrura > eggs of lobster

seed?1587

berry1768

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > Heterocera > [noun] > family Bombycidae > genus Bombyx > silk moth > eggs

seed?1587

graine1835

?1587 R. Southwell Epist. Comfort xi. f. 144^v The silk-worme, which first eating it selfe out of a verye lytle seede, groweth to be a small worme.

1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 313 In the Spring..the Persians begin to hatch their Silk-worms. To do this, they carry the Seed in a little bag under the arm-pit.

1751 tr. N. A. Pluche Truth of Gospel I. 26 Only the Grecian monks brought back Silk-worm Seed as a Curiosity.

1870 J. Yeats Nat. Hist. Commerce 334 The eggs in this state are called by the silk cultivators seed.

1914 H. F. Macmillan Handbk. Trop. Gardening & Planting (ed. 2) iv. xxiv. 567 Silk..is obtained from the cocoons formed by the ‘worms’..of certain moths, which in some countries..are raised in great numbers from ‘seed’.

1976 Econ. & Polit. Q. 11 M-119/2 In order to rear, the farmer requires silkworm eggs, (the ‘seed’); and there are two sources of these.

2007 Press Trust of India (Nexis) 9 May He said 1,300 ounces of silk worm seeds were distributed among the rearers in the district.

b. Originally: †the roe of a lobster (= coral n.¹ 5a) (obsolete). In later use: the spawn of a lobster or other crustacean, used in aquaculture.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > food > animals for food > seafood > [noun] > roes

roea1400

caviar1591

icary1591

seed1653

red caviar1655

coral1768

osetrova1928

the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > phylum Mollusca > [noun] > mollusc or shell-fish > breeding or spawning > spawn

seed1653

spat1667

nidamental ribbon1851

1653 W. Harvey Anat. Exercitations iii. 11 Of the Ovaries of these Carps and Mullets..is made that kinde of meat..such as is that which is found in our red Herrings, & the red and compacted seed within a Lobster.

1771 E. Raffald Experienced Eng. Housekeeper (ed. 2) App. 347 Take all the red seeds and the meat of a lobster.

1884 R. Rathbun in G. B. Goode et al. Fisheries U.S.: Sect. I v. 798 Lobster spawn is variously designated, on different parts of the coast, as ‘spawn’, ‘roe’, ‘eggs’, ‘berry’, ‘seed’, ‘pea’, ‘sweetbread’, ‘coral’, etc.; but in most places it is known simply as ‘spawn’, ‘eggs’, or ‘berry’.

1914 Diplomatic & Consular Rep.: U.S.: Rep. 1913 Trade & Commerce Consular District Boston 40 in Parl. Papers (Cd. 7048–164) XCV. 753 There may be a heavy drain on the supply before steps can be taken to provide further lobster seed.

1983 S. N. Dwivedi & N. P. Dunning in E. Mann Borgese & N. S. Ginsburg Ocean Yearbk. No. 4 72 The establishment of such hatcheries in each maritime state, producing an abundance of inexpensive prawn seed.

2006 Crustaceana 79 1073 The lobster seed comes from the wild and the size of seedlings is between puerulus and juvenile.

c. The spawn or young of oysters or other aquatic molluscs, used for stocking a commercial bed. Cf. seed oyster n. at Compounds 3.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > class Pelecypoda or Conchifera > [noun] > section Asiphonida > family Ostreidae > member of (oyster) > spawn

spat1667

spats1667

seed1722

seed oyster1839

1722 Philos. Trans. 1720–21 (Royal Soc.) 31 251 From the Spat or Seed of which, it is most probable,..all the Bottom at length,..became covered with Oysters.

1864 Oyster Fishery Ireland 105 This valuable seed, which has been lost every year, will be thus gathered.

1883 C. Harding Molluscs, Mussels, Whelks, Etc. 14 In England the laws allow the seed to be sown and protected to a certain extent, and when the molluscs are a certain size (i.e., two and-a-half inches for Oysters, and two inches for Mussels), the whole world is free to come and fish on the beds by taking out a nominal licence.

1918 Sci. Monthly Jan. 79 To what extent do oysters lend themselves to artificial hatching, so that the present occasional discouraging failures in the seed crop may be obviated?

1953 Sun (Baltimore) 5 Feb. 19/5 If private leasing of such beds were allowed, they could produce enough seed to supply oyster ‘farmers’.

2005 Independent 18 June 27/1 (caption) Oyster and clam farmer Barbara Austin and her son Clinton plant ‘seeds’ which mature in 2-3 years.

†d. The larvae of the lac insect. Obsolete. rare.

ΚΠ

1901 Knowledge Nov. 252/2 Propagation..is effected by tying small twigs, on which are crowded the eggs or larvæ of the insect, to the branches of the trees. These larvæ are technically called ‘seed’.

a. Glass-making. A small bubble trapped in glass during its manufacture. Also as a mass noun.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > glass and glass-like materials > [noun] > glass > marks or imperfections in

thread1593

streak1807

seed1821

stripe1823

bull's-eye1832

stria1832

tear1832

bullion1834

wreath1839

sand-hole1867

bullion-point1881

pontil mark1923

oil spot1962

saliva1969

1821 S. Varley in London Jrnl. Arts & Sci. 2 194 All glass is subject to certain defects, which opticians call seeds and threads.

1856 H. Chance in Jrnl. Soc. Arts 15 Feb. 226/2 A piece whose beginning was miraculous,—no seed, no blisters; it prospered under the hands of the gatherer and blower, and left the glass-house a perfect cylinder.

1955 H. Insley & V. D. Fréchette Microsc. Ceramics & Cements ix. 157 The frequency and size of seeds may be determined.

2000 D. A. Dean et al. Pharmaceut. Packaging Technol. vi. 182 General defects, for example... Seed: small bubbles in glass.

b. Medicine. A tiny tube containing radioactive material, implanted within the body as a form of radiotherapy. Cf. radon seed n. at radon n. Compounds 2.

ΘΚΠ

the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > treatment by radiation > [noun] > source

radium plaque1919

seed1924

radon seed1925

radium bomb1929

bomb1930

teleradium1930

telecobalt1948

sealed source1962

1924 Lancet 17 May 1012/1 Are they minute glass ‘seeds’ which are inserted and then left indefinitely?

1980 Daily Tel. 4 Dec. 6/8 It can implant radioactive seeds by needle when surgery has failed to remove malignancy or patients can no longer sustain external radiation therapy.

2000 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 8 Jan. 69/2 Brachytherapy, which involves implanting radioactive iodine or palladium seeds into the prostate, has the advantage of being a one-off outpatient treatment.

2015 Sun (Nexis) 10 Nov. 4 I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in March. I had radioactive seeds implanted in my body a month ago and my symptoms are subsiding already.

8. Chemistry. A small crystal of a substance deliberately introduced into a liquid in order to promote further crystal growth, originally in sugar manufacture; (more widely) any small crystal or other particle which acts as a nucleus for crystal formation.Recorded earliest in seed crystal n. at Compounds 3.Formerly also as a mass noun.In quot. 1973 figurative.

ΚΠ

1901 Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 12 Feb. 1261/1 The herein-described process of treating a saccharin liquid consisting in forming seed-crystals therein.

1909 H. C. Prinsen-Geerligs Cane Sugar iv. 269 At one time second mass cuites, boiled smooth, were cooled in motion, sometimes after addition of sugar crystals as seed.

1915 H. C. Prinsen-Geerligs Pract. White Sugar Manuf. ii. i. 80 White sugar destined for direct consumption should..also possess a regular form and a rather large size; this latter desideratum makes it preferable to start the building up of the grain from a well-developed seed.

1943 J. M. DallaValle Micromeritics ix. 182 Only the most elementary treatment has been given the general problem of calculating the ultimate size of crystals, when given the original size of the seeds and assuming..that no new seed nuclei are formed.

1973 Nature 12 Oct. 294/1 Some cardinal topics in evolutionary biology were adopted as ‘seeds’ on which other constituents of the programme might crystallise: protein polymorphism, for example.

1987 Physics Bull. Mar. 109/2 Bulk ingots..are generally produced by the Czochralski process, in which a small single crystal ‘seed’ is dipped into a semiconductor melt and then..the single crystal solidifies on to the seed.

1998 New Scientist 1 Aug. 31/2 If you remove contaminants like dust particles which can act as seeds for nucleation, you can defy freezing and obtain supercooled liquid water.

2003 H. Y. McSween et al. Geochem. (ed. 2) viii. 152/2 The suspended submicroscopic calcite particles..act as seeds for inorganic crystal growth.

9. Sport (originally Tennis). Any of a number of seeded players in a tournament. Frequently preceded by a number or its equivalent, indicating position on the list. Cf. seed v. 11a.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > sport > player or sportsperson > [noun] > players by ability

second string1643

first string1865

all-star1893

finalist1898

qualifier1908

seed1931

blue chip1958

blue-chipper1958

danger man1976

1931 Shamokin (Pa.) News-Dispatch 16 Mar. 5/2 None of the top ‘seeds’ have anything to worry about in the second round.

1933 M. D. Lyon in Aldin Bk. Outdoor Games 509 ‘But why put my beloved lawners last?’ wails the Thibetan ‘seed’.

1954 Sun (Baltimore) 22 June 17/3 The remaining four men's seeds won just the way they were supposed to due to the sudden decision by Wimbledon to seed 12 instead of the traditional eight.

1958 Times 20 Mar. 16/5 (heading) Badminton seeds dislodged.

1986 Snooker Scene July 7/1 With the exception of Taylor and Higgins, the seeds, everybody is involved in a full day of first round matches.

1999 Odds On Feb. 8/1 Number eight seed Steve Duke declares that his ambition is ‘to grow old gracefully’. The 19th seed..Co Stompe had distinct possibilities since his hobby is ‘studying the universe’ but unfortunately, he is rubbish at darts.

2009 Jakarta Post (Nexis) 19 June 24 The top seed..suffered a cruel reversal of fate when she lost in the opening round.

10. Mathematics. A number or vector used as an initial value in an algorithm, esp. for the purpose of generating a sequence of pseudorandom numbers.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > [noun] > particular qualities > other

digitusa1398

argumentc1405

geodeticala1690

known quantity1702

amicable number1743

summability1900

idempotent1903

modularity1927

repunit1964

palindrome1972

seed1972

the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > numerical arrangement > [noun] > set > sequence > series > designating place in

numberc1350

extreme1571

numero1649

infinitesimal1655

No.1753

Z1842

majorant1925

seed1972

1972 Jrnl. Statist. Computation & Simulation 1 41 Seed,..that randomly selected number, 0≦U₀≦1, from which all succeeding random numbers derive by means of an algorithmic, pseudo-random, number generator.

1984 Which Micro? Dec. 36/3 Here we have..a 32 bit number which can act as a seed or a number.

2014 A. Bari et al. Predictive Analytics For Dummies xiv. 262 We set the seed for the random generator.

Phrases

P1. to go to seed.Cf. to run to —— 6 at run v. Phrasal verbs 2.

a. Of a plant: to produce seed (often resulting in the cessation of flowering and growth).

ΚΠ

1600 R. Surflet tr. C. Estienne & J. Liébault Maison Rustique ii. xxxiv. 242 Radishes..must be gathered within two or three moneths (otherwise they will quickly goe to seede).

1796 Scots Mag. Jan. 2 Gather nettle-tops when going to seed.

1864 Daily Evening Bull. (San Francisco) 2 Mar. 2/3 The grass, what little did come up, is all dry and gone to seed.

1956 Jrnl. Range Managem. 9 273/2 These pastures are rotated so that at least one goes to seed each year and provides fall and winter feed.

2013 Kindred Spirit Mar. 29/1 Deadheading..restrains the natural desire of flowers to go to seed.

b. figurative. To become habitually unkempt, shabby, or ineffective; to let oneself go (see let v.¹ 24e(b)).

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > condition of matter > bad condition of matter > deteriorate in condition [verb (intransitive)] > by want of use or neglect

moul?c1225

rusta1400

moulda1547

to run to repairs1681

to go to seed1817

to run down1843

1817 J. K. Paulding Lett. from South I. xvii. 188 His white dimity could not last for ever, and he gradually went to seed.

1853 Official Rep. Deb. & Procedings Mass. III. 577 We are all come-outers, more or less, but some of our friends are older, and have gone to seed a little.

1929 G. Ade Let. 8 Feb. (1973) 139 Temples and palaces of incredible size and beauty, some of them slightly gone to seed and others filled with the most wonderful museum displays of Chinese art.

1967 G. F. Fiennes I tried to run Railway iv. 42 He seemed to be going to seed a bit; to be a bit slow.

1989 A. Brookner Lewis Percy v. 71 He was a tall man, but a tall man gone to seed, for there was a large rounded stomach.

P2. to grow to seed: to produce seed.

ΚΠ

1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry i. f. 46 It [sc. Medica] is best mowed when it beginneth to flowre, for it must not growe to seede.

1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet i. ii. 136 Ah fie, tis an vnweeded garden That growes to seede.

1728 R. Bradley Dict. Botanicum at Panax The Root..before it be grown to Seed is eaten both by the Hungarians and Tartars instead of Bread.

1842 Morning Chron. 1 Mar. 5/6 They have no weeds growing to seed, and spreading foulness over every field.

1928 W. W. Tracy Veg. Seeds for Home & Market Garden (U.S. Dept. Agric. Farmers' Bull. No. 1390) (rev. ed.) 9 Plants showing the most desirable leaf should be chosen and allowed to grow to seed.

2002 S. Ashworth Seed to Seed (ed. 2) 121/1 West Indian gherkin is an annual vine crop that can be grown to seed anywhere cucumbers are successful.

P3. to be in seed: to have produced seed.

ΚΠ

1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball v. xl. 605 They flower and are in seede in Iuly.

1662 C. Merrett tr. A. Neri Art of Glass 262 The herbs are in seed.

1725 R. Bradley Chomel's Dictionaire Œconomique at Onion When your Onions are in seed, they are very subject to be blown down by the Wind.

1893 Bull. Misc. Information (Royal Bot. Gardens, Kew) No. 79. 183 It being the dry season it was not a suitable time for making a good collection of specimens for the Herbarium, and many of the plants were in seed.

1950 W. O. Douglas Of Men & Mountains vi. 72 The purplish pasqueflower or western anemone was in seed.

2016 D. Williams Prairie in Seed p. xv Visit the site when the plant is in flower and document its location,..so you can find it later when it is in seed.

P4. colloquial (chiefly Irish English). seed, breed, and generation and variants: an entire family including all extended relations; (in extended use) all the members of an ethnicity, race, or type. Hence also: a person's deep-rooted nature or sense of identity.

ΚΠ

1767 Ann. Reg. 1766 199/2 I..began to give a full account of all that I knew of my breed, seed, and generation.

1793 M. Pilkington Rosina V. xxi. 176 I'm sure you would not care if myself and all my seed, breed and generation, were at the devil, so as you could serve your own turn by it.

1833 Morning Post 13 Aug. This contankerus fellow..told me to my face that all the breed, seed, and generations of the old stock of the Royal O'Connors, of Belinagar, were no better than—, saving your favour.

1860 Lancaster Gaz. 28 Apr. 4/6 The exclusion of the whole Napoleonic seed and breed from sovereign power.

1894 San Antonio (Texas) Daily Light 10 Apr. Those heathen Chinee..may do for a Sunday school teaparty, but ‘no bueno’ is the verdict of the American people upon the whole seed, breed and generation of them.

1949 Times Lit. Suppl. 9 Sept. 579/4 They come from County Down..They are Down men in the marrow of their bones..the breed, seed and generation of them is Down.

1972 J. B. Keane Lett. Irish Parish Priest in Celebrated Lett. (1996) 88 Knowing the seed, breed, and generation of Henry Dring I guessed that the thought of losing one penny would be sufficient to make him abandon his course.

2015 A. Titley tr. M. Ó Cadhain Dirty Dust i. 10 I know far too much about her, and every single one of her breed and seed, Maggie.

P5. to set seed: to produce seed.

ΚΠ

1865 G. Bentham Handbk. Brit. Flora I. p. xxix Without these the pistil is imperfect, and said to be barren (not setting seed), abortive, or rudimentary, according to the degree of imperfection.

1881 Harper's Mag. Dec. 80/1 It is scarcely necessary to refer to the fact that in order for a plant to set seed it is necessary that the stigma of the flower shall be dusted with the pollen.

1948 G. D. H. Bell Cultivated Plants Farm xiv. 126 Many brassicas are biennials, growing strongly in their first year and storing reserves of food.., and running up to flower and setting seed in their second year.

2014 Guardian 12 June 35/5 Thriving in the midst of grass crops such as wheat and barley and setting seed before the harvest makes black grass a very awkward plant.

Compounds

C1. (Chiefly in senses 1, 2, 3.)

(a) General attributive, as seed crop, seed dispersal, seed germination, etc.See also seed field n., seed furrow n., seed plot n., etc.

ΚΠ

OE Antwerp-London Gloss. (2011) 120 Omne genus seminarium, æghwilc sædcyn.

lOE Laws: Rectitudines (Corpus Cambr.) xi. 450 Sædere gebyreð, þæt he hæbbe ælces sædcynnes ænne leap fulne.

1610 P. Holland tr. W. Camden Brit. To Rdr. sig. 5 Neither were there any other seed-gardens from whence Christian Religion, and good learning were propagated over this isle.

1700 T. Brown Amusem. Serious & Comical iii. 33 A Red-Headed Monkey lost from a Seed-Shop in the Strand.

1786 C. Varlo Essence Agric. xxvi. 127 (heading) On the management of rye, both for winter-feeding, and a seed-crop.

1799 M. Pilkington Biogr. for Boys 130 Going by accident into the gardener's seed-house, he saw the man busy in laying poison for the rats.

1831 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Agric. (ed. 2) ii. ii. 418 Two cast-iron wheels, for the purpose of impressing two small seed gutters or drills on the furrow slices turned over by the common plough.

1875 Sci. Amer. 23 Jan. 57/2 Air and water are the only requisites for seed germination.

1876 ‘G. Eliot’ Daniel Deronda II. iii. xxvi. 164 Yet in the dark seed-growths of consciousness a new wish was forming itself.

1898 Daily News 9 June 7/5 To-day's seed market..was most thinly attended.

1917 D. H. Lawrence Look! We have come Through! 59 Rose-leaves that whirl in colour round a core Of seed-specks kindled lately.

1927 J. B. S. Haldane & J. S. Huxley Animal Biol. x. 219 They will produce plants each of which will have the same range of seed-weight as did its parent.

1960 Times 28 Nov. 16/5 The recommended seed-rate [for maize] is 30 to 35 lb. an acre.

1981 Country Life 16 July 184/1 My fear of the allium menace..prompts me to dead-head every species before seed-fall.

1992 Internat. Wildlife May 10 (caption) Classic seed predators, coconut crabs..skitter up trunks and crack the nuts in search of sweet meat.

2005 Evening Gaz. (Middlesbrough) 25 May 8 Seed dormancy..means some seeds can take years to germinate.

2013 K. S. Hadley et al. in M. F. Price et al. Mountain Geogr. vii. 193 Whitebark pine produces large, wingless seeds that rely on a bird..for seed dispersal.

(b)

seed catalogue n.

ΚΠ

1727 S. Switzer Pract. Kitchen Gardiner p. xvii Seed catalogues..are publish'd for the benefit of gardiners.

1835 Hort. Reg. Dec. 464 Our seed catalogues are too voluminous.

1938 N. Marsh Death in White Tie xxv. 266 He hastily gathered up..parish magazines, Church Times, and seed catalogues.

2008 Times 25 Apr. (Times2 section) 7/4 The postman has just delivered a seed catalogue, packed with tempting offers.

seed merchant n.

ΚΠ

1683 J. Sutherland Hortus Medicus Edinburgensis (title page) Mr. Henry Ferguson Seed-Merchant.

1766 Public Advertiser 2 Oct. Mr. Millar, Seed merchant.

1850 Horticulturist May 522/2 Peas..bought of one of the great London seed merchants.

1947 D. H. Robinson Leguminous Forage Plants (ed. 2) iv. 59 In threshing the black fruits are detached, but they do not release the yellow seeds,..leaving the seed merchant to complete the separation of the seed.

2017 Dumfries & Galloway Standard (Nexis) 28 July 24 He had worked for the club for a couple of years before that during the summers, spending the winter working for seed merchants.

seed packet n.

ΚΠ

1844 Gardeners' Chron. 27 Jan. 52/2 Those who grow things properly will find the seed-packet cheap enough.

1935 A. G. L. Hellyer Pract. Gardening v. 43 Beginners are safe in following the directions printed on the seed packet.

2010 Vancouver Sun (Nexis) 8 Jan. e7 (caption) McKenzie Seeds, of Manitoba, hopes these quirky seed packets will encourage children to get into gardening.

seed tray n.

ΚΠ

1849 N. Crosland Stratagems i. 9 Then she inspected the seed-tray and water-glass of her mamma's canary.

1953 E. R. Janes Sweet Peas vii. 53 Standard seed trays give little trouble.

2014 Irish Independent (National ed.) (Nexis) 20 Sept. 31 To germinate, place the seed tray on a light-filled windowsill.

(a) attributive. Designating grain reserved for growing new crops.See also seed corn n. 1.

seed barley n.

ΚΠ

1499–1500 in D. Dymond Reg. Thetford Priory (1995) I. 119 Roberto Gerard pro vj cumb' seed barly.

1540 in J. W. Clay Testamenta Eboracensia (1902) VI. 95 One strike of sede barlie.

1613 G. Markham Eng. Husbandman: 1st Pt. i. v. 23 You shall take care that in your seede Barly there be not any Oates.

1740 Gen. Evening Post 6 Mar. They are in so much want there of Seed Barley, that some Merchants have contracted for 400 Quarters to be shipp'd for Carmarthen.

1805 A. Young Farmer's Cal. (ed. 6) 108 This is the proper month for getting seed-barley into the ground.

1932 A. Bell Cherry Tree vii. 78 I had come for seed-barley, and my horse and tumbril stood at the doors.

2001 M. J. Lewis & T. W. Young Brewing (ed. 2) ix. 160 Barley, of a suitable variety for the region..has been properly selected and treated as a seed barley.

seed grain n.

ΚΠ

1600 J. Pory tr. J. Leo Africanus Geogr. Hist. Afr. iii. 134 Next vnto them [sc. shops that sell meale] are such as sell seed-graine and seed-pulse.

1924 Advocate of Peace Nov. 587/2 Not only is there famine in Russia now, but the outlook for next year is also dark, as there is a universal shortage of seed grain.

2010 Environmental Health Perspectives 118 1137/3 Treated seed grain was mistakenly used for bread making.

seed maize n.

ΚΠ

1806 in F. M. Bladen Hist. Rec. New S. Wales (1898) VI. 174 The Commissary will be directed..to make an allowance of twenty shillings for each bushel of seed maize put into the store.

1927 Geogr. Jrnl. 70 327 The Government is doing much to help in this by the introduction of good seed maize.

2005 Financial Times 22 Nov. 10/6 He cultivates seed maize, tobacco, soya beans, wheat and commercial maize on a 9.7 hectare (24-acre) property near Lusaka.

seed oats n.

ΚΠ

1579 in J. Raine Wills & Inventories Archdeaconry Richmond (1853) 424 I do geve & bequeathe vnto willmn Claxton my nephewe..one quarter of seede Otes.

1613 G. Markham Eng. Husbandman: 1st Pt. i. v. 24 (margin) The choice of seede-Oates.

1748 Gen. Advertiser 12 Jan. The Boys harrowed as much Land as contain'd 15 Barrels of choice Seed Oats.

1810 W. Pitt Gen. View Agric. County Worcester 87 He..thinks premiums should be offered to the merchants for importing seed-oats of superior quality.

1979 Texas Monthly Feb. 123/1 Seed oats sowed a month ago..lie unsprouted in the dusty, harrowed earth of my small fields.

2010 Jrnl. Mammal. 91 502/1 Traps were prebaited with seed oats for a week before trapping.

seed wheat n.

ΚΠ

1573 T. Tusser Fiue Hundreth Points Good Husbandry f. 20 Maydes little & great, pych cleene seede wheat.

1603 tr. Newes from Malta sig. Biij I haue spent all my mony at London, and haue not left myself so much as to buy my seed Wheat, wherwith to sowe my land this season.

?1734 Pract. Husbandman & Planter II. iii. 177 All our Hampshire Farmers chuse their Seed-Wheat, for their better Lands, from the Wiltshire Hills.

1801 Farmer's Mag. Aug. 271 The proper quantity of seed-wheat to be used per acre.

1940 L. I. Wilder Long Winter xxxi. 305 The Wilder brothers had hauled the seed wheat around the slough north of town to their claims.

2008 Irish Jrnl. Agric. & Food Res. 47 90/1 Treating seed wheat with Bitrex failed to deter crows from feeding on seed.

(b)

(i) attributive. In extended use, designating beans, tubers, bulbs, etc., kept for growing new crops.See also seed corn n. 1.

ΚΠ

1600 J. Pory tr. J. Leo Africanus Geogr. Hist. Afr. iii. 134 Next vnto them [sc. shops that sell meale] are such as sell seed-graine and seed-pulse.

1753 Country Gentleman's Compan. II. 132 Now water your new-planted Trees once in ten Days, and fence your Seed-Onions.

1855 E. S. Dixon Kitchen Garden 48 The little seed-bulbs, planted in early spring, grow to the size of an ordinary good-sized onion; while the large onions, planted out, furnish plenty of seed-bulbs for the following season.

1995 Amateur Gardening 25 Nov. 43/2 Early seed tubers should be bought in late September or early October and then kept somewhere warm..until the eyes begin to break into growth.

2008 Internat. Jrnl. Afr. Hist. Stud. 41 533 Seed beans (for export) are now a major crop in commercial farms.

(ii)

seed potato n.

ΚΠ

1742 Will of John Savage in H. H. Metcalf & O. G. Hammond Probate Rec. New Hampsh. (1915) III. 115 I Give to my Dear and Loving Wife..Ground..for to plant one bushel of Seed pertators.

1848 Morning Post 12 Aug. 2/2 After the..seed potato is planted, each of its eyes sends up a shoot to the surface.

1901 Cycl. Amer. Hort.: N–Q 1419/2 The seed Potatoes are cut to one eye, and dropped about 12 to 15 in. apart.

2010 Countryfile Feb. 76/2 Buy your early variety seed potatoes now.

c. attributive. Designating parts of seeds, and parts of plants that bear or contain seed, as seed capsule, seed down, seed stem, etc.Recorded earliest in seed case n. at Compounds 3.See also seed box n. 1, seed crown n. 2, etc.

ΚΠ

1551 W. Turner New Herball sig. L ii Clymenum..hath lytle sede cases about the stalke turnynge one into another.

1672 N. Grew Anat. Veg. vii. 183 The Sap being thus prepared in the inner Coat, as a Liquor now apt to be the Substratum of the future Seed-Embrio, by fresh supplies, is thence discharg'd.

1744 W. Ellis Mod. Husbandman Jan. ii. 32 A Turnep runs up a Seed-stalk sometimes near seven Feet high.

1786 J. Abercrombie Gardeners Daily Assistant 201 Dill—if now advanced in seed-umbels, may be pulled up for use.

1796 W. Withering Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 3) I. 80 Seed-cover (calyculus) the real cover of the seed.

1808 C. Vancouver Gen. View Agric. Devon xiv. 355 In summer, it chiefly subsists on the tops and seed-stems of thistles.

1829 T. Castle Introd. Systematical & Physiol. Bot. 87 The less essential parts of a seed are, the pellicle, the tunic, the seed-down [etc.].

1839 J. Buel Farmer's Compan. xxii. 226 It may be known by its..seed-glumes resembling a cock's-foot.

1844 Zoologist 2 451 The seed-branches of field grasses.

1855 H. W. Longfellow Hiawatha xviii. 245 So they gathered cones together, Gathered seed-cones of the pine-tree.

1915 Rep. Kansas State Board Agric. for Quarter ending March, 1915 144 The idea with any grain sorghum is to get as many seed branches as possible on the center stem.

1977 Arnoldia 37 17 Micro-organisms decompose the seed covering.

1991 Vancouver Sun (Nexis) 23 Nov. c6 Once the petals drop, triangular seed capsules form and..remain on the tree all winter.

2014 P. Munts & S. Mulvihill Northwest Gardener's Handbk. 137/3 Blue grama grass..has horizontal purple inflorescences on 6- to 8-inch stems during summer and seed spikes that attract birds.

d. attributive. In the names of agricultural implements or their component parts, used to sow seed, as seed basket, seed harrow, seed plough, etc.See also seed drill n. at Compounds 3, seed box n. 2.

ΚΠ

1562 Certayn Serm. preached in Lincs. in H. Latimer 27 Serm. i. f. 63^v Vpon the Saboth day goddes sede plough goeth.

1654 J. Trapp Comm. Minor Prophets (Amos ix. 13) 290 Sowing seed..drawn out of the seed basket.

1765 Ann. Reg. 1764 76 At York: †a newly invented seed plough..on two wheels.

1831 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Agric. (1857) §2526 The seed-carrier or seed-basket is sometimes made of thin veneers of wood, bent into an irregular oval, with a hollow to fit the seedsman's side.

1831 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Agric. (1857) §2704 Gray's seed-harrow for wet weather promises to be useful..in a tenacious retentive soil.

1844 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm III. 790 The true seed-box..is in form of a small barrel, and is hence called the seed-barrel.

1844 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm II. 596 The bearing or platform of the seed-funnels.

1852 Trans. Mich. Agric. Soc. 3 30 Best seed planter, for hand or horse power, for hills and drills.

1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 2089/1 The rod-shaft, which communicates by rods with the seed-slides of the separate hoppers, which discharge into the seed-tubes of the shares.

1954 R. H. Cochrane Farm Machinery & Tractors (ed. 2) 26 The seed hoppers for drills are now almost all made of sheet metal.

2015 C. Nardozzi New Eng. Month-by-month Gardening 60/2 Use a seed spreader for larger areas.

e. attributive. Designating a period when seeds are traditionally sown, as seed month, seed season, etc. Now historical and rare. See also seed time n.

ΚΠ

1579 Cyuile & Vncyuile Life sig. Giii^v Wee haue much adoo in seed season.

1617 S. Purchas Pilgrimage (ed. 3) v. ix. 619 Which [feastings] they vse to doe in all their feasts, marriages, childe-births, and their haruest and seed-seasons.

1647 H. Hexham Copious Eng. & Netherduytch Dict. Seed-moneth, Zaey-maent.

1707 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husbandry (1721) II. 360 This [sc. Febr.] is a principal Seed Month, for such as they commonly call Lenten Grain.

1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 461 In very wet seed seasons too, it must, perhaps, give way in many cases to the broadcast method.

1810 Belfast Monthly Mag. Mar. 193/1 The inhabitants..do not deem it expedient to fix upon any certain times for the seed month.

2006 Agric. Hist. Rev. 54 289 March was the principal seed month.

f. attributive. Forming compounds denoting an uncastrated male animal kept for breeding, as seed bull, seed horse, etc.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > horse defined by gender or age > [noun] > male > stallion or stud-horse

stud horseeOE

stallion1390

steed-horsec1425

courser1483

mastard1598

stone-horse1600

stone-colt1691

seed horse1792

stud1803

foal-getter1809

entire1881

1792 Acts & Laws State Connecticut 425 That each Stallion or Seed Horse of more than three years old, shall be set in the list at Twenty Pounds.

1794 J. Morse Amer. Geogr. 485 The gentlemen..have taken much pains to raise a good breed of horses... They will give 1000l. sterling for a good seed horse.

1840 Sporting Rev. July 107 I decleere most peositively, that the seed bull is me property.

1925 Public Sale Notice 6 Mar. in Pennsylvania Folklife Spring 1976 26 Public Sale..One pure bred Seed Hog, the balance are shoats weighing from 40 to 100 pounds.

1958 H. Sandburg Wheel of Earth xi. 147 ‘How's that seed-boar I traded you?’ ‘He's a crapping mean sonofabitch, Hedrick. Set on rutting up his fence all the time’.

2010 Age (Melbourne) (Nexis) 18 May 7 The outbreak..has forced the cull of 49 seed bulls, leaving just six to breed the species of cattle that produces the tender beef from Miyazaki prefecture.

g. attributive. Designating or relating to resources provided to initiate a project, esp. a new business venture, as seed capital, seed funding, seed investor, etc.See also seed money n. at Compounds 3.

ΚΠ

1945 N.Y. Times 25 May 6/1 We can furnish the ‘seed’ capital and the knowledge of how to use ‘seed’ capital to produce a ‘high standard of living’ crop.

1957 Washington Post 3 June a11/3 The seed investments of the development program are at last beginning to produce real growth.

1969 Bay State Banner (Boston) 30 Oct. 6 Seed funding and services for the clinic came from the hospital.

1982 Barron's National Business & Financial Weekly 27 Sept. 7/3 INVEST is shooting for an Oct. 12 start-up in one office of each of the four 'seed' investors.

1999 Times Higher Educ. Suppl. 19 Mar. 30/2 Creating seed funds to help convert university research into potential business ventures.

2014 Daily Tel. 4 Apr. (Business section) 8/2 Venture capital funds have expressed an interest in raising seed capital for the business.

C2.

a. Objective, as seed crusher, seed disperser, seed grower, seed seller, etc.See also seed eater n. at Compounds 3, seed-eating adj. at Compounds 3, seed carrier n.

ΚΠ

1562 J. Heywood Sixt Hundred Epigrammes lxxiii, in Wks. sig. Ddii^v We seede sellers must sell seedes one with an other.

1585 J. Higgins tr. Junius Nomenclator 513 Seminaria,..a seedesauer: a woman that gathereth and preserueth the seedes of herbs.

1775 W. Boutcher Treat. Forest-trees xxv. 131 By collecting your seeds in this manner,..you will have them unhurt, ripe and generous, a pound of which will raise more plants than six of that usually bought from the seed-gatherers.

1824 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Gardening (ed. 2) iv. i. 1041 Seed-growers are as frequently farmers as gardeners.

1850 Ann. Rep. Commissioner Patents 1849: Arts & Manuf. 151 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (31st Congr., 1st Sess.: House of Representatives Executive Doc. 20, Pt. 1) VI Having thus fully described my improved grain and seed planter.

1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Seed-crusher, one who expresses oil from seeds; a machine with rollers.

1896 Yearbk. U.S. Dept. Agric. 1895 175 The importance of seed testing is recognized not only by professional seedmen, but also by intelligent farmers.

1946 A. Nelson Princ. Agric. Bot. viii. 223 Seeds with a copious fatty reserve..are bought by seed crushers for the extraction of the oil.

1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Mar. 243/1 Some 80 years ago the first seed-testing station was established in Saxony by Professor Nobbe.

1992 Internat. Wildlife May 7 (caption) A kinkajou in Belize..makes a good seed-disperser; it gulps down fruits without much chewing, minimizing the damage to seeds.

2004 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 7 Mar. iv. 6/2 If you are a serious seed grower, consider investing in a light stand.

seed bearer n.

ΚΠ

1679 J. Evelyn Sylva (ed. 3) xx. 88 These Iuli, are not all of them seed-bearers.

1883 A. Thomas Mod. Housewife 19 John had cut certain heads of asparagus that were intended for seed-bearers.

1962 N.Y. Times 9 Dec. x33/7 Cones are the fruits or seed bearers of the needled evergreens which are called conifers.

2004 Jrnl. Ecol. 92 501/1 The long-term stability of the forest was reinforced by the almost continuous presence of nearby seed bearers of both species.

seed-bearing adj.

ΚΠ

OE Genesis A (1931) 1145 Him æfter heold, þa he of worulde gewat, Enos yrfe, siððan eorðe swealh sædberendes Sethes lice.

1653 J. Rogers Ohel or Beth-Shemesh i. iii. 32 Serviceable, and seed-bearing-trees for barren brambles, and uselesse fruitless bushes.

1766 Compl. Farmer at Hemp This other species,..which is commonly termed male hemp, should be called seed-bearing hemp, or female hemp.

1877 F. G. Heath Fern World 25 These beautiful plants, however, though flowerless, are seed-bearing.

1964 Country Life 20 Feb. 406/1 The latest method of collecting seed-bearing cones from tall conifers.

2011 New Yorker 21 Nov. 84/3 You have to look for seed-bearing pods.

seed sower n.

ΚΠ

1550 J. Ponet Notable Serm. conc. Ryghte Use Lordes Supper sig. Eiii^v That seed,..hath bene lost in the way, & could not enter to take rote, growe & bring forth fruite, accordyng to the expectacion of the seed sower.

1789 Hieroglyphick Wonder of World iv. 25 A Christian is a Child of God, born of God, the begetter and Seed Sower is God.

1848 Commerc. Rev. South & West Sept. 133 Seed-Sowers, &c.—These machines are quite ingenious and labor-saving in their contrivance, [etc.].

2006 Gardens Monthly Apr. 12/2 For inexperienced seed-sowers, marigolds, dahlias, dianthus, cosmos,..and sunflowers are among the easiest to try.

seed-sowing n.

ΚΠ

1567 J. Maplet Greene Forest Pref. f. 28 Some [plants]..spring vp and increase by seede sowing.

1730 W. Kelynack & 116 others, Appellants. W. Gwavas, Respondent: Respondent's Case 3 No Allowance or Deduction is made for the Rent of the Land, Plowing, Seed Sowing, Reaping, &c.

1865 10th Ann. Rep. Maine Board Agric. i. 65 The use of the drill for general seed-sowing is at present considered too expensive.

1977 Financial Times 30 Apr. 7/1 The date of seed sowing must be rather nicely calculated to time things just right to get the longest possible growing season.

2007 R. Millward Apples ix. 105 I scrunched my gel then shuffled into the middle of the floor, doing the seed-sowing dance.

C3.

† seed artery n. Obsolete the testicular or ovarian artery, supposed to transport seed (sense 3) to the testicle or ovary; cf. seed vein n.

ΚΠ

1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια xi. xv. 862 The fourth is called Spermatica, the seede artery.

1663 N. Culpeper & A. Cole tr. T. Bartholin Anat. (new ed.) i. xvii. 46 (caption) The spermatick or Seed-arteries.

seed bag n. (a) a part of a plant or fungus which contains seed or spores (now rare); (also) †a receptacle for the eggs or larvae of an animal (obsolete); (b) (in the drilling of an oil well) a tubular leather container fastened around a pipe and filled with flax seeds which swell to form a seal against the ingress of water (now historical).

ΚΠ

1665 R. Hooke Micrographia 132 The other..seem'd full of exceeding small white seeds, much like the seed-bagg in the knop of a Carnation, after the flowers have been two or three days, or a week, fallen off.

1665 R. Hooke Micrographia 136 Whether they be matrices or seed-baggs of any kind of Fishes, or some kind of watry Insect.

1742 J. Martyn tr. W. Harris Treat. Acute Dis. Infants 171 A Sort of Cluster, or Seed-Bag of the Spawn of Worms.

1832 Gardener's Mag. 8 739 The peridium, or seed bag, is formed beneath the epidermis of a leaf.

1860 Country Gentleman 1 Mar. 148/2 The bee has the will and power to contract her seed bag or not.

1862 Board Arts & Manufactures Jrnl. 2 61/2 Around one end [of the pipe] was wrapped another seed bag.

1865 G. W. Gesner A. Gesner's Pract. Treat. Coal (ed. 2) ii. 32 To prevent communication between any particular portion of the well and the pumping tube, a bag of linseed, called a ‘seed bag’, is sent down to the required place. This bag, encircling the tube, soon swells.., and forms a water-tight joint.

1906 H. F. Jones Plant Life 28 When ripe, the seed-bag opens at the end and splits into three portions.

1959 H. F. Williamson & A. R. Daum Amer. Petroleum Industry: Age Illumination 1859–1899 vii. 149 Further refinements of the third progressive step in permanent casing abolished both the seed bag and the leather packer.

2000 Bothalia 30 37/1 Fruit a hygrochastic capsule,..seed bags absent.

seed bank n. (a) a place where a collection or stock of seeds of different plant varieties and species is stored for use in agriculture or as a safeguard against their possible extinction; (b) (more fully soil seed bank) the seeds that have accumulated naturally in a given area of ground.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > botany > [noun] > store of seeds

seed bank1906

the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > storage or preservation of crops > [noun] > seed bank

seed bank1906

1906 Agric. Jrnl. India 1 219 I have come to the conclusion that on the whole it is easier to found successful money societies than seed banks.

1961 A. S. Leopold Desert vi. 117 If the season ends favorably, it usually means that a fine new crop of seeds is added to the seed bank in the soil.

1982 Washington Post 5 Nov. (Weekend section) 57/1 The winter wheat is a variety called Red May, unchanged from the 18th century; the seeds came from the Department of Agriculture's seed bank.

1990 J. O. Luken Directing Ecol. Succession iii. 43 The soil seed bank is rapidly depleted by seed germination and seed destruction.

2003 Org. Gardening Sept. 13/2 Many things will appear quickly, including whatever weedy species exist in the seed-bank in your soil.

2016 New Scientist 26 Mar. 17/1 The waterwheel plant is facing extinction—and even preservation in a seed bank looks doubtful.

seed bead n. a small, decorative bead; (now) esp. one no wider than 5 mm in diameter, intended for weaving, embroidery, and other forms of beadwork.

ΚΠ

1625 S. Purchas Pilgrimes II. vii. v. 971 Then I was sent to Long,..and carried all Commodities fit for that Countrey; as long Glasse-beads, and round Blew beads, and Seed beads.

1801 Morning Chron. 7 Dec. (advt.) Seed Beads for Purses in all colours.

1888 Godey's Lady's Bk. May 463/2 Visite mantle in myrtle-green veloutine, dotted with jetted courants, tipped with a gold seed bead.

1998 Beadwork Summer 9/1 Made primarily with seed beads, the 86 works in Bead Dreams, Future Visions represent 71 artists in 25 states plus Australia and Argentina.

2013 J. Durant & E. Eckman Crochet One-skein Wonders 22/1 Using size 6° seed beads and size 3 cotton crochet thread, you can whip up a bracelet in very little time.

seed beetle n. a bruchid beetle (family Chrysomelidae), whose larvae develop within beans or other seeds; = bruchid n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Coleoptera or beetles and weevils > [noun] > Polyphaga (omnivorous) > superfamily Phytophaga or Chrysomeloidea > family Bruchiidae or Lariidae > member of genus Bruchus > bruchus varicornis (bean-weevil)

seed beetle1771

bean weevil1870

bruchid1890

1771 J. R. Forster Catal. Animals N. Amer. 25 Seed-Beetle..Bruchus Pisi.

1912 J. R. Ainsworth-Davis tr. W. F. Bruck Plant Dis. iv. 77 Among Beetles may particularly be mentioned species of Bruchus which attack the ripe seeds of peas and beans (Seed Beetles).

2003 R. Ornduff et al. Introd. Calif. Plant Life (rev. ed.) iii. 80 They also produce a white gummy substance in their flower buds that discourages seed beetles from laying eggs in gum plant seeds.

seed bird n. (a) a bird that feeds mainly on seeds (now rare); †(b) British regional a bird that forages in newly ploughed land in the spring, esp. a wagtail (obsolete).

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > non-arboreal (larks, etc.) > [noun] > family Motacillidae > genus Motacilla > motacilla alba (pied wagtail)

washerc1325

washstarta1400

wevesterte14..

water swallow1544

dishwasher1575

water-wagtail1593

dishwater1674

seed bird1675

pied wagtail1744

willy wagtail1780

washerwoman1817

wash-dish1825

moll-washer1847

deviling1853

devil's bird1853

tinner1866

peggy1885

the world > animals > birds > defined by habitat > [noun] > aquatic or swimming bird > marine

sea-fowl1340

sea-bird1589

guano1697

seed bird1791

ocean fowl1864

sea-runner1872

the world > animals > birds > order Charadriiformes > family Laridae (gulls and terns) > [noun] > member of genus Larus (gull) > larus canus (common gull)

meweOE

larea1425

sea-mawc1425

seamewc1430

mow1440

maw?a1513

sea-cob1530

camose1542

seagull1542

cob1574

mevy1616

sea-pigeon1620

tarrock1674

sea-mall1676

sea-moit1681

gor1697

seed bird1791

1675 J. Blagrave New Additions Art Husbandry (new ed.) 110 A Seed-Bird very seldom dungs too hard.

1678 J. Ray tr. F. Willughby Ornithol. 237 Moreover it [sc. the white Wagtail] follows the Plough, to gather the Worms..: As our Husbandmen have told me of their own observation; who therefore call it the Seed-bird, as Mr. Johnson informed me.

1791 J. Sinclair Statist. Acct. Scotl. I. 67 Sea fowls appear here in great numbers in the spring, about seed-time; they follow the plough and are thence called seed-birds.

1854 Bird Keeper's Guide & Compan. 38 A soft meat bird cannot be brought to breed with a seed bird; otherwise we should find some fanciers who would cross the nightingale with the canary.

1865 Zoologist 23 9680 This species [sc. the grey wagtail] is here a summer migrant, leaving late in autumn and returning about the sowing time, whence probably its local name of ‘seed-bird’.

1979 Asian Folklore Stud. 38 146 The agricultural innovations now taking place in Khuzestan promise the seed birds unparalleled benefits.

seed bomb n. a ball of clay, compost, and seeds (or a similar device) used to disperse seeds artificially.

ΚΠ

1937 Amer. Forests Apr. 178/3 A checkback on the ‘bombing’ maps showed that the new forests were springing up as a result of the seed ‘bombs’.

1973 Permanent Assoc. Comm. Proc. (Western Forestry & Conservation Association) 105/2 The seeds are imbedded in a protective ball or wafer which provides the initial growing medium. These seed bombs are then dropped from an aircraft.

2014 K. Swan Summer Without You 112 I distribute the seed bombs at food fairs... Volunteers take them to distribute along coastline they're passing either on foot or by bike.

† seed-bone n. Anatomy Obsolete a sesamoid bone.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > the body > structural parts > bone or bones > types of bones > [noun] > according to shape

seed-bone1615

pessulus1805

sesamoid1854

colonnette1872

scale1875

semilunar1893

1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια ix. ii. 729 The arme hath one bone, the cubite two,..the fingers fifteene, to which we may adde if we please the small seede bones called Sesamoidea.

1634 T. Johnson tr. A. Paré Chirurg. Wks. vi. xxvii. 220 The Ossa Sesamoidea, or seed bones: these are 19 in number.

1795 R. Anderson Wks. Brit. Poets XIII. 593/2 There are in the joints of the fingers little bones, commonly called seed-bones.

seed-borne n. carried by seeds; caused or transmitted by an agent present in seed.

ΚΠ

1910 W. H. Beal et al. Exper. Station Work (U.S. Dept. Agric. Farmers' Bull. No. 419) 15 He..gives a simple statement of the best methods and appliances now known for the prevention or control of seed-borne diseases.

1931 Bull. W. Virginia Agric. Exper. Station No. 245. 5 The economic losses occasioned by these few seed-borne parasites..are enormous.

1968 Times 16 Dec. 7/1 A seed-borne fungus disease.

2013 Jrnl. Plant Pathol. 95 612/2 The pathogen is mainly seed-borne.

† seed bringer n. Anatomy Obsolete an artery or vein believed to convey seed (sense 3) to the ovary or testicle; probably the ovarian or testicular artery or vein (cf. seed artery n., seed vein n.).

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > the body > secretory organs > ducts > [noun] > seminal or spermatic ducts

seed bringer1545

vas deferens1578

seed trough1615

seed vein1615

spermatic1690

seminal1733

rete testis1777

rete1849

parepididymis1881

spermaduct1891

1545 T. Raynald in tr. E. Roesslin Byrth of Mankynde i. sig. F^v The seede bryngars called in latin vasa semen adferentia, be .ii. vaynes & .ii. artyres.

1633 J. Weemes Observ., Naturall & Morall xi. 52 The seed bringers called vasa seminaria, bee two veines and two arteries which come downe to the thigh.

seed bud n. †(a) the embryo plant within a seed; cf. germ n. 2b (obsolete rare); (b) the part of the pistil which ultimately forms the fruit; the ovary; cf. germen n. 3.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > flower or part containing reproductive organs > [noun] > parts of > ovary

seed bud1721

ovarium1724

seed nest1727

ovary1731

germ1758

germen1759

ovulary1898

1721 R. Bradley tr. G. A. Agricola Philos. Treat. Husbandry 73 The Seed-buds or Germes..have in 'em the whole Form of the Tree.

1770 C. Milne Bot. Dict. at Ensatæ The Seed-bud is sometimes placed above the flower..; sometimes below it.

1874 Inter Ocean (Chicago) 11 July 8/3 Cut back all the flowering stalks; do not let one rose form a seed bud, as that process exhausts the roots more than any other.

1919 H. W. Mabie et al. Sci., Invention, & Plant Life Young Folks Treasury 8 450 Let us look once more at the pistil of the buttercup, in which the tiny seed buds lie waiting—waiting for the magic touch of the pollen grains to move them to life.

2008 A. Beeby & A.-M. Brennan First Ecol. (ed. 3) iv. 111/1 She then flies to another flower and lays eggs in its seed buds.

seed case n. a structure within a flowering plant containing its seeds.

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1551 W. Turner New Herball sig. L ii Clymenum..hath lytle sede cases about the stalke turnynge one into another.

1682 N. Grew Anat. Plants iv. iii. v. 186 The Seed-Case, whether it be called a Cod, Pod, or by any other name.

1724 P. Blair Pharmaco-botanologia ii. 68 The Top of the flowering Foot-stalk, supports the Ovarium or Seed-case.

1893 G. D. Leslie Lett. to Marco xii. 71 I take great interest..in the seediness of my garden; seeds and seed-cases are perhaps the most wonderful of any of the parts of plant life.

1954 Times 22 Dec. 10/6 Does the poison reside only in the hard seed cases?

2007 S. R. Kaufman & W. Kaufman Invasive Plants ii. 128 Flowers are greenish-red to brown without petals, producing clusters of round-winged seed cases.

seed coat n. the protective outer covering of a seed; = testa n. 1.

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the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > seed > [noun] > parts of > covering or skin

pillc1300

huskc1400

shell1561

tunicle1601

parchment1682

tunic1760

seed coat1776

aril1785

testa1796

perula1825

spermoderm1841

endopleura1842

test1846

arillode1854

tegmen1857

1776 W. Withering Bot. Arrangem. Veg. Great Brit. II. 826 The Seed-coat opened to shew the Seed.

1894 F. W. Oliver et al. tr. A. Kerner von Marilaun Nat. Hist. Plants I. 601 The embryo is surrounded by the seed-coat, which may consist of a single or a double layer.

1955 Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 82 285 The seed coat itself permits the entrance of water, and germination takes place in a few days.

2005 Post-Standard (Syracuse, N.Y.) 13 Feb. (Final ed.) 29/3 Morning glory seeds have hard seed coats.

seed compost a potting compost used for the germination of seeds.

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1843 Gardeners' Chron. 4 Mar. 143/2 Florists often dry their seed-compost over the fire in an iron vessel.

1952 New Phytologist 51 387 Only one seedling germinated when many seeds of [Gallinsoga] parviflora were sown in John Innes seed compost.

2011 K. Thompson Compost 164 Pure leafmould makes an excellent seed compost.

seed coral n. now rare (as a mass noun) small fragments of coral resembling seeds in size, typically used in jewellery-making or embroidered on fabric; cf. seed pearl n. 2.

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1807 La Belle Assemblée Mar. 164/2 My necklace and bracelets..were composed of seed coral.

1842 Metropolitan 35 301 She wore a dress of green crape,..embroidered in branches of seed-coral.

1966 Vogue Oct. 186/1 The upper necklace—a twisted rope of seed coral—is centred with an emerald carved in leaf-shapes.

seed cotton n. bolls of cotton (boll n.¹ 3) from which the seed has not been separated from the cotton fibres.

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the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > cotton > [noun] > with seed not separated

seed cotton1777

1777 A. Bennet Let. 2 July in Trans. Soc. Arts (1783) 1 261 I also bought a small parcel of seed Cotton.

1876 Constitution (Atlanta, Georgia) 18 Mar. 300 lbs. seed cotton..make 100 lbs. lint.

1966 Mariner's Mirror 52 95 I remember..sleeping on a mattress which was stuffed with ‘seed cotton’.

2011 Weed Technol. 25 180/1 Seed cotton samples from each plot were collected for ginning.

seed crystal n. a small crystal of a substance deliberately introduced into a liquid in order to promote further crystal growth, originally in sugar manufacture; any small crystal which acts as a nucleus for crystal formation.Cf. sense 8.In quot. 1993 in figurative context.

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1901Seed crystals [see sense 8].

1934 Industr. & Engin. Chem. 26 ii. 1201/1 The initial formation of crystal nuclei is profoundly influenced by the chance presence of very small seed crystals of the solute.

1993 M. Flynn In Country of Blind 182 The wonderful thing about memetic engineering..was that a few trite proverbs dropped into a discussion acted as seed crystals in a supersaturated solution.

2001 O. Sacks Uncle Tungsten vii. 68 If I used an alum solution and a good seed crystal to start it off..the crystal would grow evenly.

seed dressing n. a preparation applied to seed prior to planting in order to protect it from pests or disease; the action or process of treating seed in this way.Cf. seed treatment n.

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1808 Agric. Mag. Aug. 95 No dressing of seed has ever been used, and yet their success with respect to black or clean wheat, has..been upon a par with their seed-dressing brethren.

1926–7 Army & Navy Stores Catal. p. lxxi/2 Seed Dressings, Liquid.

1977 M. B. Green et al. Chemicals for Crop Protection & Pest Control xii. 103 The convenience and economy of seed-dressing makes it..a clear choice when the disease can be controlled this way.

2008 Daily Tel. 30 Jan. 31/8 One of the neonicotinoid chemicals has been banned in France for a decade as a seed dressing on sunflowers.

seed drill n. Agriculture a machine that sows seeds in a row at regular intervals, esp. one which also ploughs a furrow and covers the seed with soil; = drill n.⁴ 2.Seed drills were originally designed to be pulled by horses or other draught animals, but are now (in areas where agriculture is mechanized) typically pulled by tractors.

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the world > food and drink > farming > tools and implements > sowing and planting equipment > [noun] > apparatus for sowing > machine for sowing in drills

drill1733

drill-plough1733

seed drill1764

drill-barrow1807

drill-machine1808

placement drill1959

1764 Gentleman's Mag. Nov. 532/2 This crank is never used but in turnep or small seed drills.

1895 Farm Implem. News 14 Feb. 13/2 Jethro Tull..was the originator of horse-hoe cultivation, and in carrying out his ideas he produced the first practical seed drill.

1973 L. Russell Everyday Life Colonial Canada iii. 38 The seed drill..in this the seeds were not just dropped into the furrows, but were inserted into the soil through flexible tubes with a cutting edge in front.

2009 Classic Tractor Sept. 77/3 Seed sowing is represented by a classic MF 10 fertiliser spinner and a Massey Ferguson seed drill.

† seed earth n. [ < seed n. + earth n.²] Obsolete the side of a seed furrow; the ridge of soil running along the top of this.

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the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > sowing > [noun] > seed-furrow or drill > side of

seed earth1765

the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > breaking up land > ploughing > [noun] > furrow > side of seed-furrow

seed earth1765

1765 tr. J. Bertrand in Foreign Ess. Agric. & Arts iii. 18 The furrows of the seed earth should be, if possible, drawn from north to south.

1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 10 Ley-grounds cannot be laid too flat, or seed earths too much on an edge.

seed eater n. any of the seed-eating songbirds, typically having strong conical bills, spec. (with distinguishing word) any of the small songbirds of the Central and South American genus Sporophila; (also more generally) any animal that feeds mainly on seeds.The genus Sporophila, traditionally included in the family Emberizidae, is now often included in the Thraupidae (tanagers).

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the world > animals > birds > actions or bird defined by > [noun] > that eats specific things

worm-fowlc1381

seed fowlc1500

thistle-eater1562

chipper1668

honeyeater1688

wheat-bird1747

falcon-fisher1759

worm-eater1760

bone-breaker1787

seed eater1820

carrion-bird1839

seed feeder1853

fish-tiger1879

the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > seed eaters > [noun] > family Emberizidae > subfamily Emberizinae (bunting) > genus Tiaris (grass quit)

seed eater1820

grassquit1847

1820–1 W. Swainson Zool. Illustr. I. Pl. 7 (heading) Hooded Seed-eater.

1879 G. N. Lawrence in Proc. U.S. National Mus. I. 355 Phonipara bicolor (Linn.)... ‘Mangeur des herbes’. Seed-eater.

1884 J. Burroughs in Cent. Mag. Dec. 220/1 Even the slate-coloured snow-bird, a seed-eater, comes and nibbles.

1968 I. W. Cornwall Prehistoric Animals & their Hunters ii. 58 The fauna was plentiful and varied, with rodent seed-eaters and ruminant grazers such as Bison.

1974 W. Condry Woodlands vii. 89 If autumn brings a mast year..the seed eaters may arrive in force, many of them chaffinches and bramblings from north Europe, feeding all day on the floor of the wood.

1992 E. Hoagland Wowlas & Coral in Balancing Acts 185 Red-vented woodpeckers and white-collared seedeaters perched in the trees.

2006 Bird Watching Aug. 124/3 Farmland sees an increase in smaller seedeaters, as town sparrows head out to join Yellowhammers and Chaffinches feasting on ripening grain.

seed-eating adj. (of a bird or other animal) that feeds mainly on seeds; granivorous.

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1807 T. Smith Naturalist's Cabinet VI. 18 This creature [sc. the crocodile] swallows..stones, it is said, to aid digestion, in the manner of seed-eating birds.

1927 J. B. S. Haldane & J. S. Huxley Animal Biol. x. 205 If..a tame sea-gull is fed on corn instead of fish, the whole lining of its stomach alters, becoming thicker and more like that of seed-eating birds.

1977 J. L. Harper Population Biol. Plants xx. 629 A plague of seed-eating mammals, birds or insects may prevent regeneration.

2003 New Scientist 1 Nov. 5/2 [He] discovered the tiny seed-eating bird in July 2001.

seed egg n. †(a) (in the ovary of a bird) a follicle (obsolete rare); (b) a fertilized egg, esp. as used for breeding.

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1678 J. Ray tr. F. Willughby Ornithol. i. 10 We our selves have found in Birds that breed only once, or at most but twice in a year, a lump of seed-eggs (as I may call them) enough to serve them for many years productions.

1835 A. Ure Philos. Manuf. 235 Under favourable circumstances, one ounce of seed eggs will produce eighty pounds of cocoons, and even more.

1912 How to Raise Chicks (Amer. Poultry Jrnl.) i. 11 Without good seed eggs you cannot get good chicks.

2004 J. Ridgeway It's All for Sale 95 Caterpillars hatched from one ounce of seed eggs consume about one ton of ripe leaves.

seed exchange n. the exchange of seeds from different plants and plant varieties; (also) an association of farmers, horticulturists, etc., formed for the regular purpose of such exchange (cf. exchange n. 10).In quot. 1804 the name of a building used for trading of seeds.

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1804 Courier 23 Nov. The New Corn and Seed Exchange, which is nearly opposite the old one.

1897 Amer. Gardening 8 May 341/3 From this garden is issued a seed exchange list, and it has become an important center of distribution to other gardens and collections.

1905 First Ann. Rep. Minnesota Field Crop Breeders Assoc. 22 ‘Do you believe in seed exchange?’..‘Yes, without a doubt.’ It was always the same answer, ‘We must exchange our seed, or it runs out.’

1935 Times 24 June 10/4 There has been in connexion with the South-Eastern Union of Scientific Societies a seed exchange, conducted..by Mr. B. T. Lowne on behalf of our botanical section.

1993 F. M. Bradley Experts Bk. Garden Hints i. 57 Join a seed exchange. Seed exchanges will help you locate hard-to-find, rare, or unusual seeds and will give you a chance to share your own special seeds with other members.

seed fat n. fat obtained from seeds; a particular fat of this kind.

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1885 T. Christy New Commerc. Plants & Drugs No. 8. 28 The fat when pure is very homogeneous, and in colour and consistence compares favourably with the best seed fats met with in commerce.

1904 National Provisioner 8 Oct. 31/2 The mills.., as under the season's prospects of prices for seed fat and animal fat products, are likely to hold off from liberal buying of the seed.

1940 T. P. Hilditch Chem. Constit. Nat. Fats i. 18 However varied the fatty acids in seed fats may be, the resulting triglycerides are..fundamentally similar in type.

2003 Jrnl. Biogeogr. 30 1509/1 The stearic acid content of the seed fat is much lower.

seed fern n. any of a group of extinct plants resembling ferns but producing seeds rather than spores; = pteridosperm n.

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the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > fossil plants > [noun]

cycadite18..

Bothrodendron1835

lepidodendron1836

calamite1837

sphenophyllum1837

stigmaria1845

polyporite1846

fucoid1848

Muscites1859

lepidodendrid1863

Bennettites1871

lepidodendroid1872

progymnosperm1885

pteridosperm1904

Bennettitales1907

seed fern1907

1907 Sci. Progress 20th Cent. 2 v. 259 The ‘Seed-ferns’ may be regarded as forms intermediate in character between the true Ferns and Gymnosperms.

1944 Illustr. London News 8 Jan. 54 (caption) A front of a seed fern from the coal measures.

2000 C. Tudge Variety of Life ii. xvii. 425 Rhynchosaurs seemed adapted to eat tough vegetation, like ‘seed-ferns’.

seed finch n. (usually with distinguishing word) any of the small finches of the Central and South American genus Oryzoborus or certain related genera (family Emberizidae or Thraupidae); cf. seed eater n.The genus Oryzoborus is now often subsumed in the genus Sporophila.

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the world > animals > birds > unspecified and miscellaneous birds > [noun] > miscellaneous

night-raveneOE

cold-finch1676

crane1678

diver1694

solitary1708

wheat-bird1747

yellow-bill1775

Chinese thrush1781

whidah thrush1781

tomtit1789

solitaire1797

year-bird1798

softbill1830

swift-shrike1841

scissor bird1843

seed finch1862

sea-flyer1869

stalker1872

seven sisters1873

dicky bird1879

baboon bird1883

the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > seed eaters > [noun] > family Emberizidae > subfamily Emberizinae (bunting) > genus Sicalis

field finch1829

seed finch1862

1862 List Vertebrated Animals Gardens Zool. Soc. (ed. 3) 54 Oryzoborus torridus..Tropical seed-finch.

1938 Auk 55 41 Oryzoborus crassirostris... Thick-billed seed finch.

2015 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 2 Aug. 1 Inside each [cage] was a delicate songbird: a chestnut-bellied seed finch native to the northern parts of South America and the Caribbean.

seed fish n. (a) a fish that is ready to spawn; (b) a fish used for propagation, esp. to stock a body of water or fish farm.

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1851 Jrnl. House of Assembly New Brunswick App. p. ccxxx Injury may be done in the spawning season, more perhaps from the disturbance caused than from the quantity of seed fish taken.

1872 6th Ann. Rep. Commissioners Inland Fisheries (Commonw. Mass.) 32 Each seed fish (males and females together) sends back 17 grown fish.

1891 Cent. Dict. Seed-fish, a fish containing seed, roe, or spawn; a ripe fish.

1986 V. G. Jhingran in R. Billard & J. Marcel Aquaculture of Cyprinids 335 [This] is now the mainstay of seed-fish production for which hatcheries..have been established.

2010 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) B. 365 2893 Aquaculture is a farming activity, and requires inputs such as seed fish, feed and/or fertilizer.

† seed fowl n. Obsolete a seed-eating bird.

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the world > animals > birds > actions or bird defined by > [noun] > that eats specific things

worm-fowlc1381

seed fowlc1500

thistle-eater1562

chipper1668

honeyeater1688

wheat-bird1747

falcon-fisher1759

worm-eater1760

bone-breaker1787

seed eater1820

carrion-bird1839

seed feeder1853

fish-tiger1879

c1500 (c1380) G. Chaucer Parl. Fowls (Selden) (1871) l. 328 Bothe watere foule and sede foule on the grene That so fele were þat wonder was to sene.

a1525 (c1448) R. Holland Bk. Howlat l. 238 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1925) II. 102 All se fowle and seid fowle was nocht for to seike.

seed head n. a flower head in seed; the (mature or dried) flowering part of a plant containing its seeds.

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the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > flower or part containing reproductive organs > inflorescence or collective flower > [noun]

crowna1350

knop1398

tuft?1523

coronet1555

crownet1578

head1597

seed head1597

truss1688

capitulum1704

glome1793

glomerule1793

glomus1832

flower-head1839

inflorescence1851

1597 J. Gerard Herball ii. 487 The flowers are in like sort little and white; the knaps or seede heads are like the former.

1640 J. Parkinson Theatrum Botanicum xiv. xxiv. 1244 Which [head] when it goweth toward ripenesse, becommeth cluster fashion like the seede head of Arum Wake Robin.

1703 Philos. Trans. 1702–03 (Royal Soc.) 23 1359 I plainly saw that all the bristles..were..bearded like the Ear on the Seed head of some Grasses.

1823 Trans. Soc. Arts 41 103 Eight bunches of straw, having the seed-heads on.

1902 C. J. Cornish Naturalist on Thames 91 Goldfinches flying from seed-head to seed-head.

2005 Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minnesota) (Nexis) 15 May f1 The seed heads of prairie smoke waved in the breeze.

seed land n. now historical and rare ground suitable for growing crops; a plot of such ground; in quot. a1634 figurative and attributive.

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the world > food and drink > farming > farm > farmland > land raising crops > [noun]

seed landa1634

sweet-veld1785

cultivation paddock1837

cultivation1899

a1634 G. Chapman Bussy D'Ambois (1641) i. 4 But his unsweating thrift is policie, And learning-hating policie is ignorant To fit his seed-land soyl.

1732 tr. Frederick William I Edict in Polit. State Great Brit. 43 Mar. 284 The Seed shall be picked up as clean as possible, and the light Seed Lands ploughed before Winter.

1834 E. Mackenzie & M. Ross Hist., Topogr., & Descr. View County Palatine of Durham II. 258 Others prepared the seed land in autumn.

1945 Traditio 3 102 The system of Diocletian only fixed categories of seed land, vineyards land, etc. in order to simplify the taxation.

seed lobe n. the cotyledon of an embryo plant (see cotyledon n. 3); cf. seed leaf n. 1.

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the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > seed > [noun] > parts of > cotyledon or seed-leaf

seed leafa1682

seedling leaf1699

ear leaf1718

seed lobe1720

deaf-ear1725

cotyledon1776

1720 P. Blair Bot. Ess. 336 The Fructus Linguiformis..shews the Radicle and two Seed-Lobes very plainly.

1848 C. A. Johns Gardening for Children 147 The seed-lobes..contain enough nourishment to support the young plant until it has formed roots and leaves, and is able to provide for itself.

1974 Guardian 2 Dec. 10/2 A wealth of three-winged seed lobes.

2012 Plant Systematics & Evol. 298 850/1 The seed lobes (cotyledons) in all taxa have a similar structure.

seed metering n. Agriculture the action or process of controlling the number of seeds dispensed by an automatic planting device.

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1938 U.S. Patent 2,141,044 2/1 Any suitable seed metering means may be used.

1955 R. Bainer et al. Princ. Farm Machinery xi. 225 Most seed-metering devices may be classified as: (a) those having cells on a moving member, the cells being sized to accommodate single seeds or groups of a few seeds each, (b) the so-called ‘force-feed’ devices.., (c) stationary-opening units.

2005 Rangeland Ecol. & Managem. 58 199 Tests were also conducted with a seed and fertilizer mixture as another method of improving uniformity of seed metering.

seed money n. U.S. money allocated (originally from public funds) for the initiation of a project, with the aim of stimulating its independent economic expansion.

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1959 Minutes 53rd Meeting Assoc. Res. Libraries 21 June 6 The role of the Office of Scientific Information Service is..to provide seed money for studies and experiments.

1970 Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 10 Jan. 27/1 This has been seed money in the best sense of the term. As President Nixon pointed out to Congress last month, every dollar of Foundation money has stimulated the donation of three dollars from other sources.

2009 Wall St. Jrnl. 18 Nov. a2/4 Among the ideas for unused TARP funds are direct lending to small businesses, and funding of an infrastructure bank that would provide seed money for projects.

† seed nest n. Obsolete an ovary, esp. of a plant.

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the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > flower or part containing reproductive organs > [noun] > parts of > ovary

seed bud1721

ovarium1724

seed nest1727

ovary1731

germ1758

germen1759

ovulary1898

1727 R. Bradley Ten Pract. Disc. Growth Plants v. 90 There will be an Opportunity of the Farina, or Male-Dust, of one Sort, to impregnate the Egg, or Seed-nest, of another.

1912 Amer. Motherhood May 318/1 The mother shall always bear the seed nest, or ovary, and the father the fertilizing power in his body.

1914 L. Burbank et al. Methods & Discov. I. iii. 102 When the seeds within are mature, the outside covering splits and peels away, disclosing a seed nest.

seed oil n. oil obtained from seeds; a particular oil of this kind.

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society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > extracted or refined oil > [noun] > other plant-derived oils

oil de baya1398

oil roseta1400

alkitranc1400

laurinec1400

oil of spicac1400

seed oil1400

rape oil1420

nut-oil?c1425

masticine?1440

oil de rose?1440

oil of myrtine?a1450

gingellya1544

rose oil1552

alchitrean1562

oil of spike1577

oil of ben1594

myrtle oil1601

sesamus1601

sampsuchine1616

oil of walnuts1622

rape1641

oil of rhodium1649

rapeseed oil1652

neroli1676

oil of mace1681

spirit of scurvy-grass1682

beech-oil1716

poppy oil1737

castor oil1746

oil of sassafras1753

orange-peel oil1757

wood-oil1759

bergamot1766

sunflower oil1768

Russia oil1773

oil castor1779

tung-yu1788

poppy-seed oil1799

cocoa butter1801

sassafras oil1801

phulwara1805

oil of wine1807

grass oil1827

oil of marjoram1829

cajuput oil1832

essence of mustarda1834

picamar1835

spurge oil1836

oenanthic ether1837

tea oil1837

capnomor1838

cinnamon-oil1838

oil of mustard1838

orange-flower oil1838

resinein1841

mustard oil1844

myrrhol1845

styrol1845

oenanthol1847

shea butter1847

wintergreen1847

gaultheria oil1848

ginger-grass oil.1849

nutmeg oil1849

pine oil1849

peppermint oil1850

cocoa fat1851

orange oil1853

neem oil1856

poonga oil1857

xanthoxylene1857

crab-oil1858

illupi oil1858

Shanghai oil1861

stand oil1862

mustard-seed oil1863

carap oilc1865

cocum butter or oilc1865

Kurung oil1866

muduga oil1866

pichurim oil1866

serpolet1866

sumbul oil1868

sesame oil1870

niger oil1872

summer yellow1872

olibene1873

patchouli oil1875

pilocarpene1876

styrolene1881

tung oil1881

becuiba tallow1884

soy oil1884

tea-seed oil1884

eucalyptus1885

sage oil1888

hop-oil1889

cotton-seed oil1891

lemon oil1896

palmarosa oil1897

illipe butter1904

hydnocarpus oil1905

tung1911

niger seed oil1917

sun oil1937

vanaspati1949

fennel oil-

1400 in C. Frost Early Hist. Hull (1827) App. 5 (MED) Pro cc bowstaves, ij bar. sedeoyle.

1694 J. Washington Abridgment Statutes King William & Queen Mary 21 For every Tun of Hemp-Seed, or other Seed-Oyl imported within that time, 8 l. and so proportionably for greater or lesser quantities.

1727 S. Forster Digest Laws relating Customs iv. 286 Hemp-Seed Oil, Rape and other Seed Oil by the said Impost, was to pay Eight Pounds the Ton for Oil made from Whales.

1822 European Mag. & London Rev. Jan. 92/2 The prices and demand for Whale Oil has improved.—Seed Oils are also higher.

1881 Harper's Mag. Oct. 726/2 There are now fifty-nine seed-oil mills in the South.

1954 E. W. Eckey Veg. Fats & Oils xiv. 445 Another weed of the western states whose seed oil has been examined is white top.

2015 Science 30 Jan. 517/3 Many fatty acids derived from seed oils have a linear tail containing a central double bond.

seed orchard n. an orchard cultivated for the production of seed.

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the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > cultivation of fruit > [noun] > orchard or fruit garden > type of

apple-garth1268

oliveyarda1382

olivetc1384

apple orchard?c1400

nut garden1535

oil-garden1535

olive garden1577

lemon-orchard1611

meloniere1658

orange grove1688

melonry1717

nutterya1729

peachery1789

lemon-grove1830

nut grove1840

prune orchard1847

lemon-garden1864

seed orchard1903

1903 Ann. Rep. Wisconsin State Hort. Soc. 33 101 We want to grow our seed especially from one tree and one variety and keep providing a seed orchard to get our stock from.

1979 Beautiful Brit. Columbia Fall 40 Others are from seed orchards maintained by the province and the forest companies.

2013 Isle of Man Today (Nexis) 13 Apr. A seed orchard of native oaks grown from local acorns was established near to Kerrowkneale.

seed ore n. U.S. (now historical and rare) iron ore occurring in the form of grains and small lumps.

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the world > the earth > minerals > ore > [noun] > pulverulent or granular

seed ore1795

tierras1874

1795 City Gaz. & Daily Advertiser (Charleston, S. Carolina) 19 May The ore consists of large rocks above the surface, the depth not yet known; in cavities between the rocks lie an oker and seed ore.

1883 Jrnl. U.S. Assoc. Charcoal Iron Workers 4 314 The ‘loam ore’ could be shoveled, but the pick was necessary to remove the ‘seed ore’.

1910 W. S. Bayley Iron Mines & Mining New Jersey ii. 30 The three kinds of ore are generally found in each hole; the loam ore nearest the surface, the seed ore under this, and the massive ore at the bottom.

2013 A. K. Knowles Mastering Iron i. 40 The metallic precipitate from iron-rich groundwater formed consolidated lumps called seed ore.

seed oyster n. a juvenile oyster, or a mature one ready to spawn, esp. as used to stock a commercial bed.

ΘΚΠ

spat1667

spats1667

seed1722

seed oyster1839

1839 Analyt. Index Rep. Commissioners Munic. Corporations 203 (table) in Parl. Papers (H.C. 402) XVIII. 203 Purchase of seed oysters and attendant expenses.

1885 Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 109/2 Under proper restriction..mature oysters, and seed oysters as well, may be taken from any region.

1915 Jrnl. Educ. 7 Jan. 17/2 At the spawning time she is known as a seed oyster, and she is raised from her bed and carried away to populate other beds, either new ones or those that have been depopulated.

2012 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 4 Dec. a22/2 Her team has already covered the bottom with two million seed clams, 500,000 seed oysters and 150,000 adult clams.

† seed-pair n. Obsolete rare a pair, male and female, regarded as primogenitors.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > biology > biological processes > genetic activity > heredity or hereditary descent > [noun] > ancestor > pair of

seed-pair1605

1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. i. ii. 71 Noah..sau'd a seed-pay'r of all liuing things.

seed pan n. a shallow pan, traditionally of red earthenware, used for raising plants from seed.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > gardening > equipment and buildings > [noun] > seed-pot or -pan

seed pot1727

seed pan1731

seed box1754

sprouter1915

peat pot1948

Jiffy pot1957

1731 P. Miller Gardeners Dict. I. at Tulipa There should be provided a Parcel of shallow Seed-Pans or Boxes.

1882 Garden 7 Jan. 10/3 When sufficiently large the plants should be pricked into seed-pans.

2000 Times 6 May (Weekend Suppl.) 10/1 He makes serviceable and well-proportioned plant pots ranging from seed pans, orchid planters and Victorian favourites such as ‘Long Toms’ to hanging containers and three-legged Chinese cachepots.

seed parent n. (in plant breeding) a plant which is fertilized artificially by pollen from another plant; cf. pollen parent n. at pollen n. Compounds 2.

ΚΠ

1848 Florist 1 56 Select those [plants] you intend to save the seed from..; and as the flowers unfold, impregnate them with the pollen of another variety, distinct, and remarkable for brilliancy of colour, purity of marking, or some other desirable property which the seed-parent does not possess.

1954 Illustr. London News 29 May 910/1 There were three selected seed parents, potted up and grown in my cold greenhouse.

2013 R. C. Clarke & M. D. Merlin Cannabis x. 295/1 The genes controlling for a selected trait must be present in two separate individuals—one male or pollen parent and one female or seed parent.

seed-plant n. (a) a seedling; a plant grown from a seed; (b) a plant grown for its seed or for propagation; (c) [after German Samenpflanze (1873 in the passage translated in quot. 1875)] a seed-bearing (as opposed to spore-bearing) plant; = spermatophyte n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > by age or cycles > [noun] > young or immature plant(s) > seedling or sporeling

nurse-plant1601

seedling1608

seed-plant1653

germinant1886

sporeling1910

the world > plants > wild and cultivated plants > [noun] > cultivated or planted > grown for its foliage or seed

small seed1793

foliage plant1862

seed-plant1878

1653 R. Austen Treat. Fruit-trees 45 Be sure to transplant all young seed-Plants, for by that meanes they get good Roots.

1735 B. Martin Philos. Gram. iv. iv. 247 When the Seed is sown, the Parts of the Seed Plant, now in Embryo, begin to vegetate, unfold, dilate, and at last burst the Matrix-Seed.

1753 Country Gentleman's Compan. II. 145 Pull up your Seed-Plants, when the Seed is full grown and coloured in the Husks, and let them stand in the Green-House till the Pods are dry.

1875 A. W. Bennett & W. T. T. Dyer tr. J. von Sachs Text-bk. Bot. ii. 338 A transition to Phanerogams,—from Spore-plants to Seed-plants [Ger. Samenpflanzen].

1878 J. Inglis Sport & Work xvi. 187 The planters advance about four rupees a beegah to the ryot, who cuts his seed-plant, and brings it into the factory threshing ground.

1929 O. Olson Cigar-tobacco Production Pennsylvania (U.S. Dept. Agric. Farmers' Bull. No. 1580) 18 Growers are paying more and more attention to systematic selection of seed plants, based on uniformity of type, resistance to disease, and other desirable features.

1976 Financial Times 28 Jan. 2/7 A splendid seed plant which will actually flower this autumn if you sow the seed in a box in mid-February and keep it in a warm room.

2009 J. Silvertown Orchard Invisible ii. 11 The earliest seed plants found in the fossil record appeared in the Devonian period about 360 million years ago.

seed-pod n. a structure containing the seeds of a flowering plant; the pericarp.

ΚΠ

1640 J. Parkinson Theatrum Botanicum 1613 The seed pod, and seed of Ginger.

1718 R. Bradley Gentleman & Gardeners Kal. 35 Pulling up the whole Plants, and setting them upright in a Green-house till the Seed-Pods are dry.

1825 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Agric. ii. iv. ii. 398 A machine for reaping the heads or seed-pods of clover.

1961 R. S. Lemmon & C. J. Johnson Wildflowers N. Amer. iii. 133 The..seed pods are yellow at first, changing to brown at maturity.

2010 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 6 Apr. a23/2 Male trees and shrubs..produce no seeds or seed-pods.

seed pot n. a pot in which a plant is raised from seed.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > gardening > equipment and buildings > [noun] > seed-pot or -pan

seed pot1727

seed pan1731

seed box1754

sprouter1915

peat pot1948

Jiffy pot1957

1727 B. Langley New Princ. Gardening v. ii. 169 When your young Nursery, has lived two Years in the Seed-Pots, they must be transplanted into larger Pots singly.

1830 J. Baxter Libr. Agric. & Hort. Knowl. 347 Turn the young plants carefully out of the seed-pot, breaking the fibres as little as possible.

1993 Ottawa Citizen (Nexis) 27 Mar. i. 2 With a small stick or wooden label, gently ease a clump of seedlings from the seed pot.

† seed seam n. Obsolete a seed furrow (cf. seam n.¹ 4e).

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > sowing > [noun] > seed-furrow or drill

seed furrow?1530

rigol1599

rilling1610

cornhole1655

rill1658

drill1727

seed seam1775

seam1799

1775 W. Marshall Minutes Agric. 4 Dec. (1778) sig. U2 The third [plit],—nine or ten inches, hiding the mane of the second, and forming a seed-seam between the crests of the second and third.

1779 W. Marshall Exper. & Observ. conc. Agric. & Weather 94 I will endeavour to bury the Surface for Pease; leaving the Seed-Seams as open and deep as possible.

1868 Jrnl. Agric. 3rd Ser. 4 361 The land is then ploughed and the wheat sown either with a drill or on a seed seam formed by using the land presser.

seedsnipe n. any of the superficially grouse-like wading birds of the South American genera Attagis and Thinocorus (family Thinocoridae), which feed on leaves and buds and have a snipe-like pattern of flight; also with distinguishing word.Anatomically these birds show some similarities to songbirds and game birds.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > birds > order Charadriiformes > [noun] > member of (miscellaneous)

painted snipe1811

pressiroster1842

seedsnipe1889

crab plover1893

1889 P. L. Sclater & W. H. Hudson Argentine Ornithol. II. 176 Thinocoridæ, or Seed-snipes.

1957 Ecol. Monogr. 27 209/2 The sudden whir of a flock of seed snipe taking wing causes vicuñas to raise their heads.

2004 Daily Post (Liverpool) (Nexis) 1 May 22 We came across a species we had really wanted, Grey-breasted seedsnipe, a cross between a wader and a gamebird.

seed spark n. literary the first spark that ignites a fire (in quots. figurative).

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > burning > a fire > [noun] > germ of a fire

seed spark1611

1611 J. Speed Hist. Great Brit. ix. ix. 535/1 These were..the seede-sparks of those factious fires which afterward brake forth.

1858 E. H. Sears Athanasia xviii. 158 The seed-spark of our resurrection-body will not appear till Gabriel blows after it with his trumpet and kindles it up somewhere.

2006 L. Kushner Kabbalah vii. 160 A seed spark that is not yet light and a womb containing only the possibility of the world yet to come.

seed station n. a laboratory or other place where seeds are analysed and tested for quality, esp. before being treated and distributed for planting.

ΚΠ

1880 19th Ann Rep. State Board Agric. Michigan 51 Reports of seed stations abound in startling frauds perpetrated on those who buy.

1945 Times 1 Mar. 2/5 Seed stations had distributed better qualities of grain.

2004 New Phytologist 163 596/1 Norway spruce..seeds from the Norwegian Seed Station..were washed in sterile water and germinated on filter paper.

seed stitch n. (a) Knitting = moss stitch n. at moss n.¹ Compounds 2a; (b) Needlework = seeding n. 3.

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > sewn or ornamented textile fabric > [noun] > embroidery or ornamental sewing > stitch > other

chain-stitch1598

French knot1623

picot1623

petty-point1632

tent-stitch1639

brede-stitch1640

herringbone stitch1659

satin stitch1664

feather-stitch1835

Gobelin stitch1838

crowfoot1839

seedingc1840

German stitch1842

petit point1842

long stitch1849

looped stitch1851

hem-stitch1853

loop-stitch1853

faggot stitch1854

spider-wheel1868

dot stitch1869

picot stitch1869

slip-stitch1872

coral-stitch1873

stem stitch1873

rope stitch1875

Vienna cross stitch1876

witch stitch1876

pin stitch1878

seed stitch1879

cushion-stitch1880

Japanese stitch1880

darning-stitch1881

Kensington stitch1881

knot-stitch1881

bullion knot1882

cable pattern1882

Italian stitch1882

lattice-stitch1882

queen stitch1882

rice stitch1882

shadow-stitch1882

ship-ladder1882

spider-stitch1882

stem1882

Vandyke stitch1882

warp-stitch1882

wheel-stitch1882

basket-stitch1883

outline stitch1885

pointing1888

bullion stitchc1890

cable-stitchc1890

oriental stitchc1890

Turkish stitchc1890

Romanian stitch1894

shell-stitch1895

saddle stitch1899

magic stitch1900

plumage-stitch1900

saddle stitching1902

German knot stitch1903

trellis1912

padding stitch1913

straight stitch1918

Hungarian stitch1921

trellis stitch1921

lazy daisy1923

diamond stitchc1926

darning1930

faggot filling stitch1934

fly stitch1934

magic chain stitch1934

glove stitch1964

pad stitch1964

1879 J. P. Smith Kiss, & be Friends xxi. 213 She produced her last pattern-book..to show the seed-stitch to her inquiring friend.

1934 M. Thomas Dict. Embroidery Stitches 182 Tiny stitches taken at all angles and in any direction but of more or less even length produce a surprisingly effective filling, as the diagram of Seed Stitch shows.

1976 Woman's Day (N.Y.) Nov. 132/1 Stunning knitted vest... The back is lattice and seed stitch.

2006 M. Webb Embroidery Stitches iii. 140/1 Seed stitch is a filling stitch used on plain- and even-weave fabrics.

seed stock n. (a) a stock (stock n.¹ 4) used in grafting that is grown from seed (obsolete rare); (b) a supply or store of seeds, plants, animals, etc., which are used for propagation, breeding, or the production of seed.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > gardening > management of plants > propagation of plants > [noun] > grafting > place where graft inserted

clefta1398

stockc1400

grafting1601

seed stock1702

crown graft1706

graft1802

root graft1824

saddle graft1830

rind-graft1907

1702 T. Tryon Way to get Wealth 71 In August take the Advantage of the beginning to Bud Orange Trees, but let the Seed Stock you Inoculate, be between 3 and 4 years Growth.

1817 Repertory of Arts 2nd Ser. 26 109 The principal cause of the curl in the potatoe, is the over-ripening of the seed-stock for the supply of the ensuing year.

1854 Pennsylvania Farm Jrnl. Sept. 284/2 The levying of a suitable tax on all male stock that are kept to breed from, would be the means of removing our scrubby animals, and bringing in their places, good seed stock of superior breeds.

1878 Trans. Minnesota Hort. Soc. 65 The roots of all biennials that are planted for seed crop are called seed stock.

1948 G. D. H. Bell Cultivated Plants Farm xviii. 191 The combined exertions of individuals, research institutes, seeds houses and other bodies concerned with the standard of seed stocks distributed to the farmer, are all directed to the principal objective of improving the efficiency of crop husbandry.

1993 Ont. Beef Farmer Sept. 18/2 (advt.) Rugged Cattle for the Real World since 1952. Seedstock Raised Under Natural Conditions.

2013 Atlantic Dec. 87/2 She got to work on creating a ‘seed stock’ of modified viruses that could be used to produce hundreds of millions of vaccine doses.

seed thought n. fruitful or suggestive thought, likely to give rise to other thoughts; an instance of this.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of ideation > idea, notion, or concept > [noun] > fundamental

mother-idea1821

idée mère1841

mother-thought1861

seed thought1863

1863 Notes & Queries 3rd Ser. 3 379 Aird's volume is full as a pomegranate of seed-thought.

1895 Educ. Rev. Sept. 107 Hegel..coming early to an appreciation of the seed-thought of Plato.

2010 Deming Headlight (New Mexico) (Nexis) 23 Apr. When we plant positive seed thoughts and nurture them with patience, faith, and love, great things can be produced.

seed tick n. any of various ticks of the family Ixodidae, esp. a larva, nymph, or young adult.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Arachnida > [noun] > order Acari or family Acaridae > member of (tick) > family Ixodidae > member of

seed tick1705

wood-tick1819

ixodid1952

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Arachnida > [noun] > order Acari or family Acaridae > member of (tick) > family Ixodidae > member of genus Ixodes > young of

seed tick1705

1705 R. Beverley Hist. Virginia iv. xix. 66 Seed-Ticks, and Red-Worms are small Insects, that annoy People by Day, as Musketaes, and Chinches do by Night.

1893 E. Custer Tenting on Plains 88 Two pests of that region, the seed-tick and the chigger.

1949 J. R. Mohler Tick Fever U.S. Dept. Agric. Farmers' Bull. No. 1625 13 When this disease is observed in northern animals, the young seed ticks may be so small and so low in number as to be passed readily.

2013 Hoosier Times (Bloomington, Indiana) 17 Nov. (Herald-Times ed.) f1/2 Most entomologists agree that what is called the turkey mite or turkey chigger is a ‘seed tick’.

seed treatment n. the action or process of treating seed prior to planting (e.g. by the application of heat, a pesticide, etc.) in order to protect it from pests or disease; a treatment of this type; a pesticide, etc., applied to seed, a seed dressing.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > sowing > [noun] > treatment of seed

emulsion1657

seed treatment1890

pregermination1942

biofortification1999

the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > sowing > [noun] > treatment of seed > seed-dressing

hexachlorbenzene1885

seed treatment1890

1890 2nd Ann. Rep. Exper. Station Kansas State Agric. Coll. 1889 239 Soaking in brine is undoubtedly the oldest seed treatment against smut.

1959 A. Beaumont Dis. Farm Crops iii. 42 Covered smut is very much less common than it used to be before seed treatment was widely carried out.

1993 C. A. Meisner et al. in D. A. Saunders & G. P. Hettel Wheat in Heat-stressed Environments 364/2 All seed treatments contain a reddish blue dye that signals to all that the seed has been treated.

2013 Guardian 29 May 10/1 The insecticide fipronil poses a high acute risk to honeybees when used as a seed treatment for maize.

† seed trough n. Anatomy Obsolete rare (probably) the vas deferens (spermatic duct).

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > the body > secretory organs > ducts > [noun] > seminal or spermatic ducts

seed bringer1545

vas deferens1578

seed trough1615

seed vein1615

spermatic1690

seminal1733

rete testis1777

rete1849

parepididymis1881

spermaduct1891

1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια 207 Moreouer in copulation or coition they draw them back, that the seed trough becomming shorter, the seed may more easily and readily be supplyed.

† seed vein n. Obsolete rare the testicular or ovarian vein, supposed to transport seed (sense 3) to the testicle or ovary; cf. seed bringer n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > the body > secretory organs > ducts > [noun] > seminal or spermatic ducts

seed bringer1545

vas deferens1578

seed trough1615

seed vein1615

spermatic1690

seminal1733

rete testis1777

rete1849

parepididymis1881

spermaduct1891

1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια iv. ii. 201 If it should haue risen from the same place in the hollow veine where the right seede-veine arose, it must necessarily haue gone ouer the great arterie.

1671 J. Sharp Midwives Bk. i. xiv. 55 If you blow up the Seed Vein with a hollow pipe or quill, you shall see all the Vessels of the womb to swell at the same time.

seed vessel n. (a) a structure containing the seeds of a flowering plant; the pericarp; (also figurative); †(b) a seminal vesicle; (also) any of various ducts or tubes which (supposedly) transport sperm or seed (sense 3) (obsolete).

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > seed > seed-vessel or pericarp > [noun]

knop1398

seed vessel1562

pouch1577

bottle1609

uterus1682

pericarpium1691

vessel1691

pericarp1759

crust1776

1562 W. Turner 2nd Pt. Herball f. 77 The sede vessell is lyke fenegreke.

1566 T. Blundeville Order curing Horses Dis. cii. f. 74 in Fower Offices Horsemanshippe Gonorrhea..may come some tyme through abundaunce and rancknesse of seede, & sometyme by the weaknesse of the stones, and seede vessels not able to retayne the seede.

1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια iv. ii. 200 (heading) Of the preparing spermaticke or seede vessels.

1664 J. Beale Let. 21 Jan. in R. Boyle Corr. (2001) II. 249 Wormes beget unknowne maladyes..breeding in all parts of the body. In the wombe, & seede vessell.

1668 Bp. J. Wilkins Ess. Real Char. ii. iv. §5. 96 Herbs considered according to their Seed-vessel.

1725 Let. 9 Jan. in Suppl. to Onania (?1725) 120 By too much using of Coition, especially last Summer,..he has exhausted too much of his Spirits, Seed Vessels, and natural Heat.

1789 W. Meyrick New Family Herbal 35 Bear-berry..Seed-vessel: a round, smooth berry, which is of a glossy red colour when ripe.

1852 J. L. Curtis Manhood (ed. 67) 22 The seed vessels in the Testis, when unravelled, measure about 40 feet in length.

1869 J. Martineau Ess. Philos. & Theol. 2nd Ser. 22 The code is the seed-vessel of all the virtues.

1983 Financial Times 23 Apr. 18/4 The tiny seed vessel explodes and the seeds are thrown far and wide.

2002 Oecologia 133 511/2 The mobile larva may also feed on the seed vessels of Stachys, Aquilegia, Geranium and Erodium species.

† seed water n. Obsolete a decoction of coriander and caraway seeds mixed with sack and sugar.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > drink > decoction > [noun] > of herbs, seeds, or bark

sorrela1400

cinnamon-water1589

borage-water1620

sage drink1747

sage juice1747

seed water1747

mauby1790

sabzi1804

gentian1840

Angostura1856

gentian bitter1864

sage gargle189.

hop bitters1894

rooibos1911

1747 H. Glasse Art of Cookery x. 120 Seed Water. Take a Spoonful of Coriander-Seed, half a Spoonful of Caraway-Seed bruised, and boiled in a Pint of Water, then strain it, and bruise it up with the Yolk of an Egg, and so mix it with Sack and double refined Sugar, according to your Palate.

seed weed n. a weed which propagates itself by seed, as distinguished from one that spreads by means of roots. Cf. root weed n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > valued plants and weeds > [noun] > weed > according to type of propagation

root weed1683

seed weed1762

1762 A. Dickson Treat. Agric. ii. xiii. 243 When the design of ploughing is to..destroy seed-weeds [etc.].

1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 415 Where seed-weeds are to be eradicated, the surface should constantly be..made as fine and smooth as the nature of the land will admit.

1935 Meldinger Fra Norges Landbrukshøgskole 15 131 These 3 species constituted 74 % of all the seed-weeds.

2015 S. Leslie Horse-powered Farming 21st Cent. iv. 136/1 Stubble plowing is..done to plow under the grown ‘seed’ weeds and crop regrowth.

seed year n. (a) the first year of growth of a plant from a seed (now rare); (b) a year of growth in which a particular plant or crop produces a (plentiful) crop of seeds.

ΚΠ

1721 R. Bradley Gen. Treat. Husbandry & Gardening II. 71 If a Plant in the Seed Year weigh'd two Ounces, the same plant if it is in Health this second Year, will weight about a Dram more than four Ounces.

1735 P. Collinson Let. 16 Aug. in W. Darlington Memorials J. Bartram & H. Marshall (1849) 70 I hope this will prove a good seed year, that thee may be able to send a cargo which will produce some money here.

1844 W. Shaw & C. W. Johnson tr. A. D. Thaër Princ. Agric. II. 523 According to the early time of the sowing,..we may obtain two, three, or even four plentiful green-crops from it, even in the seed-year itself.

1889 W. Schlich Man. Forestry I. ii. ii. 173 The quantity of seed is governed by two things:—(1.) The average yield of each seed-year; and (2.) The frequency of seed-years.

1907 Nature 4 Apr. 546/1 The observed correlations between the crop and the weather of the seed year as well as that of the harvest year.

1960 Times 10 Dec. 7/7 Not every year is a good seed year; some species produce seed in bulk only at intervals.

2005 O. Heikkinen in M. Seppälä Physical Geogr. Fennoscandia (2008) ix. 195/2 Regeneration of the forest is slow and unsure owing to the rarity of seed years.

Derivatives

seed-like adj.

ΚΠ

a1617 P. Baynes Comm. First & Second Chapters Colossians (1634) 286 His rising..had in it a seed-like vertue to worke the resurrection of us all.

1798 W. Marshall Rural Econ. Southern Counties I. 16 Its contexture uniform,..thickly interspersed, with minute seedlike granules, of a black or dark color.

1887 W. Phillips Man. Brit. Discomycetes 110 A number of small, hard, seed-like bodies.

1989 Times 22 July 13 The perfectly preserved fossil of a seed-like structure from the South of France will set researchers thinking about the origins of seeds.

2001 G. C. McGavin Essent. Entomol. 130 Stick insect eggs look very seed-like.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2018; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

seedv.

Brit.

/siːd/, U.S.

/sid/

Forms: Old English sedia (Northumbrian), Old English sædian, Middle English cede, Middle English–1500s sede, Middle English–1500s seede, Middle English– seed.

Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: seed n.

Etymology: < seed n. Compare sow v.¹Compare Old Frisian sēdia (West Frisian siedzje).

1. intransitive. To sow seeds in or upon the ground; to sow land with seed.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > sowing > sow [verb (intransitive)] > sow seed

seedOE

OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Matt. xiii. 3 Exiit qui seminat seminare : geeade seðe sawes sede uel gesawe uel sedege.

tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) i. l. 263 (MED) Yf thee nede In londis salt that treen or graynys growe, Thou must anoon on heruest plaunte or seede [L. est..conserenda].

1848 Sheboygan (Wisconsin Territory) Mercury 4 Mar. He..hauls off the corn, harrows, then plows, then seeds, then harrows again three times.

1912 Evening Gaz. (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) 12 Oct. 6/4 (advt.) The Denning Motor Farm Machine plows, seeds, harrows, pulls the mower, binder, manure spreader or loaded wagon.

1979 Verbatim Summer 8/1 In South Australia a farmer seeds,..and in Queensland he plants.

2014 A. B. Arnold Fueling Gilded Age ii. 25 For another man to then work in the room of a miner who was sick or on strike..was like a landlord dispossessing a sharecropper after he's plowed and seeded, watered and hoed.

a. To sow (land) with seed.

(a) transitive. Without complementary prepositional phrase, or with with indicating the plant.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > sowing > sow seed [verb (transitive)] > sow land

sowc825

seedlOE

seed1834

lOE Laws: Rectitudines (Corpus Cambr.) x. 450 Folgere gebyreð, þæt he.. ii æceras geearnige, oðerne gesawene & oðerne unsawene; sædige sylf ðæne.

1425 Indenture of Agreem. in Paston Lett. & Papers (2005) III. 3 Þe seid William Joye..shal..ocupie, eryn, telyn, sedyn, sowen and harwyn in seisonable tyme al þe arable londes of þe seid William Paston in Paston and Edyngthorp.

tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) vi. l. 71 (MED) The spaces that in heruest sowe or sede Me wol, may best ha now their pastynynge.

a1500 Walter of Henley's Husbandry (Sloane) (1890) 48 (MED) It shall be more advayle for you to seede your londes withe seed þat growe on oþere mennes londis þen withe seede þat growe on your owne londes.

1598 R. Dallington View of Fraunce sig. N 4^v He giues them also Wheat to seed their land.

1610 W. Folkingham Feudigraphia i. x. 32 They will Marle, Till, and Seede it for halfe the increase.

1610 J. Guillim Display of Heraldrie iv. vi. 202 This is an Instrument of Husbandrie, ordained for the breaking of Clods, after the Husbandman hath plowed and seeded his land.

1707 tr. P. Le Lorrain de Vallemont Curiosities in Husbandry & Gardening 120 A third part less than usual will sufficiently seed the Ground.

1778 A. Wight Present State Husbandry in Scotl. II. 16 The outfields were cropped four years with oats, after teathing with cattle and sheep, or watering; then rested six years, without being seeded with grass-seeds.

1798 W. Marshall Rural Econ. Southern Counties I. iii. xxiv. 162 It may be needless to re-suggest, that, in seeding a sainfoin soil, it is evidently right to add a portion of clover seed.

1814 Apostate ii. iv, in New Brit. Theatre III. 320 You taught us arts—divided us in bands, These for the chace, and those to seed the soil.

1895 Outing 27 254/1 The field was plowed, seeded and rolled.

1909 Westm. Gaz. 27 Oct. 7/3 The old lady..recently harvested a crop of wheat from a small plot which she seeded herself.

1986 R. Frame Long Weekend (1988) 146 A deep, expansive hole in the ground, already seeded with the first quick-growing grasses.

2016 Dayton (Ohio) Daily News (Nexis) 16 Jan. d1 People who waited until later in the fall to seed lawns with turf type tall fescues may notice some damage.

(b) transitive. With to indicating the plant.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > sowing > sow seed [verb (transitive)] > sow land

sowc825

seedlOE

seed1834

1834 Maine Farmer 19 Sept. 282/3 I paced off what I supposed to be about one acre of land that had been mowed two years, which had been seeded to herdsgrass and clover.

1866 Rural Amer. (Utica, N.Y.) 15 Dec. 373/2 It frequently happens that in seeding land to timothy and clover, both prove a partial failure the first year and yield but a scanty crop of hay the second year.

1908 Standard 29 Apr. 2/5 Reliable authorities place the area to be seeded to wheat in Western Canada this year at six million acres.

1928 Garden & Home Builder Aug. 544/3 I seeded the lawn to an expensive grass mixture known as Herbae Mira, called the ‘boss of all bluegrasses’.

2015 Yorks. Post (Nexis) 26 Sept. I have arranged for the field to be rotovated, ploughed, levelled and seeded to grass.

b. transitive. figurative and in extended use. To provide with the germ or latent beginning of some future growth or development.In quot. a1400: to stock with inhabitants.

ΚΠ

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Gött.) 1626 Here bigines at noe þe lede þe toþer world for to sede.

1647 C. Harvey Schola Cordis Epigr. xxviii Manure the ground [of my heart], then come Thyself and seed it, And let Thy servants water it and weed it.

a1670 J. Hacket Scrinia Reserata (1693) ii. 6 And the Keeper understood that no Peace was to be had from an Adversary seeded with such Qualities.

1768 J. Brown Sacred Tropol. ii. vii. 176 Amid tares of wicked men and vile corruptions, how, seeded with the good word of God, watered with his blood and Spirit, and warmed with his redeeming love, they [sc. saints] gradually grow up.

1898 Westm. Gaz. 12 Jan. 10/2 We know that a cow suffering from tuberculosis may yield milk seeded with the germs of consumption.

a1942 J. Murray Poems (1947) iii. 71 The round face of the day is seeded with infinities.

1970 Sci. Amer. Dec. 15/3 Oysters are particularly appropriate for marine farming because their spawn can be collected and used for ‘seeding’ new areas of cultivation.

2014 R. L. Daft & D. Marcic Building Managem. Skills iii. 131/2 The basic idea of targeted self-talk is to seed your mind with a self-instruction for a desired behavior.

c. transitive. Biology. To inoculate (a culture vessel, medium for growth, etc.) with cells or organisms from a culture which is to be propagated.

ΚΠ

1877 Chem. News 14 Dec. 263/2 Two of the bottles were seeded with about 1 grm. of surface-soil.

1917 Jrnl. Hygiene 16 100 When a suitable nutrient medium is seeded with bacteria, there is usually a period during which the bacteria grow at a slower rate.

1953 R. W. Fairbrother Text-bk. Bacteriol. (ed. 7) iv. 41 The instruments commonly used to inoculate or seed a medium are the platinum loop and needle.

1978 Nature 23 Mar. 372/2 Eight-compartment chamber slides..that had been seeded three days earlier with 15,000 cells in each compartment.

2015 New Scientist 6 June 8/4 The flesh of the organ is recellularised by seeding the scaffold with the relevant cells from the recipient.

a. intransitive. Of a plant: to produce or disperse seed; to run to seed. Hence also: to reproduce by means of seed; to germinate and grow from a seed.

ΘΚΠ

the world > existence and causation > creation > productiveness > be productive [verb (intransitive)]

yield1297

fruit1377

seeda1398

germ1483

buddle1581

fructuate1663

seminate1676

teem1746

spend1854

to lift well1959

the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > seed > plant having seed > be a seed-bearing plant [verb (intransitive)] > produce or form seeds

kern1297

seeda1398

kernel1483

corn1632

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xvii. viii. 908 Þe tree þerof seediþ [L. semen reddit] in clustris cleuynge togideres.

c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) i. l. 639 (MED) Cornys gynne in þe felde to sede.

?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. xii^v Drake is like vnto rye tyl it begyn to sede.

1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry i. f. 22 The weedes..plucked vp by the rootes before they haue seeded, wyll neuer spring agayne.

1617 W. Lawson Countrie Housewifes Garden viii. 14 in New Orchard & Garden (1618) Hollyhocke riseth high, seedeth and dyeth.

1693 T. Robinson in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 17 826 The Arachydna's, and some other Legumes, which flower above, but seed under ground.

1716 H. Stevenson Young Gard'ner's Director 110 They all die after they have seeded.

1765 Museum Rusticum 4 187 If they are suffered to seed, they will soon stock the land.

1824 W. Wheeler Let. 25 July (1952) 285 Out of the top of this pole comes the blossoms that lasts a considerable time, it then seeds and dies.

1880 C. R. Markham Peruvian Bark 345 The tea plants are now three or four feet high, and seeding freely.

1928 R. S. Troup Silvicultural Syst. iv. 46 The pine seeds as a rule annually.

1989 M. Dibdin Ratking vii. 143 Plants had already seeded in crevices around the foundations.

2010 Townsville (Austral.) Bull. (Nexis) 18 Feb. 19 It [sc. the dove orchid] has acclimatised very well into our northern tropical region and..flowers and seeds many times a year.

b. intransitive. figurative and in figurative context. To spread or propagate, as from the dispersal of seed. Now rare.

ΚΠ

a1450 (c1375) G. Chaucer Anelida & Arcite (Tanner 346) (1878) l. 306 Youre chere floureth but hit will not sede.

c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) l. 3725 (MED) Ȝoure saule sa full of sapient sedis & floures..Þat all þe present is apert.

1554 J. Proctor tr. St. Vincent of Lérins Waie Home to Christ sig. L.v Whatsoeuer therfore the auncient fathers, y^e faith full laborours in thys Agricolation & husbandrie of Christ hys churche, haue sowed and planted, mete it is..that the same doe styll floure, and sede, and atteyne to perfect ripenes.

1600 J. Bodenham Bel-vedére 227 First doe we bud, then blow; next seed, last fall.

1829 R. Southey Ireland ix, in Sir Thomas More (1829) I. 299 Labours of love remain;... To weed out noxious customs rooted deep In a rank soil, and long left seeding there.

1983 A. Mason Illusionist iv. 128 The communities were spreading, seeding into regions beyond the mountains and the eastern desert, along the coasts of the Great Sea.

c. intransitive. To develop or grow into some final form or state.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > emotion > suffering > displeasure > be or become displeased [verb (intransitive)] > become unpleasant

seed1671

1671 R. Head & F. Kirkman Eng. Rogue IV. xv. 246 Pity did at last turn into affection; this Love soon seeded into Matrimony.

1898 B. Gregory Side Lights 205 The egotism..had not seeded into the fanatical distension of your genuine demagogue.

1909 Sat. Rev. 17 Apr. 487/1 In Persia it [sc. Parliamentary government] soon blossomed out into civil war, and now is seeding into anarchy.

1984 R. E. Duncan Ground Work 131 Out of me, the very last of me, Til I am rid of every rind and seed Into that sweetness, That final giving over.

†4.

a. intransitive. To beget a child, procreate. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

society > inhabiting and dwelling > furnishing with inhabitants > [verb (transitive)]

set971

publish?a1400

inhabitc1400

seedc1400

man?a1425

peoplea1475

peoplish1530

repletec1540

empeople1582

popule1588

world1589

appopulate1625

populate1885

the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > multiply or reproduce [verb (intransitive)] > beget

genderc1384

seedc1400

c1400 (?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 137) (1873) C. xi. l. 251 And god sente to seth..for no kyne catel ne no kyne byheste Suffren hus seed seeden with caymes seed hus broþer.

b. intransitive. To be born of. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > life > source or principle of life > birth > be born [verb (intransitive)]

arisec950

to come forthOE

to come into (also to) the worldOE

riseOE

breedc1200

kenec1275

birtha1325

to wax forth1362

deliver?c1450

kindlec1450

seed?a1475

issuec1515

arrive1615

born1698

to see the light1752

?a1475 Ludus Coventriae (1922) 365 (MED) The voys of my moder me nyhith fulny; I am dyssend on to here of whom I dede sede.

a. transitive. To sow or plant (a kind of seed) in the ground. In quot. ?1440: to plant (chestnuts).†Formerly also with cognate object, in to seed seed [originally (in quot. 1560) after Hebrew zāraʿ zeraʿ to sow seed] : to sow or scatter seed (obsolete).

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > sowing > sow seed [verb (transitive)]

sowc1000

besowc1175

inseminate1623

to put in1657

sprain1744

shed1770

to get in1771

seminate1796

broadcast1807

seed1814

tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) xii. l. 284 (MED) Theryn do thy chastyns forto growe; A foote depe the crafte is hem to seede.

1560 Bible (Geneva) Gen. i. 12 The budde of the herbe, that sedeth sede according to his kinde.

1614 W. Raleigh Hist. World i. i. i. §7. 11 The Earth..brought forth the budde of the hearbe that seedeth seede.

1784 J. Cullum Hist. & Antiq. Hawsted in Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica No. 23. 218 About the same time, turneps also, that capital addition to modern husbandry, were first sown here, as a crop, by the same person that seeded clover.

1814 J. Taylor Arator (ed. 2) 154 When the wheat was seeded on high and narrow ridges.

1851 C. Cist Sketches & Statistics Cincinnati xv. 317 The cotton crop is seeded in the spring.

1894 Times 14 Aug. 15/2 In the course of another week or two, English farmers..will be seeding ‘trifolium’ upon the wheat stubble.

1923 Burlington (Iowa) Gaz. 27 Apr. Some spring wheat was seeded while oats seeding was virtually completed in the southern part of the state.

1987 Stock & Land (Melbourne) 18 June 13 Utilising an air seeder on a row crop rig for seeding wheat and barley has been..successful.

2012 Kamloops (Brit. Columbia) Daily News (Nexis) 15 Oct. (Final ed.) b1 The variety of corn he seeded on his two-hectare patch grew more than three metres high.

b. transitive. figurative and in extended use. To provide the germ or latent beginning of (some future growth or development); to plant the kernel of.

ΚΠ

1597 T. Middleton Wisdome of Solomon Paraphr. xii. sig. P So fares it with the wicked plants of sin, The rootes of mischiefe, toppes of villany... Oh cursed plant, Seeded with other seede.

1600 R. Allen Treat. Christian Beneficence sig. Ii2^v The name of men is too good for them, seeing they are monsters in nature, the which hath seeded a certaine sence of thankfulnesse in all creatures.

1602 S. Rowlands Greenes Ghost 8 I wish..he had also looked into other grosse sinnes, which are seeded in the hearts of sundrie persons.

1844 S. Wilberforce Hist. Protestant Episc. Church Amer. (1846) 408 Division has grown up in all its rankness, and seeded freely on every side a new crop of errors.

1942 G. Greene Brit. Dramatists 39 As its [sc. Tom Robertson's Caste] finest flower it was to seed the work of Pinero, Henry Arthur Jones, Galsworthy.

1994 Harrowsmith June 62/3 A newfound scientific interest in the profound interaction between plant and person..is seeding a new crop of research studies.

2008 N. McAfee Democracy & Polit. Unconscious iv. 77 The United States began to seed a new threat.

c. transitive (reflexive). Of a plant: to reproduce (itself) and spread by means of seed. Cf. later self-seed vb. at self- prefix 6.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > wild and cultivated plants > be wild or propagate itself [verb (reflexive)]

seed1797

1797 A. Young Gen. View Agric. Suffolk vii. 85 Trefoil..will, by seeding itself, last several years in the land.

1860 Daily Evening Bull. (San Francisco) 21 Nov. The indiginous [sic] grain seeds itself in the adobe soil of the plain.

1889 E. Wakefield N.Z. after Fifty Years iv. 100 It was found that primroses had seeded themselves for the first time, and were springing up in abundance in Canterbury.

1909 Eng. Rev. Feb. 403 There is no further need of planting, for they [sc. the pines] seed themselves.

1956 ‘I. English’ Every Eye 69 Giant poppies..had seeded themselves into the suffocating undergrowth of St John's wort and bindweed.

2003 Horticulture Mar. 32/2 Lent lily..has seeded itself across much of continental Europe.

d. transitive. Biology. To introduce (cultured cells, organisms, etc.) into an area, esp. a culture vessel or medium for growth.

ΚΠ

1890 Public Health 2 382/1 It is..necessary to make a third or a fourth cultivation in the carbolised broth before it is seeded into simple broth.

1937 R. W. Fairbrother Text-bk. Med. Bacteriol. xx. 239 The blood should be collected at the height of the fever and 5 c.c. seeded into two flasks containing about 100 c.c. of liver infusion broth.

1973 Nature 22 June 450/1 Cells..were seeded into each 100-mm Petri dish..and incubated at 37°C.

1997 J. A. Sherman Oral Radiosurgery (ed. 2) i. 5 It [sc. a scalpel] seeds bacteria into incision site.

2005 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 24 July xiii. 1/4 The osteoblast is then seeded into bioglass, a porous bioactive material that encourages cell growth.

†6. intransitive. To take seed well; to be suitable for germination. Obsolete. rare.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > picking or gathering > [verb (intransitive)] > gather seed

seed1573

1573 T. Tusser Fiue Hundreth Points Good Husbandry (new ed.) f. 48 Slack neuer thy weding,..and specially where ye do trust to for seede.

†7. transitive (in passive). To run to seed, to mature. Obsolete.In early quots. in figurative context.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > undertaking > preparation > prepare or get ready [verb (intransitive)] > mature

ripeOE

ripen1549

seed1594

develop1744

mature1805

perfect1870

1594 W. Shakespeare Lucrece sig. E3^v How will thy shame be seeded in thine age When thus thy vices bud before thy spring?

1606 T. Dekker Seuen Deadly Sinnes London v. sig. E4 This flower when it first came into the Citie, had a prettie scent,..hath bene let to run so high, that it is now seeded.

1659 R. Amyas Antidote against Melancholy 6 Take the tops of Nettles when they be seeded.

1764 P. Miller tr. H. L. Duhamel du Monceau Elements Agric. I. ii. iii. 169 Weeds, scatter such a prodigious quantity of seed that the land is infested with young plants... This is not the case with plants that are sown; for as they are turned in before they are seeded.

8. transitive. To lightly sprinkle or cover (a surface); esp. to decorate (the material of a garment) with a scattering of small ornaments. Usually in passive.

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > tailoring or making clothes > tailor or make clothes [verb (transitive)] > other

fur13..

buttonc1380

lashc1440

pointa1470

set1530

tuft1535

vent1547

ruff1548

spangle1548

string1548

superbody1552

to pull out1553

quilt1555

flute1578

seam1590

seed1604

overtrim1622

ruffle1625

tag1627

furbelow1701

tuck1709

flounce1711

pipe1841

skirt1848

ruche1855

pouch1897

panel1901

stag1902

create1908

pin-fit1926

ease1932

pre-board1940

post-board1963

society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > ornamental art and craft > pattern or design > pattern [verb (transitive)] > scattered pattern

powderc1380

interseam1589

seed1604

pounce1610

1604 R. Dallington View of Fraunce sig. L4 The Constable..as the Grand Escuyer,..hath the Sword in the scabberd D'Azure, semé de fleurs de Lys d'or: Azure seeded with flowers de Lyce.

1604 B. Jonson His Pt. Royall Entertainem. 55 Theosophia, or Diuine wisdome, al in white, a blew mantle seeded with Stars.

1633 J. Shirley Triumph of Peace 4 In the next Chariot of equall glory, were placed on the lowest staires foure in skie-coloured Taffata Robes seeded with starres.

1678 T. Jordan Triumphs of London 4 Vigilancy, in a Silver Robe, a French green Mantle, seeded with waking Eyes.

1723 tr. N. Menin Hist. & Chronol. Treat. Anointing & Coronation Kings & Queens France iv. 20 Some Authors have asserted, that the Escutcheon, seeded (or powder'd, we shall use either Term indifferently) with Fower-de-Luces [sic], and the Oriflamb, were deposited that same night.

1747 Universal Hist. (rev. ed.) IV. i. x. 449 This goddess [sc. Cybele] was pictured sitting in a chariot drawn by four lions..and attired with a garment seeded with flowers of different colours.

1894 Sterling (Illinois) Standard 8 Mar. Pretty house-waists are now displayed made of soft, pliable satin surah, seeded with color grey dotted with rose color, dark wine with gold, blue with petunia, etc.

1926 Davenport (Iowa) Democrat & Leader 3 Jan. 7/3 Miss Kathyrne Weber and R. J. McKinney were Russians in white satin costumes, Miss Weber having an elaborate head-dress seeded with pearls.

1993 G. McCaughrean Gold Dust (2004) 60 She wore an ancient satin dress seeded with black jet so that she shimmered like a geyser of crude oil each time she shook her gigantic hips.

2003 A. Ball Encycl. Catholic Devotions & Pract. 443/1 The Virgin appeared in a blue robe seeded with golden stars.

9. transitive. To remove the seeds from (a plant, fruit, etc.), to deseed; to ‘stone’.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation for table or cooking > preparing fruit and vegetables > prepare fruit and vegetables [verb (transitive)] > remove stones or seeds

stone1639

seed1780

pit1879

deseed1986

1780 A. Young Tour Ireland (ed. 2) II. 224 The turnips to be twice hand hoed, and the flax to be seeded, stacked and threshed like corn.

1865 Mechanics' Mag. 14 July 23/1 Mr. George Parsons..has patented an invention which consists in constructing machines for seeding and for breaking flax as hereafter described. For seeding flax he employs a pair of rollers.

1875 Newport (Rhode Island) Daily News 5 Feb. Two pounds of fine raisins, seeded and chopped, or of seedless sultana raisins, cut in half.

1904 Daily Chron. 9 June 8/5 Seed a pound of raisins, cut them in quarters, and mix them with six ounces of shredded citron.

1972 Encycl. Americana XI. 382/1 The harvested stems are first seeded by machine or by the ancient hand method called rippling.

1985 L. Blue Kitchen Blues 97/1 Peel and seed the cucumber.

2015 Observer (Nexis) 8 Nov. Halve and seed the grapes, then add them to the pan.

10.

†a. intransitive. To form small grains of solid matter. Obsolete. rare.

ΚΠ

1887 Colonial & Indian Exhib., London 1886: Rep. Colonial Sections 272 The fatty acids ‘seed’ on cooling slowly, and yield a distinct solid and liquid on pressing.

b. transitive. Chemistry. To introduce a crystal or small particle into (a liquid or apparatus) so as to promote further crystal growth.Originally in sugar manufacture. Cf. seed n. 8.

ΚΠ

1896 Jrnl. Amer. Chem. Soc. 18 219 A very small proportion of crystals may be separated, which do not appear to be increased in quantity by ‘seeding’ with crystallized xylose.

1921 Jrnl. Physical Chem. 25 534 Points on the stable curve..were then easily determined by seeding the proper mixtures..with small crystals from this lot of hydrate.

1930 Amer. Speech 6 14 Sometimes a crystallizer is seeded with a nest egg of sugar.

1964 G. H. Haggis et al. Introd. Molecular Biol. iv. 94 It has further been possible recently to study this process in vitro by ‘seeding’ near-saturated solutions of calcium phosphate with collagen fibres.

2015 D. L. Pavia et al. Small Scale Approach Org. Lab. Techniques (ed. 4) iii. xlii. 419 Better crystal formation can be achieved by seeding the solution before it cools to room temperature.

c. transitive. To release a crystalline substance into (a cloud, weather system, etc.) in order to cause ice or water droplet formation and usually precipitation.Substances used include silver compounds (esp. silver iodide), common salt, and dry ice (carbon dioxide).In quot. 2004 figurative.

ΚΠ

1946 Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gaz. 14 Nov. 9/1 Other clouds..had not been seeded with dry-ice.

1974 Nature 11 Oct. 461/3 Potential hail clouds are observed by radar, and then seeded by lead iodide from a rocket fired into the cloud's centre.

1975 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 16 July 3/3 The United States government did not seed hurricane Fifi, nor was it ever contemplated.

1998 L. Forbes Bombay Ice (1999) 157 My father knew a pilot called Krishna who was paid to fly his Dakota into the rain clouds and seed them with a fine dust of ground soapstone and salt.

2004 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 31 May b15/5 For years, law firms have been hiring ex-politicians as so-called rainmakers to seed the corporate clouds.

11. Sport (originally Tennis).

a. transitive. To assign (each of a chosen number of the better competitors) to a position in an ordered list, forming the basis of a draw which ensures that the most highly ranked players do not meet in the early stages of an elimination competition. Now frequently with complement, indicating position on the list. Cf. seed n. 9.

ΘΚΠ

society > leisure > sport > judging or umpiring > umpire or referee [verb (transitive)] > exclude best players from early rounds

seed1897

1897 Amateur Athlete 1 July 14/1 For many years it has been an unwritten law that ‘seeding’ the best players through a draw is legitimate.

1929 Times 29 June 4/4 Three of the women who had been ‘seeded’ for the draw were defeated during the day.

1953 Sunday Graphic 7 June 22/4 Rose, likely to be seeded in the first four at Wimbledon, did not play up to his reputation.

1955 N.Y. Times 10 May 33/5 Joe Burk's Red and Blue eight, which beat Navy and Harvard Saturday for the Adams Cup, was seeded first in the draw for the tenth annual regatta.

1972 D. Delman Sudden Death (1973) i. 17 Timmy was up against a big Australian kid who'd given me fits at Wimbledon... Timmy..would probably go into the tournament seeded second behind Cole.

1991 Sports View (U.S.) 208/1 The teams would be seeded according to their records, with the top two seeds getting first-round byes.

2015 Evening Gaz. (Nexis) 7 Oct. 51 The Loftus player was seeded 15th but was beaten in the first match he played.

b. transitive. To arrange (a draw or event) to this end.

ΚΠ

1898 Spalding's Lawn Tennis Ann. 101 It is generally advisable to ‘seed’ the draw in handicap tournaments so that the players in each class shall be separated as far as possible one from another.

1911 Spalding's Official Lawn Tennis Guide 55 Unlike many big events, Longwood is never seeded, and in consequence the possibility of an uneven draw materialized.

1924 Times 23 June 4/4 This year, for the first time, the draw has been ‘seeded’; how little seeding accords with British notions may be gathered from there being no reference in the Oxford Dictionary—at any rate in the smaller one... In some countries the seeding is designed to keep the better players apart until the final stages.

2015 Stirling Observer (Nexis) 5 Aug. 56 The way the draw was seeded meant Stirling wouldn't have faced the Ibrox club had they progressed.

Phrasal verbs

to seed down

transitive. To sow (land) with grass or clover seeds, in between periods of crop-growing; (also) to intersperse grass or clover seeds amongst (a crop of oats, wheat, etc.). With †for, to, with. Also figurative. Also occasionally intransitive.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > sowing > sow seed [verb (transitive)] > sow interspersedly or at intervals

intersow1725

to seed down1794

1794 C. Vancouver Gen. View Agric. Cambr. 167 When the land tires of this round, and becomes foul of weeds, it is seeded down with red clover, and rye grass.

1846 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 7 ii. 505 It is the practice of one farmer..to seed down without a crop: his custom is to fallow.

1864 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 25 ii. 527 I seed down the oat-crop for clover.

1873 W. Carleton Farm Ballads 30 And I'll plough her grave with hate, and seed it down to scorn!

1910 Penny Illustr. Paper 2 Apr. 436/1 The land to be seeded down to grass must be poor, hungry soil, or the seed will not germinate freely.

1960 Berkshire Eagle (Pittsfield, Mass.) 6 Oct. 26/7 The corn fields are seeded down with a grass legume mixture of 20 per cent red clover, 10 percent ladino clover, 35 per cent alfalfa, and 35 per cent timothy.

2010 A. L. Hansen Org. Farming Man. ix. 240/1 You will in most cases have to seed down the area.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2018; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	seed
释义	seedn. Brit. /siːd/, U.S. /sid/ Forms: Old English sæþ (transmission error), Old English–early Middle English sæd, Old English (chiefly non-West Saxon)–1500s sed, late Old English sęd (Kentish), late Old English sied (Kentish), early Middle English sad, early Middle English sade, early Middle English sæt, early Middle English seð, Middle English ceed, Middle English ceede, Middle English seide, Middle English seod, Middle English ser (in compounds, transmission error), Middle English seth, Middle English seyd, Middle English seyde, Middle English syd, Middle English syde, Middle English zed (south-eastern), Middle English–1500s sedde, Middle English–1500s sede, Middle English–1500s side, Middle English–1600s seede, Middle English– seed, 1500s–1600s sead, 1500s–1600s seade; English regional 1800s sude (northern), 1800s zid (south-west midlands), 1800s zide (southern), 1800s– sid (west midlands and southern), 1800s– zeed (south-western); also Scottish pre-1700 sced, pre-1700 seid, pre-1700 seide, pre-1700 seiyde, pre-1700 seyd, pre-1700 sied, pre-1700 siede, pre-1700 1700s– sid, pre-1700 1800s sidd, 1700s sead, 1700s–1800s side, 1700s– sud; Irish English (Wexford) 1800s zeede. N.E.D. (1911) also records a form Middle English ced. Origin: A word inherited from Germanic. Etymology: Cognate with Old Frisian sēd (West Frisian sied ), Old Saxon sād (Middle Low German sāt ), Middle Dutch saet , saed , sāde (Dutch zaad ), Old High German sāt (Middle High German sāt , German Saat ), Gothic -sēþs (in the compound manasēþs humankind, lit. ‘seed of people’), Old Icelandic sáð , sæði , Old Swedish säþ (Swedish säd ), Old Danish sæth (Danish sæd ), and further (with different ablaut grade) with classical Latin satus , Welsh had < the Indo-European base of sow v.¹ + a dental suffix forming nouns. Compare sid n. Compare also semen n., which ultimately reflects a formation from the same Indo-European base, but with different suffix.The shortening of the vowel shown by some later forms (e.g. Middle English and early modern English sedde, English regional sid, Scots sid, sidd, etc.; compare sid n.) is probably the result of frequent use of the noun as the second element in compounds (e.g. oat seed n. at oat n. Compounds 2) where it lacks primary stress. In sense 8 after seed v. (compare seed v. 10). In sense 9 after seed v. (compare seed v. 11a). 1. a. As a mass noun: plant seeds (see sense 1b), esp. when used for sowing to produce a new crop. Also: various other parts of plants (esp. tubers and bulbs) used for this purpose. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > seed > [noun] corna700 kernelc1000 seedOE grain1377 pippina1382 acinusa1398 acine1597 seedling1675 vegetable egg1675 seedlet1754 pip1773 oilseed1887 the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > seed > [noun] > for the purpose of being sown seedOE the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > seed > [noun] > kinds of seed seedOE bonelet1787 the world > existence and causation > causation > source or origin > [noun] > source, seed, or germ > seeds or germs seedOE seminalities1651 lineament1683 OE Exodus 374 Eac þon sæda gehwilc on bearm scipes beornas feredon, þara þe under heofonum hæleð bryttigað. OE tr. Pseudo-Apuleius Herbarium (Vitell.) (1984) cl. 192 Þæt sæd [L.semen] byþ cenned gind ealne þone stelan. c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 15905 Swa þatt itt muȝhe takenn wel. Wiþþ sed to berenn wasstme. a1350 in R. H. Robbins Hist. Poems 14th & 15th Cent. (1959) 9 (MED) To seche seluer to þe kyng y mi seed solde. c1390 (a1376) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Vernon) (1867) A. vi. l. 34 I haue..Boþe I-sowed his seed and suwed his beestes. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 5230 His suns all and þair flitting..In weynis war þai don to lede, þat ioseph wit ful of side. c1430 (c1380) G. Chaucer Parl. Fowls (Cambr. Gg.4.27) (1871) l. 328 But foul that lyuyth be sed sat on the grene. 1526 Grete Herball xlviii. sig. Cv^v/2 Auena is an herbe, the sede of it is called otes. c1535 M. Nisbet New Test. in Scots (1901) I. 10 Christ..schewe the parrabile of the seide. 1611 Bible (King James) Gen. i. 29 Every herb bearing seed . View more context for this quotation 1697 J. Donaldson Husbandry Anatomized (new ed.) vi. 110 When you sow Seed of Trees, and they rise closer than they can well grow together, transplant them to another place of your Garden. 1729 Fog's Weekly Jrnl. 30 Aug. 2/2 To hinder the forestalling of Markets, by the Farmers selling Wheat..at home, or by buying Wheat for Seed. 1760 R. Brown Compl. Farmer: Pt. 2 15 All seed degenerates, if long sown upon any land. 1839 W. B. Stonehouse Hist. Isle of Axholme 32 Those [potatoes] grown upon the warp land are generally disposed of for seed to the market gardeners and others. 1856 G. Glenny Gardener's Every Day Bk. 174/1 Cut down the old plants that have rambled and are past their prime, unless you are saving seed. 1938 Amer. Home Jan. 38/2 You can easily grow your cactus garden from seed. 1990 P. T. Ewell et al. Farmer Managem. Potato Insect Pests Peru iv. 29 Damage to the sprouts can make tubers unfit for use as seed. 2015 BBC Gardeners' World (Special Subscriber ed.) Aug. 88/1 Make 2cm-deep drills in the soil with the tip of a trowel, water well, then sow seed sparingly. b. As a count noun: the typically small, roundish structure by which certain higher plants reproduce and disperse themselves, which develops from a fertilized ovule and consists of an embryo plant and (often) nutritive endosperm enclosed in a protective coat. Also: the spore of a lower plant or fungus; a small hard fruit resembling a seed. ΚΠ OE Genesis A (1931) 1559 Noe..won and worhte, wingeard sette, seow sæda fela. a1225 (c1200) Vices & Virtues (1888) 27 For ðas sades ȝekinde of ðare eorða. a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 121 Of euerilc ougt, of euerilc sed, Was erðe mad moder of sped. 1340 Ayenbite (1866) 113 Þet zed o mostard is wel smal. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 22875 Þat mighti godd þat all waldes, Qua can sai me hu of a side He dos an hundret for to brede? Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 64 Ceede of corne, as kyrnel, granum. a1525 (c1448) R. Holland Bk. Howlat l. 31 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1925) II. 96 Vnder ye Cerkill solar yir sauoruss seidis War nurist be dame natur. 1599 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet v. i. 46 A beggerly account of emptie boxes, Greene earthen pots, bladders and mustie seedes . View more context for this quotation 1604 E. Grimeston tr. J. de Acosta Nat. & Morall Hist. Indies iv. xxxi. 294 I asked who had planted the fields with so many orange trees? they made mee answer, that it did come by chaunce, for that oranges being fallen to the ground, and rotten, their seeds did spring. 1651 R. Williams Physical Rarities 85 Take the seeds of Plantane, and make powder thereof, and give it to the Child to drink in red Wine, or in Ale, and it will stop the Flux. 1712 J. Browne tr. P. Pomet et al. Compl. Hist. Druggs I. 38 Little, thin, black Seeds, each one having a spiral head. 1791 World 27 Oct. The seeds [of the Greater Sunflower]..are converted into bread in Virginia, and make excellent pap for children. 1811 A. T. Thomson London Dispensatory iii. 556 Seeds are to be collected when they are ripe, and before they drop from the plant. 1837 W. Wordsworth Poet. Wks. (new ed.) V. 285 Like the dry remnant of a garden-flower Whose seeds are shed. 1901 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) B. 194 305 There is much evidence that only a certain number of the sporangia on each strobilus ever developed into ‘seeds’. 1936 Amer. Home Feb. 34/1 Seeds can be germinated a few weeks before the outdoors warms up sufficiently. 2004 Northern Woodlands Summer 29/2 Each seed produces a hawthorn that is an exact replica of the mother tree. c. Any small, rounded object resembling a seed; a small piece or bit of something. See also seed coral n. at Compounds 3, seed ore n. at Compounds 3, seed pearl n. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > wholeness > incompleteness > part of whole > [noun] > a separate part > a piece or bit > small piece fingereOE snedec1000 seed?a1200 morselc1300 bittlock?a1400 farthingc1405 spota1413 lipetc1430 offe?1440 drewc1450 remnantc1450 parcel1483 crap1520 flakec1525 patch1528 spark1548 a piece1559 sparklec1570 inch1573 nibbling?1577 scantling1585 scrat1593 mincing1598 scantle1598 halfpenny1600 quantity1600 nip1606 kantch1608 bit1609 catch1613 scripa1617 snap1616 sippeta1625 crumblet1634 scute1635 scantleta1642 snattock1654 cantlet1700 tab1729 pallion1738 smallness1818 knobble1823 wisp1836 ?a1200 (?OE) Peri Didaxeon (1896) 35 Ac ceowe hwytes cuduwys sæd [L. granum masticum]..ælce dæȝ. c1475 ( Surg. Treat. in MS Wellcome 564 f. 115 (MED) The signys of þis maner of cankris ben..ffirst whanne þat he wexiþ in wommans pappis, he is founden as it were a litil seed þat men callen a lentile. a1500 in A. Zettersten Middle Eng. Lapidary (1968) 32 (MED) Iris is a stone þat hathe many seedis. 1682 G. Rose Perfect School Instr. Officers of Mouth 24 They ought to serve the Sweetmeats with a Fork, but the Dragee, or small Seeds of Sugar with a Spoon. 1693 R. Bentley Boyle Lect. viii. 36 The Seeds of subterraneous Minerals..sometimes cause Earthquakes and furious eruptions of Volcano's. 1836 J. Neal in Portland Sketch Bk. 171 The prisoner..straightway began balancing another of the glittering seeds [sc. pearls] and eyeing the window. 1897 ‘F. Mackenzie’ Sprays Northern Pine iii. 47 Here am I left withoot the seed o' siller, an' no' a rissom o' tobacco! 1993 Science 30 Apr. 664/3 The starting composition..consisted of mid-ocean ridge basalt..with seeds of garnet, omphacitic pyroxene, epidote, [etc.]. 2015 tr. Dionysius Periegetes Descr. Known World in Across the Ocean vi. 97 Swiftest of streams, the Hypanis and the divine Margarsos carry down the shining seeds of gold. d. As a mass noun: various kinds of grain considered collectively as suitable food for birds; = birdseed n. at bird n. Compounds 2a. Also as a count noun in plural in same sense. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > food > animal food > [noun] > food eaten by birds > food for caged birds seed1562 Canary seed1578 alpiste1597 birdseed1661 1562 W. Turner 2nd Pt. Herball f. 134^v Men fede byrdes wyth the sede of it [sic sesamum]..namelye syskennes, and linnettes. 1674 J. Pettus Volatiles Hist. Adam & Eve ii. 96 The Horse speaks for his Provender, the Dog for his meat, and the Bird in the Cage for its seeds. 1770 G. White Let. 21 May in Nat. Hist. Selborne (1789) 130 When you talked of keeping a reed-sparrow, and giving it seeds, I could not help wondering. 1784 Gentleman's Mag. Feb. 116/2 The moment she rose every morning, her first thought was to procure him fresh seed, and the clearest water. 1844 A. R. Smith Adventures Mr. Ledbury I. xiv. 182 Seeds, which the bird had fluttered from his cage. 1897 F. Thompson New Poems 175 When the bird quits the cage, We set the cage outside, With seed and with water, And the door wide. 1923 A. Wetmore Canaries (U.S. Dept. Agric. Farmers' Bull. No. 1327) 7 A small packet or sack of seed should be tied to the outside of the cage. 1991 M. M. Vriends Gouldian Finches 23/2 (caption) Gouldian finches cannot be kept in top condition on a diet of seed only. 2001 Courier Mail (Queensland, Austral.) (Nexis) 16 Nov. d3 Never leave out for wildlife the cage-bottom droppings and old seed discarded by caged birds. e. In plural. Chiefly Scottish. The husks of oat and other grain, separated in grinding; particles of bran. Cf. sid n. Sc. National Dict. records this sense as still in use in Galloway in 1969. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > food > corn, cereals, or grain > bran > [noun] sivedsc725 boltingsa1300 branc1325 paly1407 hullc1450 cribble bread1552 cheesyl1577 clat1595 seeds1595 chisel1607 hulkage1869 1595 A. Duncan Appendix Etymologiae: Index in Latinae Grammaticae Furfur, purgamentum farinæ: branne, clats, seids of meale. 1598 in Rec. Parl. Scotl. to 1707 (2007) 1598/12/5 The haill subjectis susteinis greit lose and skayth in paying als deir for dust and seidis as gif the samyn wes guid meill. 1671 Forbes Baron Court Bk. in Publ. Sc. Hist. Soc. (1919) 2nd Ser. 19 282 That the tennentis vithtin thair seyverall suckines sall pay thair kenship of that samen meill of thair ferm vith the seides of the keiship of the ferm meill allennerallie.., and kenship of the rest of thair meill vithout seides. 1754 in Glasgow, Past & Present (1884) II. 533 A peck of good bran, or new sowan seeds. 1777 Whole Proc. Jockey & Maggy (rev. ed.) iv. 27 Your groat meal, and gray meal, sand dust and seeds. 1802 C. Findlater Gen. View Agric. County of Peebles iii. 45 These shells, thus separated, and having the finer particles of the meal adhering to them, called mill seeds, are preserved for sowins... The seeds, from the different makings of meal.., are preserved till the potatoes are exhausted. 1814 in J. Jamieson Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. (1825) Suppl. at Dust Some of the dust and sheeling seeds..is left at the mill. a1870 W. Lutton Montiaghisms (2007) 34 Seeds, the husk or cuticle of oats, which is separated from the grain by shelling and winnowing. 1898 J. Paton Castlebraes iv. 98 I fed in the seeds, an' fed the seeds, till the bleezes dazzled ma' blinkin' een. 1953 M. Traynor Eng. Dial. Donegal 249/2 Seed,..pl. the husks of oats which remain in meal; used for flummery. f. In plural. Grasses which do not grow naturally in a locality and must be sown. Occasionally also: land sown with such grasses or with a cereal crop. Now historical and rare. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > by growth or development > defined by habit > herb or herbaceous plant > [noun] > herbage or grass > cultivated or for pasture pasturea1400 fogc1400 vesture1455 vestiturec1460 pasturagea1522 feed1580 agistment1598 pasture grass1628 ear-grass1686 artificial grass1733 seeds1794 tath1807 green stuff1895 the world > food and drink > farming > farm > farmland > land raising crops > [noun] > corn-land or -field cornlanda1387 cornfield?1523 corn-ground1548 granary1570 milpa1648 kerning-ground1732 seeds1794 walk1797 corn belt1882 1794 R. Lowe Gen. View Agric. Nottingham 9 Artificial grasses, (generally called here, simply seeds). 1841 Penny Cycl. XIX. 206/1 The only artificial grasses cultivated by the small holders are clover and seeds. 1852 Bell's Life in London 29 Feb. 5/1 The bitch took a clear lead, when the hare began to bend slightly to her; she turned several times on the seeds. 1883 Wallace's Monthly July 447/2 Constantly increasing multitudes of ignorant riders unable to distinguish seeds from squitch or turnips from tares. 1910 Daily News 4 July 6/4 Yet it is those who have had ‘seeds’ to cut that have come off best this haysel. 1982 Proc. Suffolk Inst. Archaeol. & Hist. 35 ii. 133 In a few parishes..a five-course rotation with two years of seeds was used. 2. a. figurative. The germ or latent beginning of some growth or development. Usually with of.Frequently (with allusion to the Parable of the Sower in the New Testament (Matthew 13:1–23, Mark 4:1–20, Luke 8:1–15)) applied to religious or other teaching, regarded as a fruitful enterprise. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > causation > source or origin > [noun] > source, seed, or germ seedeOE mustard seed?1523 seed corn1586 seedness1597 sperm1639 seminal1646 germ1823 eOE Metres of Boethius (transcript of damaged MS) (2009) xxii. 37 Þeah bið sum corn sædes gehealden symle on ðære saule soðfæstnesse, þenden gadertang wunað gast on lice. OE Blickling Homilies 55 Þæt halige sæd on him gedwan & gewat, þæt him ær of þæs lareowes muþe wæs bodad & sægd. a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1959) Gen. xxxvii. 5 A seeyn sweuen he tolde to his breþeren, the which cause was seede [L. seminarium] of more hate. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 21226 In all þe stedes quar he yede, O godds word he sceued þe sede. a1425 (?a1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose (Hunterian) (1891) l. 1617 For venus sone daun Cupido Hath sowne there of loue the seed. a1505 R. Henryson Test. Cresseid 137 in Poems (1981) 115 The seid of lufe was sawin in my face, And ay grew grene throw ȝour supplie and grace. 1596 E. Spenser Second Pt. Faerie Queene v. i. sig. M6 Yet then likewise the wicked seede of vice Began to spring. View more context for this quotation 1645 S. Rutherford Tryal & Triumph of Faith xvi. 135 There's a seed of comfort and hope in Christs glowning and frownings. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica i. x. 37 Beside..the seed of error within our selves..there is an invisible Agent. View more context for this quotation 1732 G. Berkeley Alciphron II. vi. xviii. 65 The advantages which we experience from the seed of the Gospel sown in good ground. 1779 J. Duché Disc. I. xi. 207 Thou hast, within thee, a Seed of Eternal Life, a Birth of the Triune God,..a Reconception of the Light and Love of God. 1828 A. Jolly Observ. Sunday Services 245 The blood of the martyrs, in Tertullian's expression, proved the seed of the Church. 1870 J. R. Lowell Among my Bks. (1873) 1st Ser. 228 The sturdy commonwealths which have sprung from the seed of the Mayflower. 1916 J. Joyce Portrait of Artist iii. 120 From the evil seed of lust all other deadly sins had sprung forth. 1963 M. L. King Strength to Love viii. 63 All of this reminds us that evil carries the seed of its own destruction. 2011 Daily Trust (Abuja, Nigeria) (Nexis) 24 July Boko Haram is a seed of discord and can be crushed only by intensive prayers. b. In plural with same sense.In early quots. it is sometimes difficult to distinguish unchanged plural from singular. ΚΠ OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Cambr. Gg.3.28) xxxvi. 308 Gif we eow þa gastlican sæd sawað, hwonlic bið þæt we eowere flæsclican ðing ripon. a1200 (?OE) MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 151 Þe sed þat he sew were soðe wordes. c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 9638 (MED) Þe deuel adde enuie þer to & sed bituene hom seu. 1531 T. Cromwell Let. May in R. B. Merriman Life & Lett. T. Cromwell (1902) I. 338 The semynacyon and sowing such euill seedes of dampnable and detestable heresies. 1581 W. Lowth tr. B. Batt Christian Mans Closet sig. C^v The seeds either of vertue, or vice once receiued, afterwards abideth foreuer. 1609 W. Shakespeare Pericles xix. 87 Your hearbe-woman, she that sets seeds and rootes of shame and iniquitie. View more context for this quotation 1692 R. L'Estrange Fables xxxviii. 38 We have the seeds of Virtue in us, as well as of Vice. a1729 J. Rogers 12 Serm. (1730) viii. 238 Some Seeds of Grace are yet alive in him. 1751 S. Johnson Rambler No. 168. ⁋8 The seeds of knowledge may be planted in solitude, but must be cultivated in publick. 1821 C. Lamb in London Mag. Sept. 284/1 The seeds of exaggeration will be busy there. 1868 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest (1877) II. vii. 30 In all this the seeds of the Conquest were sowing. 1916 Jrnl. Switchmen's Union N. Amer. May 303/2 Seeds of discord, like seeds of weeds, grow and prosper even in the thinnest and poorest of soil. 1958 Visct. Montgomery Mem. (1961) 89 Leadership which is evil, while it may temporarily succeed, always carries within itself the seeds of its own destruction. 2002 AAP Newsfeed (Nexis) 18 Sept. Seeds of doubt were sown today over the benefits of genetically modified canola crops for Australia with the launch of a new report in Melbourne. 3. Semen; sperm. In early use also: †a fluid similar to semen thought to be produced by females (obsolete); †a single sperm cell or ovum (obsolete rare).There have been many theories about the extent and nature of male and female contributions in the development of the embryo, but it has generally been accepted that a mixture or mingling of both is necessary to produce offspring. ΘΚΠ the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > reproductive substances or cells > [noun] > sperm seedOE spermc1386 sperma1527 the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > reproductive substances or cells > [noun] > sperm > semen seedOE naturec1390 semena1398 kindc1400 semence1480 mettle1612 egg-fry1674 ammunition1695 spunkc1890 jism1899 scum1967 OE Confessionale Pseudo-Egberti (Junius) 184 Wif seo ðe mencgð weres sæd in hire mete and ðone þigeð, þæt he[o] þam wæpnedmen sy ðe leofre, fæste iii winter. c1300 St. Michael (Laud) 700 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 319 A swyþe foul þing is þat sed of ȝwan Man is i-spreind. c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) l. 936 Telle schul wiues tvelue Ȝif ani child may be made Wiþouten knoweing of mannes sade. a1425 (a1400) Prick of Conscience (Galba & Harl.) (1863) 445 He was geten aftir, als es knawen, Of vile sede of man with syn sawen. ?1473 W. Caxton tr. R. Le Fèvre Recuyell Hist. Troye (1894) I. lf. 51 She..also conceyued of his seed a sone that was named Abas. 1525 Anothomia in tr. H. von Brunschwig Noble Experyence Handy Warke Surg. sig. C.i/1 The sede is namyd sperma. 1577 Vicary's Profitable Treat. Anat. sig. M.iii The which seede of generation commeth from al the partes of the body both of the man and the woman. 1608 E. Topsell Hist. Serpents 293 When the male [viper] hath filled her with all his seed-genitall. 1668 N. Culpeper & A. Cole tr. T. Bartholin Anat. (new ed.) i. xvii. 48 Others have attributed to the Kidneys the preparation of Seed, because hot Kidneys cause a propensity to fleshly lust. 1713 W. Cheselden Anat. Humane Body iv. i. 162 The Office of the Testes, is to separate the Seed from the Blood. 1739 Ladies Dispensatory xii. 165 All along the Sheath there are abundance of Pores, from whence a thin humour always flows,..what is commonly supposed to be her Seed. 1762 J. Cook New Theory Generation 300 An Animalcule from the Male enters the Female Seed or Ovum of the Female. 1847–9 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. IV. i. 472/1 This fluid, so indispensably necessary as the medium of sexual generation, is the seed or semen. 1856 Veterinarian June 324 After this thorough mingling and incorporation of both the male and female seed has taken place,..is it possible, that the parts of the impregnated ovum should separate? 1895 Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst. Great Brit. & Ireland 24 442 If the blood is the life, the seed is the strength. 1914 J. London Let. 24 Feb. (1966) 415 I have never wantonly scattered my seed. 1990 N.Y. Times 21 Aug. c8 In an effort to spread their seed as widely as possible, some males go to exquisitely complicated lengths. 2003 R. Herring Talking Cock 119 His [sc. Onan's] real crime was not the spilling of the seed, but his blunt refusal to impregnate his sister-in-law. 4. Offspring, progeny; (also) race, line, stock. Also figurative. Now archaic and literary. ΘΚΠ the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > [noun] > offspring seedOE offspringOE begottena1325 birtha1325 issuea1325 burgeoninga1340 fruit of the loinsa1340 young onec1384 increasement1389 geta1400 gendera1425 procreation1461 progeniturec1487 engendera1500 propagation1536 feture1537 increase1552 breed1574 spawn1590 bowela1593 teeming1599 pullulation1641 prolifications1646 educt1677 produce1823 society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinsman or relation > child > [noun] > progeny or offspring bairn-teamc885 childeOE tudderc897 seedOE teamOE wastum971 offspringOE i-cundeOE fostera1175 i-streonc1175 strainc1175 brooda1300 begetc1300 barm-teamc1315 issuea1325 progenyc1330 fruit of the loinsa1340 bowel1382 young onec1384 suita1387 engendrurea1400 fruitinga1400 geta1400 birth?a1425 porturec1425 progenityc1450 bodyfauntc1460 generation1477 fryc1480 enfantement1483 infantment1483 blood issue1535 propagation1536 offspring1548 race1549 family?1552 increase1552 breed1574 begetting1611 sperm1641 bed1832 fruitage1850 society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > kinsman or relation > descendant > [noun] > collectively bairn-teamc885 kinc950 seedOE teamOE offspringOE kindOE childrenc1175 lineage1303 generationa1325 issuea1325 successiona1340 kindredc1350 progenya1382 posterityc1410 sequelc1440 ligneea1450 posterior1509 genealogy1513 propagation1536 racea1547 postery1548 after-spring1583 bowela1593 afterworld1594 loin1608 descendance1617 succession1618 proles1640 descent1667 ramage1936 OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Mark xii. 22 Et acciperunt eam similiter septem et non reliquerunt semen : & onfengon ða ilca gelic ða seofona & ne forleorton uel ne læfdon seduel team. OE West Saxon Gospels: Luke (Corpus Cambr.) i. 55 Swa he spræc to urum fæderum Abrahame & hys sæde on a woruld. a1225 (?OE) MS Lamb. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 133 Vre drihten cleopede monnes streon sed. a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 1613 Ðis lond ic sal giuen ðin sed. a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1959) Gen. xix. 34 Ȝisterday I slepte with my fader..& þou schalt slepe with hym: þat we sauen þe seed of oure fader. c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Luke xx. 31 The firste took a wyf, and is deed, with outen sones; and the brother suwinge took hir, and he is deed..and alle seuene, and leften no seed. c1400 Brut (Rawl. B. 171) 76 (MED) His seede shal bicome pure faderles in straunge lande. c1450 (c1370) G. Chaucer A.B.C (Cambr. Ff.5.30) (1878) l. 182 Sithe þou canst and wilt Ben to þe seed of Adam merciable. a1500 (c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) xxi. §23. 81 The sede of iacob is the folke of cristen men. 1529 T. Paynell tr. Assaute & Conquest Heuen vii. sig. D.ii^v The transgression of our fore fathers, of whom we that be come, by the sede of man and woman, be dettours. 1596 J. Dalrymple tr. J. Leslie Hist. Scotl. (1888) I. 80 (margin) The seid and successione of Simon Brechus stil inherited Irland. 1600 W. Vaughan Golden-groue iii. xiv. sig. S5^v Eueryman, I confesse, commeth of Noble seede, that is to say, from God. 1618 G. Chapman tr. Hesiod Georgicks i. 398 Iustice is seed to Ioue. 1645 Directory Publique Worship 22 The rest of the Royall seed. 1683 R. Dixon Canidia iii. x. 73 Witches are a Mongrel-Breed; Betwixt Imps and Human Seed. 1715 A. Pope tr. Homer Iliad I. ii. 724 'Till vain of Mortal's empty Praise, he strove To match the Seed of Cloud-compelling Jove. 1739 C. Wesley in J. Wesley & C. Wesley Hymns & Sacred Poems ii. 207 Rise, the Woman's Conqu'ring Seed, Bruise in Us the Serpent's Head. 1842 Ld. Tennyson Godiva in Poems (new ed.) II. 112 Not only we, the latest seed of Time,..have loved the people well. 1864 E. B. Pusey Daniel 397 Certain of the seed-royal and of the nobles were carried to Babylon. 1925 Woman's World (Chicago) Apr. 17/1 He would be a poor American who should not wish the best for his family and for their seed after them. 1989 W. Horwood Duncton Found i. ix. 111 ‘Your name?’ he asked the youngster, who was, after all, of his own seed. 2007 Keep Faith No. 29. 15/2 I don't think in his wildest imagination my African ancestor could have dreamed that one day his seed would possess the land to which he was banished. †5. The activity of sowing; the time or season for sowing; = seed time n. 1 Often with prefixed modifying word denoting the particular crop sown. Obsolete (Scottish in later use). ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > [noun] > time of year > season for specific agricultural operation seedOE seed timeOE season1393 barley-selec1440 seednessc1450 seeding timea1594 turf-time1594 tid1799 OE Ælfric Old Eng. Hexateuch: Gen. (Claud.) viii. 22 Eallum dagum ðære eorðan, sæd [L. sementis] & gerip, cyle & hæte, sumor & winter, dæg & niht ne geswicað. c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) l. 523 (MED) Sesounez schal yow never sese of sede ne of hervest..Bot ever renne restlez. a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Lev. xxvi. 5 The threschyng of ripe cornes schal take vyndage, and vyndage schal occupie seed [c1450 Bodl. 277 the seed tyme; E.V. a1425 Corpus Oxf. the sowynge tyme; L. sementem]. c1460 in A. Clark Eng. Reg. Oseney Abbey (1907) 155 (MED) Þey Entre with all þere Bestes to fede..vn-to þe tyme of lente sede of þe seyde ȝere folowyng. 1603 A. Nixon Elizaes Memoriall sig. B2^v The Husbandman then gladly tild the ground, And sowed the same with graine in time of seed. 1735 True Method treating Light Hazely Ground Buchan i. 7 If the Owner of such Fields be not provided of Dung in the Go-Harvest, he may lay it on before Oat-Seed. 1747 in D. Warrand More Culloden Papers (1930) V. 77 Should my Son's Company be called out till Bear seed is over. 1773 R. Fergusson Poems 89 Before the seed I sell'd my ferra cow. 1803 G. Culley Let. 27 Feb. in M. Culley & G. Culley Farming Lett. (2006) 417 The wheat and pease and bean seed is over for the present. 1829 Aberdeen Jrnl. 22 Apr. The oat seed over the country was probably about half done when the late storm set in. 6. As a mass noun or in plural. a. The eggs of the silk moth. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Crustacea > [noun] > subclass Malacostraca > division Thoracostraca > order Decapoda > suborder Macrura > eggs of lobster seed?1587 berry1768 the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > Heterocera > [noun] > family Bombycidae > genus Bombyx > silk moth > eggs seed?1587 graine1835 ?1587 R. Southwell Epist. Comfort xi. f. 144^v The silk-worme, which first eating it selfe out of a verye lytle seede, groweth to be a small worme. 1662 J. Davies tr. A. Olearius Voy. & Trav. Ambassadors 313 In the Spring..the Persians begin to hatch their Silk-worms. To do this, they carry the Seed in a little bag under the arm-pit. 1751 tr. N. A. Pluche Truth of Gospel I. 26 Only the Grecian monks brought back Silk-worm Seed as a Curiosity. 1870 J. Yeats Nat. Hist. Commerce 334 The eggs in this state are called by the silk cultivators seed. 1914 H. F. Macmillan Handbk. Trop. Gardening & Planting (ed. 2) iv. xxiv. 567 Silk..is obtained from the cocoons formed by the ‘worms’..of certain moths, which in some countries..are raised in great numbers from ‘seed’. 1976 Econ. & Polit. Q. 11 M-119/2 In order to rear, the farmer requires silkworm eggs, (the ‘seed’); and there are two sources of these. 2007 Press Trust of India (Nexis) 9 May He said 1,300 ounces of silk worm seeds were distributed among the rearers in the district. b. Originally: †the roe of a lobster (= coral n.¹ 5a) (obsolete). In later use: the spawn of a lobster or other crustacean, used in aquaculture. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > food > animals for food > seafood > [noun] > roes roea1400 caviar1591 icary1591 seed1653 red caviar1655 coral1768 osetrova1928 the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > phylum Mollusca > [noun] > mollusc or shell-fish > breeding or spawning > spawn seed1653 spat1667 nidamental ribbon1851 1653 W. Harvey Anat. Exercitations iii. 11 Of the Ovaries of these Carps and Mullets..is made that kinde of meat..such as is that which is found in our red Herrings, & the red and compacted seed within a Lobster. 1771 E. Raffald Experienced Eng. Housekeeper (ed. 2) App. 347 Take all the red seeds and the meat of a lobster. 1884 R. Rathbun in G. B. Goode et al. Fisheries U.S.: Sect. I v. 798 Lobster spawn is variously designated, on different parts of the coast, as ‘spawn’, ‘roe’, ‘eggs’, ‘berry’, ‘seed’, ‘pea’, ‘sweetbread’, ‘coral’, etc.; but in most places it is known simply as ‘spawn’, ‘eggs’, or ‘berry’. 1914 Diplomatic & Consular Rep.: U.S.: Rep. 1913 Trade & Commerce Consular District Boston 40 in Parl. Papers (Cd. 7048–164) XCV. 753 There may be a heavy drain on the supply before steps can be taken to provide further lobster seed. 1983 S. N. Dwivedi & N. P. Dunning in E. Mann Borgese & N. S. Ginsburg Ocean Yearbk. No. 4 72 The establishment of such hatcheries in each maritime state, producing an abundance of inexpensive prawn seed. 2006 Crustaceana 79 1073 The lobster seed comes from the wild and the size of seedlings is between puerulus and juvenile. c. The spawn or young of oysters or other aquatic molluscs, used for stocking a commercial bed. Cf. seed oyster n. at Compounds 3. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > class Pelecypoda or Conchifera > [noun] > section Asiphonida > family Ostreidae > member of (oyster) > spawn spat1667 spats1667 seed1722 seed oyster1839 1722 Philos. Trans. 1720–21 (Royal Soc.) 31 251 From the Spat or Seed of which, it is most probable,..all the Bottom at length,..became covered with Oysters. 1864 Oyster Fishery Ireland 105 This valuable seed, which has been lost every year, will be thus gathered. 1883 C. Harding Molluscs, Mussels, Whelks, Etc. 14 In England the laws allow the seed to be sown and protected to a certain extent, and when the molluscs are a certain size (i.e., two and-a-half inches for Oysters, and two inches for Mussels), the whole world is free to come and fish on the beds by taking out a nominal licence. 1918 Sci. Monthly Jan. 79 To what extent do oysters lend themselves to artificial hatching, so that the present occasional discouraging failures in the seed crop may be obviated? 1953 Sun (Baltimore) 5 Feb. 19/5 If private leasing of such beds were allowed, they could produce enough seed to supply oyster ‘farmers’. 2005 Independent 18 June 27/1 (caption) Oyster and clam farmer Barbara Austin and her son Clinton plant ‘seeds’ which mature in 2-3 years. †d. The larvae of the lac insect. Obsolete. rare. ΚΠ 1901 Knowledge Nov. 252/2 Propagation..is effected by tying small twigs, on which are crowded the eggs or larvæ of the insect, to the branches of the trees. These larvæ are technically called ‘seed’. 7. a. Glass-making. A small bubble trapped in glass during its manufacture. Also as a mass noun. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > glass and glass-like materials > [noun] > glass > marks or imperfections in thread1593 streak1807 seed1821 stripe1823 bull's-eye1832 stria1832 tear1832 bullion1834 wreath1839 sand-hole1867 bullion-point1881 pontil mark1923 oil spot1962 saliva1969 1821 S. Varley in London Jrnl. Arts & Sci. 2 194 All glass is subject to certain defects, which opticians call seeds and threads. 1856 H. Chance in Jrnl. Soc. Arts 15 Feb. 226/2 A piece whose beginning was miraculous,—no seed, no blisters; it prospered under the hands of the gatherer and blower, and left the glass-house a perfect cylinder. 1955 H. Insley & V. D. Fréchette Microsc. Ceramics & Cements ix. 157 The frequency and size of seeds may be determined. 2000 D. A. Dean et al. Pharmaceut. Packaging Technol. vi. 182 General defects, for example... Seed: small bubbles in glass. b. Medicine. A tiny tube containing radioactive material, implanted within the body as a form of radiotherapy. Cf. radon seed n. at radon n. Compounds 2. ΘΚΠ the world > health and disease > healing > medical treatment > treatment by radiation > [noun] > source radium plaque1919 seed1924 radon seed1925 radium bomb1929 bomb1930 teleradium1930 telecobalt1948 sealed source1962 1924 Lancet 17 May 1012/1 Are they minute glass ‘seeds’ which are inserted and then left indefinitely? 1980 Daily Tel. 4 Dec. 6/8 It can implant radioactive seeds by needle when surgery has failed to remove malignancy or patients can no longer sustain external radiation therapy. 2000 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 8 Jan. 69/2 Brachytherapy, which involves implanting radioactive iodine or palladium seeds into the prostate, has the advantage of being a one-off outpatient treatment. 2015 Sun (Nexis) 10 Nov. 4 I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in March. I had radioactive seeds implanted in my body a month ago and my symptoms are subsiding already. 8. Chemistry. A small crystal of a substance deliberately introduced into a liquid in order to promote further crystal growth, originally in sugar manufacture; (more widely) any small crystal or other particle which acts as a nucleus for crystal formation.Recorded earliest in seed crystal n. at Compounds 3.Formerly also as a mass noun.In quot. 1973 figurative. ΚΠ 1901 Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 12 Feb. 1261/1 The herein-described process of treating a saccharin liquid consisting in forming seed-crystals therein. 1909 H. C. Prinsen-Geerligs Cane Sugar iv. 269 At one time second mass cuites, boiled smooth, were cooled in motion, sometimes after addition of sugar crystals as seed. 1915 H. C. Prinsen-Geerligs Pract. White Sugar Manuf. ii. i. 80 White sugar destined for direct consumption should..also possess a regular form and a rather large size; this latter desideratum makes it preferable to start the building up of the grain from a well-developed seed. 1943 J. M. DallaValle Micromeritics ix. 182 Only the most elementary treatment has been given the general problem of calculating the ultimate size of crystals, when given the original size of the seeds and assuming..that no new seed nuclei are formed. 1973 Nature 12 Oct. 294/1 Some cardinal topics in evolutionary biology were adopted as ‘seeds’ on which other constituents of the programme might crystallise: protein polymorphism, for example. 1987 Physics Bull. Mar. 109/2 Bulk ingots..are generally produced by the Czochralski process, in which a small single crystal ‘seed’ is dipped into a semiconductor melt and then..the single crystal solidifies on to the seed. 1998 New Scientist 1 Aug. 31/2 If you remove contaminants like dust particles which can act as seeds for nucleation, you can defy freezing and obtain supercooled liquid water. 2003 H. Y. McSween et al. Geochem. (ed. 2) viii. 152/2 The suspended submicroscopic calcite particles..act as seeds for inorganic crystal growth. 9. Sport (originally Tennis). Any of a number of seeded players in a tournament. Frequently preceded by a number or its equivalent, indicating position on the list. Cf. seed v. 11a. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > sport > player or sportsperson > [noun] > players by ability second string1643 first string1865 all-star1893 finalist1898 qualifier1908 seed1931 blue chip1958 blue-chipper1958 danger man1976 1931 Shamokin (Pa.) News-Dispatch 16 Mar. 5/2 None of the top ‘seeds’ have anything to worry about in the second round. 1933 M. D. Lyon in Aldin Bk. Outdoor Games 509 ‘But why put my beloved lawners last?’ wails the Thibetan ‘seed’. 1954 Sun (Baltimore) 22 June 17/3 The remaining four men's seeds won just the way they were supposed to due to the sudden decision by Wimbledon to seed 12 instead of the traditional eight. 1958 Times 20 Mar. 16/5 (heading) Badminton seeds dislodged. 1986 Snooker Scene July 7/1 With the exception of Taylor and Higgins, the seeds, everybody is involved in a full day of first round matches. 1999 Odds On Feb. 8/1 Number eight seed Steve Duke declares that his ambition is ‘to grow old gracefully’. The 19th seed..Co Stompe had distinct possibilities since his hobby is ‘studying the universe’ but unfortunately, he is rubbish at darts. 2009 Jakarta Post (Nexis) 19 June 24 The top seed..suffered a cruel reversal of fate when she lost in the opening round. 10. Mathematics. A number or vector used as an initial value in an algorithm, esp. for the purpose of generating a sequence of pseudorandom numbers. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > [noun] > particular qualities > other digitusa1398 argumentc1405 geodeticala1690 known quantity1702 amicable number1743 summability1900 idempotent1903 modularity1927 repunit1964 palindrome1972 seed1972 the world > relative properties > number > mathematical number or quantity > numerical arrangement > [noun] > set > sequence > series > designating place in numberc1350 extreme1571 numero1649 infinitesimal1655 No.1753 Z1842 majorant1925 seed1972 1972 Jrnl. Statist. Computation & Simulation 1 41 Seed,..that randomly selected number, 0≦U₀≦1, from which all succeeding random numbers derive by means of an algorithmic, pseudo-random, number generator. 1984 Which Micro? Dec. 36/3 Here we have..a 32 bit number which can act as a seed or a number. 2014 A. Bari et al. Predictive Analytics For Dummies xiv. 262 We set the seed for the random generator. Phrases P1. to go to seed.Cf. to run to —— 6 at run v. Phrasal verbs 2. a. Of a plant: to produce seed (often resulting in the cessation of flowering and growth). ΚΠ 1600 R. Surflet tr. C. Estienne & J. Liébault Maison Rustique ii. xxxiv. 242 Radishes..must be gathered within two or three moneths (otherwise they will quickly goe to seede). 1796 Scots Mag. Jan. 2 Gather nettle-tops when going to seed. 1864 Daily Evening Bull. (San Francisco) 2 Mar. 2/3 The grass, what little did come up, is all dry and gone to seed. 1956 Jrnl. Range Managem. 9 273/2 These pastures are rotated so that at least one goes to seed each year and provides fall and winter feed. 2013 Kindred Spirit Mar. 29/1 Deadheading..restrains the natural desire of flowers to go to seed. b. figurative. To become habitually unkempt, shabby, or ineffective; to let oneself go (see let v.¹ 24e(b)). ΘΚΠ the world > matter > condition of matter > bad condition of matter > deteriorate in condition [verb (intransitive)] > by want of use or neglect moul?c1225 rusta1400 moulda1547 to run to repairs1681 to go to seed1817 to run down1843 1817 J. K. Paulding Lett. from South I. xvii. 188 His white dimity could not last for ever, and he gradually went to seed. 1853 Official Rep. Deb. & Procedings Mass. III. 577 We are all come-outers, more or less, but some of our friends are older, and have gone to seed a little. 1929 G. Ade Let. 8 Feb. (1973) 139 Temples and palaces of incredible size and beauty, some of them slightly gone to seed and others filled with the most wonderful museum displays of Chinese art. 1967 G. F. Fiennes I tried to run Railway iv. 42 He seemed to be going to seed a bit; to be a bit slow. 1989 A. Brookner Lewis Percy v. 71 He was a tall man, but a tall man gone to seed, for there was a large rounded stomach. P2. to grow to seed: to produce seed. ΚΠ 1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry i. f. 46 It [sc. Medica] is best mowed when it beginneth to flowre, for it must not growe to seede. 1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet i. ii. 136 Ah fie, tis an vnweeded garden That growes to seede. 1728 R. Bradley Dict. Botanicum at Panax The Root..before it be grown to Seed is eaten both by the Hungarians and Tartars instead of Bread. 1842 Morning Chron. 1 Mar. 5/6 They have no weeds growing to seed, and spreading foulness over every field. 1928 W. W. Tracy Veg. Seeds for Home & Market Garden (U.S. Dept. Agric. Farmers' Bull. No. 1390) (rev. ed.) 9 Plants showing the most desirable leaf should be chosen and allowed to grow to seed. 2002 S. Ashworth Seed to Seed (ed. 2) 121/1 West Indian gherkin is an annual vine crop that can be grown to seed anywhere cucumbers are successful. P3. to be in seed: to have produced seed. ΚΠ 1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball v. xl. 605 They flower and are in seede in Iuly. 1662 C. Merrett tr. A. Neri Art of Glass 262 The herbs are in seed. 1725 R. Bradley Chomel's Dictionaire Œconomique at Onion When your Onions are in seed, they are very subject to be blown down by the Wind. 1893 Bull. Misc. Information (Royal Bot. Gardens, Kew) No. 79. 183 It being the dry season it was not a suitable time for making a good collection of specimens for the Herbarium, and many of the plants were in seed. 1950 W. O. Douglas Of Men & Mountains vi. 72 The purplish pasqueflower or western anemone was in seed. 2016 D. Williams Prairie in Seed p. xv Visit the site when the plant is in flower and document its location,..so you can find it later when it is in seed. P4. colloquial (chiefly Irish English). seed, breed, and generation and variants: an entire family including all extended relations; (in extended use) all the members of an ethnicity, race, or type. Hence also: a person's deep-rooted nature or sense of identity. ΚΠ 1767 Ann. Reg. 1766 199/2 I..began to give a full account of all that I knew of my breed, seed, and generation. 1793 M. Pilkington Rosina V. xxi. 176 I'm sure you would not care if myself and all my seed, breed and generation, were at the devil, so as you could serve your own turn by it. 1833 Morning Post 13 Aug. This contankerus fellow..told me to my face that all the breed, seed, and generations of the old stock of the Royal O'Connors, of Belinagar, were no better than—, saving your favour. 1860 Lancaster Gaz. 28 Apr. 4/6 The exclusion of the whole Napoleonic seed and breed from sovereign power. 1894 San Antonio (Texas) Daily Light 10 Apr. Those heathen Chinee..may do for a Sunday school teaparty, but ‘no bueno’ is the verdict of the American people upon the whole seed, breed and generation of them. 1949 Times Lit. Suppl. 9 Sept. 579/4 They come from County Down..They are Down men in the marrow of their bones..the breed, seed and generation of them is Down. 1972 J. B. Keane Lett. Irish Parish Priest in Celebrated Lett. (1996) 88 Knowing the seed, breed, and generation of Henry Dring I guessed that the thought of losing one penny would be sufficient to make him abandon his course. 2015 A. Titley tr. M. Ó Cadhain Dirty Dust i. 10 I know far too much about her, and every single one of her breed and seed, Maggie. P5. to set seed: to produce seed. ΚΠ 1865 G. Bentham Handbk. Brit. Flora I. p. xxix Without these the pistil is imperfect, and said to be barren (not setting seed), abortive, or rudimentary, according to the degree of imperfection. 1881 Harper's Mag. Dec. 80/1 It is scarcely necessary to refer to the fact that in order for a plant to set seed it is necessary that the stigma of the flower shall be dusted with the pollen. 1948 G. D. H. Bell Cultivated Plants Farm xiv. 126 Many brassicas are biennials, growing strongly in their first year and storing reserves of food.., and running up to flower and setting seed in their second year. 2014 Guardian 12 June 35/5 Thriving in the midst of grass crops such as wheat and barley and setting seed before the harvest makes black grass a very awkward plant. Compounds C1. (Chiefly in senses 1, 2, 3.) a. (a) General attributive, as seed crop, seed dispersal, seed germination, etc.See also seed field n., seed furrow n., seed plot n., etc. ΚΠ OE Antwerp-London Gloss. (2011) 120 Omne genus seminarium, æghwilc sædcyn. lOE Laws: Rectitudines (Corpus Cambr.) xi. 450 Sædere gebyreð, þæt he hæbbe ælces sædcynnes ænne leap fulne. 1610 P. Holland tr. W. Camden Brit. To Rdr. sig. 5 Neither were there any other seed-gardens from whence Christian Religion, and good learning were propagated over this isle. 1700 T. Brown Amusem. Serious & Comical iii. 33 A Red-Headed Monkey lost from a Seed-Shop in the Strand. 1786 C. Varlo Essence Agric. xxvi. 127 (heading) On the management of rye, both for winter-feeding, and a seed-crop. 1799 M. Pilkington Biogr. for Boys 130 Going by accident into the gardener's seed-house, he saw the man busy in laying poison for the rats. 1831 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Agric. (ed. 2) ii. ii. 418 Two cast-iron wheels, for the purpose of impressing two small seed gutters or drills on the furrow slices turned over by the common plough. 1875 Sci. Amer. 23 Jan. 57/2 Air and water are the only requisites for seed germination. 1876 ‘G. Eliot’ Daniel Deronda II. iii. xxvi. 164 Yet in the dark seed-growths of consciousness a new wish was forming itself. 1898 Daily News 9 June 7/5 To-day's seed market..was most thinly attended. 1917 D. H. Lawrence Look! We have come Through! 59 Rose-leaves that whirl in colour round a core Of seed-specks kindled lately. 1927 J. B. S. Haldane & J. S. Huxley Animal Biol. x. 219 They will produce plants each of which will have the same range of seed-weight as did its parent. 1960 Times 28 Nov. 16/5 The recommended seed-rate [for maize] is 30 to 35 lb. an acre. 1981 Country Life 16 July 184/1 My fear of the allium menace..prompts me to dead-head every species before seed-fall. 1992 Internat. Wildlife May 10 (caption) Classic seed predators, coconut crabs..skitter up trunks and crack the nuts in search of sweet meat. 2005 Evening Gaz. (Middlesbrough) 25 May 8 Seed dormancy..means some seeds can take years to germinate. 2013 K. S. Hadley et al. in M. F. Price et al. Mountain Geogr. vii. 193 Whitebark pine produces large, wingless seeds that rely on a bird..for seed dispersal. (b) seed catalogue n. ΚΠ 1727 S. Switzer Pract. Kitchen Gardiner p. xvii Seed catalogues..are publish'd for the benefit of gardiners. 1835 Hort. Reg. Dec. 464 Our seed catalogues are too voluminous. 1938 N. Marsh Death in White Tie xxv. 266 He hastily gathered up..parish magazines, Church Times, and seed catalogues. 2008 Times 25 Apr. (Times2 section) 7/4 The postman has just delivered a seed catalogue, packed with tempting offers. seed merchant n. ΚΠ 1683 J. Sutherland Hortus Medicus Edinburgensis (title page) Mr. Henry Ferguson Seed-Merchant. 1766 Public Advertiser 2 Oct. Mr. Millar, Seed merchant. 1850 Horticulturist May 522/2 Peas..bought of one of the great London seed merchants. 1947 D. H. Robinson Leguminous Forage Plants (ed. 2) iv. 59 In threshing the black fruits are detached, but they do not release the yellow seeds,..leaving the seed merchant to complete the separation of the seed. 2017 Dumfries & Galloway Standard (Nexis) 28 July 24 He had worked for the club for a couple of years before that during the summers, spending the winter working for seed merchants. seed packet n. ΚΠ 1844 Gardeners' Chron. 27 Jan. 52/2 Those who grow things properly will find the seed-packet cheap enough. 1935 A. G. L. Hellyer Pract. Gardening v. 43 Beginners are safe in following the directions printed on the seed packet. 2010 Vancouver Sun (Nexis) 8 Jan. e7 (caption) McKenzie Seeds, of Manitoba, hopes these quirky seed packets will encourage children to get into gardening. seed tray n. ΚΠ 1849 N. Crosland Stratagems i. 9 Then she inspected the seed-tray and water-glass of her mamma's canary. 1953 E. R. Janes Sweet Peas vii. 53 Standard seed trays give little trouble. 2014 Irish Independent (National ed.) (Nexis) 20 Sept. 31 To germinate, place the seed tray on a light-filled windowsill. b. (a) attributive. Designating grain reserved for growing new crops.See also seed corn n. 1. seed barley n. ΚΠ 1499–1500 in D. Dymond Reg. Thetford Priory (1995) I. 119 Roberto Gerard pro vj cumb' seed barly. 1540 in J. W. Clay Testamenta Eboracensia (1902) VI. 95 One strike of sede barlie. 1613 G. Markham Eng. Husbandman: 1st Pt. i. v. 23 You shall take care that in your seede Barly there be not any Oates. 1740 Gen. Evening Post 6 Mar. They are in so much want there of Seed Barley, that some Merchants have contracted for 400 Quarters to be shipp'd for Carmarthen. 1805 A. Young Farmer's Cal. (ed. 6) 108 This is the proper month for getting seed-barley into the ground. 1932 A. Bell Cherry Tree vii. 78 I had come for seed-barley, and my horse and tumbril stood at the doors. 2001 M. J. Lewis & T. W. Young Brewing (ed. 2) ix. 160 Barley, of a suitable variety for the region..has been properly selected and treated as a seed barley. seed grain n. ΚΠ 1600 J. Pory tr. J. Leo Africanus Geogr. Hist. Afr. iii. 134 Next vnto them [sc. shops that sell meale] are such as sell seed-graine and seed-pulse. 1924 Advocate of Peace Nov. 587/2 Not only is there famine in Russia now, but the outlook for next year is also dark, as there is a universal shortage of seed grain. 2010 Environmental Health Perspectives 118 1137/3 Treated seed grain was mistakenly used for bread making. seed maize n. ΚΠ 1806 in F. M. Bladen Hist. Rec. New S. Wales (1898) VI. 174 The Commissary will be directed..to make an allowance of twenty shillings for each bushel of seed maize put into the store. 1927 Geogr. Jrnl. 70 327 The Government is doing much to help in this by the introduction of good seed maize. 2005 Financial Times 22 Nov. 10/6 He cultivates seed maize, tobacco, soya beans, wheat and commercial maize on a 9.7 hectare (24-acre) property near Lusaka. seed oats n. ΚΠ 1579 in J. Raine Wills & Inventories Archdeaconry Richmond (1853) 424 I do geve & bequeathe vnto willmn Claxton my nephewe..one quarter of seede Otes. 1613 G. Markham Eng. Husbandman: 1st Pt. i. v. 24 (margin) The choice of seede-Oates. 1748 Gen. Advertiser 12 Jan. The Boys harrowed as much Land as contain'd 15 Barrels of choice Seed Oats. 1810 W. Pitt Gen. View Agric. County Worcester 87 He..thinks premiums should be offered to the merchants for importing seed-oats of superior quality. 1979 Texas Monthly Feb. 123/1 Seed oats sowed a month ago..lie unsprouted in the dusty, harrowed earth of my small fields. 2010 Jrnl. Mammal. 91 502/1 Traps were prebaited with seed oats for a week before trapping. seed wheat n. ΚΠ 1573 T. Tusser Fiue Hundreth Points Good Husbandry f. 20 Maydes little & great, pych cleene seede wheat. 1603 tr. Newes from Malta sig. Biij I haue spent all my mony at London, and haue not left myself so much as to buy my seed Wheat, wherwith to sowe my land this season. ?1734 Pract. Husbandman & Planter II. iii. 177 All our Hampshire Farmers chuse their Seed-Wheat, for their better Lands, from the Wiltshire Hills. 1801 Farmer's Mag. Aug. 271 The proper quantity of seed-wheat to be used per acre. 1940 L. I. Wilder Long Winter xxxi. 305 The Wilder brothers had hauled the seed wheat around the slough north of town to their claims. 2008 Irish Jrnl. Agric. & Food Res. 47 90/1 Treating seed wheat with Bitrex failed to deter crows from feeding on seed. (b) (i) attributive. In extended use, designating beans, tubers, bulbs, etc., kept for growing new crops.See also seed corn n. 1. ΚΠ 1600 J. Pory tr. J. Leo Africanus Geogr. Hist. Afr. iii. 134 Next vnto them [sc. shops that sell meale] are such as sell seed-graine and seed-pulse. 1753 Country Gentleman's Compan. II. 132 Now water your new-planted Trees once in ten Days, and fence your Seed-Onions. 1855 E. S. Dixon Kitchen Garden 48 The little seed-bulbs, planted in early spring, grow to the size of an ordinary good-sized onion; while the large onions, planted out, furnish plenty of seed-bulbs for the following season. 1995 Amateur Gardening 25 Nov. 43/2 Early seed tubers should be bought in late September or early October and then kept somewhere warm..until the eyes begin to break into growth. 2008 Internat. Jrnl. Afr. Hist. Stud. 41 533 Seed beans (for export) are now a major crop in commercial farms. (ii) seed potato n. ΚΠ 1742 Will of John Savage in H. H. Metcalf & O. G. Hammond Probate Rec. New Hampsh. (1915) III. 115 I Give to my Dear and Loving Wife..Ground..for to plant one bushel of Seed pertators. 1848 Morning Post 12 Aug. 2/2 After the..seed potato is planted, each of its eyes sends up a shoot to the surface. 1901 Cycl. Amer. Hort.: N–Q 1419/2 The seed Potatoes are cut to one eye, and dropped about 12 to 15 in. apart. 2010 Countryfile Feb. 76/2 Buy your early variety seed potatoes now. c. attributive. Designating parts of seeds, and parts of plants that bear or contain seed, as seed capsule, seed down, seed stem, etc.Recorded earliest in seed case n. at Compounds 3.See also seed box n. 1, seed crown n. 2, etc. ΚΠ 1551 W. Turner New Herball sig. L ii Clymenum..hath lytle sede cases about the stalke turnynge one into another. 1672 N. Grew Anat. Veg. vii. 183 The Sap being thus prepared in the inner Coat, as a Liquor now apt to be the Substratum of the future Seed-Embrio, by fresh supplies, is thence discharg'd. 1744 W. Ellis Mod. Husbandman Jan. ii. 32 A Turnep runs up a Seed-stalk sometimes near seven Feet high. 1786 J. Abercrombie Gardeners Daily Assistant 201 Dill—if now advanced in seed-umbels, may be pulled up for use. 1796 W. Withering Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 3) I. 80 Seed-cover (calyculus) the real cover of the seed. 1808 C. Vancouver Gen. View Agric. Devon xiv. 355 In summer, it chiefly subsists on the tops and seed-stems of thistles. 1829 T. Castle Introd. Systematical & Physiol. Bot. 87 The less essential parts of a seed are, the pellicle, the tunic, the seed-down [etc.]. 1839 J. Buel Farmer's Compan. xxii. 226 It may be known by its..seed-glumes resembling a cock's-foot. 1844 Zoologist 2 451 The seed-branches of field grasses. 1855 H. W. Longfellow Hiawatha xviii. 245 So they gathered cones together, Gathered seed-cones of the pine-tree. 1915 Rep. Kansas State Board Agric. for Quarter ending March, 1915 144 The idea with any grain sorghum is to get as many seed branches as possible on the center stem. 1977 Arnoldia 37 17 Micro-organisms decompose the seed covering. 1991 Vancouver Sun (Nexis) 23 Nov. c6 Once the petals drop, triangular seed capsules form and..remain on the tree all winter. 2014 P. Munts & S. Mulvihill Northwest Gardener's Handbk. 137/3 Blue grama grass..has horizontal purple inflorescences on 6- to 8-inch stems during summer and seed spikes that attract birds. d. attributive. In the names of agricultural implements or their component parts, used to sow seed, as seed basket, seed harrow, seed plough, etc.See also seed drill n. at Compounds 3, seed box n. 2. ΚΠ 1562 Certayn Serm. preached in Lincs. in H. Latimer 27 Serm. i. f. 63^v Vpon the Saboth day goddes sede plough goeth. 1654 J. Trapp Comm. Minor Prophets (Amos ix. 13) 290 Sowing seed..drawn out of the seed basket. 1765 Ann. Reg. 1764 76 At York: †a newly invented seed plough..on two wheels. 1831 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Agric. (1857) §2526 The seed-carrier or seed-basket is sometimes made of thin veneers of wood, bent into an irregular oval, with a hollow to fit the seedsman's side. 1831 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Agric. (1857) §2704 Gray's seed-harrow for wet weather promises to be useful..in a tenacious retentive soil. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm III. 790 The true seed-box..is in form of a small barrel, and is hence called the seed-barrel. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm II. 596 The bearing or platform of the seed-funnels. 1852 Trans. Mich. Agric. Soc. 3 30 Best seed planter, for hand or horse power, for hills and drills. 1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. III. 2089/1 The rod-shaft, which communicates by rods with the seed-slides of the separate hoppers, which discharge into the seed-tubes of the shares. 1954 R. H. Cochrane Farm Machinery & Tractors (ed. 2) 26 The seed hoppers for drills are now almost all made of sheet metal. 2015 C. Nardozzi New Eng. Month-by-month Gardening 60/2 Use a seed spreader for larger areas. e. attributive. Designating a period when seeds are traditionally sown, as seed month, seed season, etc. Now historical and rare. See also seed time n. ΚΠ 1579 Cyuile & Vncyuile Life sig. Giii^v Wee haue much adoo in seed season. 1617 S. Purchas Pilgrimage (ed. 3) v. ix. 619 Which [feastings] they vse to doe in all their feasts, marriages, childe-births, and their haruest and seed-seasons. 1647 H. Hexham Copious Eng. & Netherduytch Dict. Seed-moneth, Zaey-maent. 1707 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husbandry (1721) II. 360 This [sc. Febr.] is a principal Seed Month, for such as they commonly call Lenten Grain. 1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 461 In very wet seed seasons too, it must, perhaps, give way in many cases to the broadcast method. 1810 Belfast Monthly Mag. Mar. 193/1 The inhabitants..do not deem it expedient to fix upon any certain times for the seed month. 2006 Agric. Hist. Rev. 54 289 March was the principal seed month. f. attributive. Forming compounds denoting an uncastrated male animal kept for breeding, as seed bull, seed horse, etc. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > horse defined by gender or age > [noun] > male > stallion or stud-horse stud horseeOE stallion1390 steed-horsec1425 courser1483 mastard1598 stone-horse1600 stone-colt1691 seed horse1792 stud1803 foal-getter1809 entire1881 1792 Acts & Laws State Connecticut 425 That each Stallion or Seed Horse of more than three years old, shall be set in the list at Twenty Pounds. 1794 J. Morse Amer. Geogr. 485 The gentlemen..have taken much pains to raise a good breed of horses... They will give 1000l. sterling for a good seed horse. 1840 Sporting Rev. July 107 I decleere most peositively, that the seed bull is me property. 1925 Public Sale Notice 6 Mar. in Pennsylvania Folklife Spring 1976 26 Public Sale..One pure bred Seed Hog, the balance are shoats weighing from 40 to 100 pounds. 1958 H. Sandburg Wheel of Earth xi. 147 ‘How's that seed-boar I traded you?’ ‘He's a crapping mean sonofabitch, Hedrick. Set on rutting up his fence all the time’. 2010 Age (Melbourne) (Nexis) 18 May 7 The outbreak..has forced the cull of 49 seed bulls, leaving just six to breed the species of cattle that produces the tender beef from Miyazaki prefecture. g. attributive. Designating or relating to resources provided to initiate a project, esp. a new business venture, as seed capital, seed funding, seed investor, etc.See also seed money n. at Compounds 3. ΚΠ 1945 N.Y. Times 25 May 6/1 We can furnish the ‘seed’ capital and the knowledge of how to use ‘seed’ capital to produce a ‘high standard of living’ crop. 1957 Washington Post 3 June a11/3 The seed investments of the development program are at last beginning to produce real growth. 1969 Bay State Banner (Boston) 30 Oct. 6 Seed funding and services for the clinic came from the hospital. 1982 Barron's National Business & Financial Weekly 27 Sept. 7/3 INVEST is shooting for an Oct. 12 start-up in one office of each of the four 'seed' investors. 1999 Times Higher Educ. Suppl. 19 Mar. 30/2 Creating seed funds to help convert university research into potential business ventures. 2014 Daily Tel. 4 Apr. (Business section) 8/2 Venture capital funds have expressed an interest in raising seed capital for the business. C2. a. Objective, as seed crusher, seed disperser, seed grower, seed seller, etc.See also seed eater n. at Compounds 3, seed-eating adj. at Compounds 3, seed carrier n. ΚΠ 1562 J. Heywood Sixt Hundred Epigrammes lxxiii, in Wks. sig. Ddii^v We seede sellers must sell seedes one with an other. 1585 J. Higgins tr. Junius Nomenclator 513 Seminaria,..a seedesauer: a woman that gathereth and preserueth the seedes of herbs. 1775 W. Boutcher Treat. Forest-trees xxv. 131 By collecting your seeds in this manner,..you will have them unhurt, ripe and generous, a pound of which will raise more plants than six of that usually bought from the seed-gatherers. 1824 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Gardening (ed. 2) iv. i. 1041 Seed-growers are as frequently farmers as gardeners. 1850 Ann. Rep. Commissioner Patents 1849: Arts & Manuf. 151 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (31st Congr., 1st Sess.: House of Representatives Executive Doc. 20, Pt. 1) VI Having thus fully described my improved grain and seed planter. 1858 P. L. Simmonds Dict. Trade Products Seed-crusher, one who expresses oil from seeds; a machine with rollers. 1896 Yearbk. U.S. Dept. Agric. 1895 175 The importance of seed testing is recognized not only by professional seedmen, but also by intelligent farmers. 1946 A. Nelson Princ. Agric. Bot. viii. 223 Seeds with a copious fatty reserve..are bought by seed crushers for the extraction of the oil. 1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Mar. 243/1 Some 80 years ago the first seed-testing station was established in Saxony by Professor Nobbe. 1992 Internat. Wildlife May 7 (caption) A kinkajou in Belize..makes a good seed-disperser; it gulps down fruits without much chewing, minimizing the damage to seeds. 2004 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 7 Mar. iv. 6/2 If you are a serious seed grower, consider investing in a light stand. b. seed bearer n. ΚΠ 1679 J. Evelyn Sylva (ed. 3) xx. 88 These Iuli, are not all of them seed-bearers. 1883 A. Thomas Mod. Housewife 19 John had cut certain heads of asparagus that were intended for seed-bearers. 1962 N.Y. Times 9 Dec. x33/7 Cones are the fruits or seed bearers of the needled evergreens which are called conifers. 2004 Jrnl. Ecol. 92 501/1 The long-term stability of the forest was reinforced by the almost continuous presence of nearby seed bearers of both species. seed-bearing adj. ΚΠ OE Genesis A (1931) 1145 Him æfter heold, þa he of worulde gewat, Enos yrfe, siððan eorðe swealh sædberendes Sethes lice. 1653 J. Rogers Ohel or Beth-Shemesh i. iii. 32 Serviceable, and seed-bearing-trees for barren brambles, and uselesse fruitless bushes. 1766 Compl. Farmer at Hemp This other species,..which is commonly termed male hemp, should be called seed-bearing hemp, or female hemp. 1877 F. G. Heath Fern World 25 These beautiful plants, however, though flowerless, are seed-bearing. 1964 Country Life 20 Feb. 406/1 The latest method of collecting seed-bearing cones from tall conifers. 2011 New Yorker 21 Nov. 84/3 You have to look for seed-bearing pods. seed sower n. ΚΠ 1550 J. Ponet Notable Serm. conc. Ryghte Use Lordes Supper sig. Eiii^v That seed,..hath bene lost in the way, & could not enter to take rote, growe & bring forth fruite, accordyng to the expectacion of the seed sower. 1789 Hieroglyphick Wonder of World iv. 25 A Christian is a Child of God, born of God, the begetter and Seed Sower is God. 1848 Commerc. Rev. South & West Sept. 133 Seed-Sowers, &c.—These machines are quite ingenious and labor-saving in their contrivance, [etc.]. 2006 Gardens Monthly Apr. 12/2 For inexperienced seed-sowers, marigolds, dahlias, dianthus, cosmos,..and sunflowers are among the easiest to try. seed-sowing n. ΚΠ 1567 J. Maplet Greene Forest Pref. f. 28 Some [plants]..spring vp and increase by seede sowing. 1730 W. Kelynack & 116 others, Appellants. W. Gwavas, Respondent: Respondent's Case 3 No Allowance or Deduction is made for the Rent of the Land, Plowing, Seed Sowing, Reaping, &c. 1865 10th Ann. Rep. Maine Board Agric. i. 65 The use of the drill for general seed-sowing is at present considered too expensive. 1977 Financial Times 30 Apr. 7/1 The date of seed sowing must be rather nicely calculated to time things just right to get the longest possible growing season. 2007 R. Millward Apples ix. 105 I scrunched my gel then shuffled into the middle of the floor, doing the seed-sowing dance. C3. † seed artery n. Obsolete the testicular or ovarian artery, supposed to transport seed (sense 3) to the testicle or ovary; cf. seed vein n. ΚΠ 1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια xi. xv. 862 The fourth is called Spermatica, the seede artery. 1663 N. Culpeper & A. Cole tr. T. Bartholin Anat. (new ed.) i. xvii. 46 (caption) The spermatick or Seed-arteries. seed bag n. (a) a part of a plant or fungus which contains seed or spores (now rare); (also) †a receptacle for the eggs or larvae of an animal (obsolete); (b) (in the drilling of an oil well) a tubular leather container fastened around a pipe and filled with flax seeds which swell to form a seal against the ingress of water (now historical). ΚΠ 1665 R. Hooke Micrographia 132 The other..seem'd full of exceeding small white seeds, much like the seed-bagg in the knop of a Carnation, after the flowers have been two or three days, or a week, fallen off. 1665 R. Hooke Micrographia 136 Whether they be matrices or seed-baggs of any kind of Fishes, or some kind of watry Insect. 1742 J. Martyn tr. W. Harris Treat. Acute Dis. Infants 171 A Sort of Cluster, or Seed-Bag of the Spawn of Worms. 1832 Gardener's Mag. 8 739 The peridium, or seed bag, is formed beneath the epidermis of a leaf. 1860 Country Gentleman 1 Mar. 148/2 The bee has the will and power to contract her seed bag or not. 1862 Board Arts & Manufactures Jrnl. 2 61/2 Around one end [of the pipe] was wrapped another seed bag. 1865 G. W. Gesner A. Gesner's Pract. Treat. Coal (ed. 2) ii. 32 To prevent communication between any particular portion of the well and the pumping tube, a bag of linseed, called a ‘seed bag’, is sent down to the required place. This bag, encircling the tube, soon swells.., and forms a water-tight joint. 1906 H. F. Jones Plant Life 28 When ripe, the seed-bag opens at the end and splits into three portions. 1959 H. F. Williamson & A. R. Daum Amer. Petroleum Industry: Age Illumination 1859–1899 vii. 149 Further refinements of the third progressive step in permanent casing abolished both the seed bag and the leather packer. 2000 Bothalia 30 37/1 Fruit a hygrochastic capsule,..seed bags absent. seed bank n. (a) a place where a collection or stock of seeds of different plant varieties and species is stored for use in agriculture or as a safeguard against their possible extinction; (b) (more fully soil seed bank) the seeds that have accumulated naturally in a given area of ground. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > botany > [noun] > store of seeds seed bank1906 the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > storage or preservation of crops > [noun] > seed bank seed bank1906 1906 Agric. Jrnl. India 1 219 I have come to the conclusion that on the whole it is easier to found successful money societies than seed banks. 1961 A. S. Leopold Desert vi. 117 If the season ends favorably, it usually means that a fine new crop of seeds is added to the seed bank in the soil. 1982 Washington Post 5 Nov. (Weekend section) 57/1 The winter wheat is a variety called Red May, unchanged from the 18th century; the seeds came from the Department of Agriculture's seed bank. 1990 J. O. Luken Directing Ecol. Succession iii. 43 The soil seed bank is rapidly depleted by seed germination and seed destruction. 2003 Org. Gardening Sept. 13/2 Many things will appear quickly, including whatever weedy species exist in the seed-bank in your soil. 2016 New Scientist 26 Mar. 17/1 The waterwheel plant is facing extinction—and even preservation in a seed bank looks doubtful. seed bead n. a small, decorative bead; (now) esp. one no wider than 5 mm in diameter, intended for weaving, embroidery, and other forms of beadwork. ΚΠ 1625 S. Purchas Pilgrimes II. vii. v. 971 Then I was sent to Long,..and carried all Commodities fit for that Countrey; as long Glasse-beads, and round Blew beads, and Seed beads. 1801 Morning Chron. 7 Dec. (advt.) Seed Beads for Purses in all colours. 1888 Godey's Lady's Bk. May 463/2 Visite mantle in myrtle-green veloutine, dotted with jetted courants, tipped with a gold seed bead. 1998 Beadwork Summer 9/1 Made primarily with seed beads, the 86 works in Bead Dreams, Future Visions represent 71 artists in 25 states plus Australia and Argentina. 2013 J. Durant & E. Eckman Crochet One-skein Wonders 22/1 Using size 6° seed beads and size 3 cotton crochet thread, you can whip up a bracelet in very little time. seed beetle n. a bruchid beetle (family Chrysomelidae), whose larvae develop within beans or other seeds; = bruchid n. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Coleoptera or beetles and weevils > [noun] > Polyphaga (omnivorous) > superfamily Phytophaga or Chrysomeloidea > family Bruchiidae or Lariidae > member of genus Bruchus > bruchus varicornis (bean-weevil) seed beetle1771 bean weevil1870 bruchid1890 1771 J. R. Forster Catal. Animals N. Amer. 25 Seed-Beetle..Bruchus Pisi. 1912 J. R. Ainsworth-Davis tr. W. F. Bruck Plant Dis. iv. 77 Among Beetles may particularly be mentioned species of Bruchus which attack the ripe seeds of peas and beans (Seed Beetles). 2003 R. Ornduff et al. Introd. Calif. Plant Life (rev. ed.) iii. 80 They also produce a white gummy substance in their flower buds that discourages seed beetles from laying eggs in gum plant seeds. seed bird n. (a) a bird that feeds mainly on seeds (now rare); †(b) British regional a bird that forages in newly ploughed land in the spring, esp. a wagtail (obsolete). ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > non-arboreal (larks, etc.) > [noun] > family Motacillidae > genus Motacilla > motacilla alba (pied wagtail) washerc1325 washstarta1400 wevesterte14.. water swallow1544 dishwasher1575 water-wagtail1593 dishwater1674 seed bird1675 pied wagtail1744 willy wagtail1780 washerwoman1817 wash-dish1825 moll-washer1847 deviling1853 devil's bird1853 tinner1866 peggy1885 the world > animals > birds > defined by habitat > [noun] > aquatic or swimming bird > marine sea-fowl1340 sea-bird1589 guano1697 seed bird1791 ocean fowl1864 sea-runner1872 the world > animals > birds > order Charadriiformes > family Laridae (gulls and terns) > [noun] > member of genus Larus (gull) > larus canus (common gull) meweOE larea1425 sea-mawc1425 seamewc1430 mow1440 maw?a1513 sea-cob1530 camose1542 seagull1542 cob1574 mevy1616 sea-pigeon1620 tarrock1674 sea-mall1676 sea-moit1681 gor1697 seed bird1791 1675 J. Blagrave New Additions Art Husbandry (new ed.) 110 A Seed-Bird very seldom dungs too hard. 1678 J. Ray tr. F. Willughby Ornithol. 237 Moreover it [sc. the white Wagtail] follows the Plough, to gather the Worms..: As our Husbandmen have told me of their own observation; who therefore call it the Seed-bird, as Mr. Johnson informed me. 1791 J. Sinclair Statist. Acct. Scotl. I. 67 Sea fowls appear here in great numbers in the spring, about seed-time; they follow the plough and are thence called seed-birds. 1854 Bird Keeper's Guide & Compan. 38 A soft meat bird cannot be brought to breed with a seed bird; otherwise we should find some fanciers who would cross the nightingale with the canary. 1865 Zoologist 23 9680 This species [sc. the grey wagtail] is here a summer migrant, leaving late in autumn and returning about the sowing time, whence probably its local name of ‘seed-bird’. 1979 Asian Folklore Stud. 38 146 The agricultural innovations now taking place in Khuzestan promise the seed birds unparalleled benefits. seed bomb n. a ball of clay, compost, and seeds (or a similar device) used to disperse seeds artificially. ΚΠ 1937 Amer. Forests Apr. 178/3 A checkback on the ‘bombing’ maps showed that the new forests were springing up as a result of the seed ‘bombs’. 1973 Permanent Assoc. Comm. Proc. (Western Forestry & Conservation Association) 105/2 The seeds are imbedded in a protective ball or wafer which provides the initial growing medium. These seed bombs are then dropped from an aircraft. 2014 K. Swan Summer Without You 112 I distribute the seed bombs at food fairs... Volunteers take them to distribute along coastline they're passing either on foot or by bike. † seed-bone n. Anatomy Obsolete a sesamoid bone. ΘΚΠ the world > life > the body > structural parts > bone or bones > types of bones > [noun] > according to shape seed-bone1615 pessulus1805 sesamoid1854 colonnette1872 scale1875 semilunar1893 1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια ix. ii. 729 The arme hath one bone, the cubite two,..the fingers fifteene, to which we may adde if we please the small seede bones called Sesamoidea. 1634 T. Johnson tr. A. Paré Chirurg. Wks. vi. xxvii. 220 The Ossa Sesamoidea, or seed bones: these are 19 in number. 1795 R. Anderson Wks. Brit. Poets XIII. 593/2 There are in the joints of the fingers little bones, commonly called seed-bones. seed-borne n. carried by seeds; caused or transmitted by an agent present in seed. ΚΠ 1910 W. H. Beal et al. Exper. Station Work (U.S. Dept. Agric. Farmers' Bull. No. 419) 15 He..gives a simple statement of the best methods and appliances now known for the prevention or control of seed-borne diseases. 1931 Bull. W. Virginia Agric. Exper. Station No. 245. 5 The economic losses occasioned by these few seed-borne parasites..are enormous. 1968 Times 16 Dec. 7/1 A seed-borne fungus disease. 2013 Jrnl. Plant Pathol. 95 612/2 The pathogen is mainly seed-borne. † seed bringer n. Anatomy Obsolete an artery or vein believed to convey seed (sense 3) to the ovary or testicle; probably the ovarian or testicular artery or vein (cf. seed artery n., seed vein n.). ΘΚΠ the world > life > the body > secretory organs > ducts > [noun] > seminal or spermatic ducts seed bringer1545 vas deferens1578 seed trough1615 seed vein1615 spermatic1690 seminal1733 rete testis1777 rete1849 parepididymis1881 spermaduct1891 1545 T. Raynald in tr. E. Roesslin Byrth of Mankynde i. sig. F^v The seede bryngars called in latin vasa semen adferentia, be .ii. vaynes & .ii. artyres. 1633 J. Weemes Observ., Naturall & Morall xi. 52 The seed bringers called vasa seminaria, bee two veines and two arteries which come downe to the thigh. seed bud n. †(a) the embryo plant within a seed; cf. germ n. 2b (obsolete rare); (b) the part of the pistil which ultimately forms the fruit; the ovary; cf. germen n. 3. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > flower or part containing reproductive organs > [noun] > parts of > ovary seed bud1721 ovarium1724 seed nest1727 ovary1731 germ1758 germen1759 ovulary1898 1721 R. Bradley tr. G. A. Agricola Philos. Treat. Husbandry 73 The Seed-buds or Germes..have in 'em the whole Form of the Tree. 1770 C. Milne Bot. Dict. at Ensatæ The Seed-bud is sometimes placed above the flower..; sometimes below it. 1874 Inter Ocean (Chicago) 11 July 8/3 Cut back all the flowering stalks; do not let one rose form a seed bud, as that process exhausts the roots more than any other. 1919 H. W. Mabie et al. Sci., Invention, & Plant Life Young Folks Treasury 8 450 Let us look once more at the pistil of the buttercup, in which the tiny seed buds lie waiting—waiting for the magic touch of the pollen grains to move them to life. 2008 A. Beeby & A.-M. Brennan First Ecol. (ed. 3) iv. 111/1 She then flies to another flower and lays eggs in its seed buds. seed case n. a structure within a flowering plant containing its seeds. ΚΠ 1551 W. Turner New Herball sig. L ii Clymenum..hath lytle sede cases about the stalke turnynge one into another. 1682 N. Grew Anat. Plants iv. iii. v. 186 The Seed-Case, whether it be called a Cod, Pod, or by any other name. 1724 P. Blair Pharmaco-botanologia ii. 68 The Top of the flowering Foot-stalk, supports the Ovarium or Seed-case. 1893 G. D. Leslie Lett. to Marco xii. 71 I take great interest..in the seediness of my garden; seeds and seed-cases are perhaps the most wonderful of any of the parts of plant life. 1954 Times 22 Dec. 10/6 Does the poison reside only in the hard seed cases? 2007 S. R. Kaufman & W. Kaufman Invasive Plants ii. 128 Flowers are greenish-red to brown without petals, producing clusters of round-winged seed cases. seed coat n. the protective outer covering of a seed; = testa n. 1. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > seed > [noun] > parts of > covering or skin pillc1300 huskc1400 shell1561 tunicle1601 parchment1682 tunic1760 seed coat1776 aril1785 testa1796 perula1825 spermoderm1841 endopleura1842 test1846 arillode1854 tegmen1857 1776 W. Withering Bot. Arrangem. Veg. Great Brit. II. 826 The Seed-coat opened to shew the Seed. 1894 F. W. Oliver et al. tr. A. Kerner von Marilaun Nat. Hist. Plants I. 601 The embryo is surrounded by the seed-coat, which may consist of a single or a double layer. 1955 Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 82 285 The seed coat itself permits the entrance of water, and germination takes place in a few days. 2005 Post-Standard (Syracuse, N.Y.) 13 Feb. (Final ed.) 29/3 Morning glory seeds have hard seed coats. seed compost a potting compost used for the germination of seeds. ΚΠ 1843 Gardeners' Chron. 4 Mar. 143/2 Florists often dry their seed-compost over the fire in an iron vessel. 1952 New Phytologist 51 387 Only one seedling germinated when many seeds of [Gallinsoga] parviflora were sown in John Innes seed compost. 2011 K. Thompson Compost 164 Pure leafmould makes an excellent seed compost. seed coral n. now rare (as a mass noun) small fragments of coral resembling seeds in size, typically used in jewellery-making or embroidered on fabric; cf. seed pearl n. 2. ΚΠ 1807 La Belle Assemblée Mar. 164/2 My necklace and bracelets..were composed of seed coral. 1842 Metropolitan 35 301 She wore a dress of green crape,..embroidered in branches of seed-coral. 1966 Vogue Oct. 186/1 The upper necklace—a twisted rope of seed coral—is centred with an emerald carved in leaf-shapes. seed cotton n. bolls of cotton (boll n.¹ 3) from which the seed has not been separated from the cotton fibres. ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > cotton > [noun] > with seed not separated seed cotton1777 1777 A. Bennet Let. 2 July in Trans. Soc. Arts (1783) 1 261 I also bought a small parcel of seed Cotton. 1876 Constitution (Atlanta, Georgia) 18 Mar. 300 lbs. seed cotton..make 100 lbs. lint. 1966 Mariner's Mirror 52 95 I remember..sleeping on a mattress which was stuffed with ‘seed cotton’. 2011 Weed Technol. 25 180/1 Seed cotton samples from each plot were collected for ginning. seed crystal n. a small crystal of a substance deliberately introduced into a liquid in order to promote further crystal growth, originally in sugar manufacture; any small crystal which acts as a nucleus for crystal formation.Cf. sense 8.In quot. 1993 in figurative context. ΚΠ 1901Seed crystals [see sense 8]. 1934 Industr. & Engin. Chem. 26 ii. 1201/1 The initial formation of crystal nuclei is profoundly influenced by the chance presence of very small seed crystals of the solute. 1993 M. Flynn In Country of Blind 182 The wonderful thing about memetic engineering..was that a few trite proverbs dropped into a discussion acted as seed crystals in a supersaturated solution. 2001 O. Sacks Uncle Tungsten vii. 68 If I used an alum solution and a good seed crystal to start it off..the crystal would grow evenly. seed dressing n. a preparation applied to seed prior to planting in order to protect it from pests or disease; the action or process of treating seed in this way.Cf. seed treatment n. ΚΠ 1808 Agric. Mag. Aug. 95 No dressing of seed has ever been used, and yet their success with respect to black or clean wheat, has..been upon a par with their seed-dressing brethren. 1926–7 Army & Navy Stores Catal. p. lxxi/2 Seed Dressings, Liquid. 1977 M. B. Green et al. Chemicals for Crop Protection & Pest Control xii. 103 The convenience and economy of seed-dressing makes it..a clear choice when the disease can be controlled this way. 2008 Daily Tel. 30 Jan. 31/8 One of the neonicotinoid chemicals has been banned in France for a decade as a seed dressing on sunflowers. seed drill n. Agriculture a machine that sows seeds in a row at regular intervals, esp. one which also ploughs a furrow and covers the seed with soil; = drill n.⁴ 2.Seed drills were originally designed to be pulled by horses or other draught animals, but are now (in areas where agriculture is mechanized) typically pulled by tractors. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > tools and implements > sowing and planting equipment > [noun] > apparatus for sowing > machine for sowing in drills drill1733 drill-plough1733 seed drill1764 drill-barrow1807 drill-machine1808 placement drill1959 1764 Gentleman's Mag. Nov. 532/2 This crank is never used but in turnep or small seed drills. 1895 Farm Implem. News 14 Feb. 13/2 Jethro Tull..was the originator of horse-hoe cultivation, and in carrying out his ideas he produced the first practical seed drill. 1973 L. Russell Everyday Life Colonial Canada iii. 38 The seed drill..in this the seeds were not just dropped into the furrows, but were inserted into the soil through flexible tubes with a cutting edge in front. 2009 Classic Tractor Sept. 77/3 Seed sowing is represented by a classic MF 10 fertiliser spinner and a Massey Ferguson seed drill. † seed earth n. [ < seed n. + earth n.²] Obsolete the side of a seed furrow; the ridge of soil running along the top of this. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > sowing > [noun] > seed-furrow or drill > side of seed earth1765 the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > breaking up land > ploughing > [noun] > furrow > side of seed-furrow seed earth1765 1765 tr. J. Bertrand in Foreign Ess. Agric. & Arts iii. 18 The furrows of the seed earth should be, if possible, drawn from north to south. 1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 10 Ley-grounds cannot be laid too flat, or seed earths too much on an edge. seed eater n. any of the seed-eating songbirds, typically having strong conical bills, spec. (with distinguishing word) any of the small songbirds of the Central and South American genus Sporophila; (also more generally) any animal that feeds mainly on seeds.The genus Sporophila, traditionally included in the family Emberizidae, is now often included in the Thraupidae (tanagers). ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > actions or bird defined by > [noun] > that eats specific things worm-fowlc1381 seed fowlc1500 thistle-eater1562 chipper1668 honeyeater1688 wheat-bird1747 falcon-fisher1759 worm-eater1760 bone-breaker1787 seed eater1820 carrion-bird1839 seed feeder1853 fish-tiger1879 the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > seed eaters > [noun] > family Emberizidae > subfamily Emberizinae (bunting) > genus Tiaris (grass quit) seed eater1820 grassquit1847 1820–1 W. Swainson Zool. Illustr. I. Pl. 7 (heading) Hooded Seed-eater. 1879 G. N. Lawrence in Proc. U.S. National Mus. I. 355 Phonipara bicolor (Linn.)... ‘Mangeur des herbes’. Seed-eater. 1884 J. Burroughs in Cent. Mag. Dec. 220/1 Even the slate-coloured snow-bird, a seed-eater, comes and nibbles. 1968 I. W. Cornwall Prehistoric Animals & their Hunters ii. 58 The fauna was plentiful and varied, with rodent seed-eaters and ruminant grazers such as Bison. 1974 W. Condry Woodlands vii. 89 If autumn brings a mast year..the seed eaters may arrive in force, many of them chaffinches and bramblings from north Europe, feeding all day on the floor of the wood. 1992 E. Hoagland Wowlas & Coral in Balancing Acts 185 Red-vented woodpeckers and white-collared seedeaters perched in the trees. 2006 Bird Watching Aug. 124/3 Farmland sees an increase in smaller seedeaters, as town sparrows head out to join Yellowhammers and Chaffinches feasting on ripening grain. seed-eating adj. (of a bird or other animal) that feeds mainly on seeds; granivorous. ΚΠ 1807 T. Smith Naturalist's Cabinet VI. 18 This creature [sc. the crocodile] swallows..stones, it is said, to aid digestion, in the manner of seed-eating birds. 1927 J. B. S. Haldane & J. S. Huxley Animal Biol. x. 205 If..a tame sea-gull is fed on corn instead of fish, the whole lining of its stomach alters, becoming thicker and more like that of seed-eating birds. 1977 J. L. Harper Population Biol. Plants xx. 629 A plague of seed-eating mammals, birds or insects may prevent regeneration. 2003 New Scientist 1 Nov. 5/2 [He] discovered the tiny seed-eating bird in July 2001. seed egg n. †(a) (in the ovary of a bird) a follicle (obsolete rare); (b) a fertilized egg, esp. as used for breeding. ΚΠ 1678 J. Ray tr. F. Willughby Ornithol. i. 10 We our selves have found in Birds that breed only once, or at most but twice in a year, a lump of seed-eggs (as I may call them) enough to serve them for many years productions. 1835 A. Ure Philos. Manuf. 235 Under favourable circumstances, one ounce of seed eggs will produce eighty pounds of cocoons, and even more. 1912 How to Raise Chicks (Amer. Poultry Jrnl.) i. 11 Without good seed eggs you cannot get good chicks. 2004 J. Ridgeway It's All for Sale 95 Caterpillars hatched from one ounce of seed eggs consume about one ton of ripe leaves. seed exchange n. the exchange of seeds from different plants and plant varieties; (also) an association of farmers, horticulturists, etc., formed for the regular purpose of such exchange (cf. exchange n. 10).In quot. 1804 the name of a building used for trading of seeds. ΚΠ 1804 Courier 23 Nov. The New Corn and Seed Exchange, which is nearly opposite the old one. 1897 Amer. Gardening 8 May 341/3 From this garden is issued a seed exchange list, and it has become an important center of distribution to other gardens and collections. 1905 First Ann. Rep. Minnesota Field Crop Breeders Assoc. 22 ‘Do you believe in seed exchange?’..‘Yes, without a doubt.’ It was always the same answer, ‘We must exchange our seed, or it runs out.’ 1935 Times 24 June 10/4 There has been in connexion with the South-Eastern Union of Scientific Societies a seed exchange, conducted..by Mr. B. T. Lowne on behalf of our botanical section. 1993 F. M. Bradley Experts Bk. Garden Hints i. 57 Join a seed exchange. Seed exchanges will help you locate hard-to-find, rare, or unusual seeds and will give you a chance to share your own special seeds with other members. seed fat n. fat obtained from seeds; a particular fat of this kind. ΚΠ 1885 T. Christy New Commerc. Plants & Drugs No. 8. 28 The fat when pure is very homogeneous, and in colour and consistence compares favourably with the best seed fats met with in commerce. 1904 National Provisioner 8 Oct. 31/2 The mills.., as under the season's prospects of prices for seed fat and animal fat products, are likely to hold off from liberal buying of the seed. 1940 T. P. Hilditch Chem. Constit. Nat. Fats i. 18 However varied the fatty acids in seed fats may be, the resulting triglycerides are..fundamentally similar in type. 2003 Jrnl. Biogeogr. 30 1509/1 The stearic acid content of the seed fat is much lower. seed fern n. any of a group of extinct plants resembling ferns but producing seeds rather than spores; = pteridosperm n. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > fossil plants > [noun] cycadite18.. Bothrodendron1835 lepidodendron1836 calamite1837 sphenophyllum1837 stigmaria1845 polyporite1846 fucoid1848 Muscites1859 lepidodendrid1863 Bennettites1871 lepidodendroid1872 progymnosperm1885 pteridosperm1904 Bennettitales1907 seed fern1907 1907 Sci. Progress 20th Cent. 2 v. 259 The ‘Seed-ferns’ may be regarded as forms intermediate in character between the true Ferns and Gymnosperms. 1944 Illustr. London News 8 Jan. 54 (caption) A front of a seed fern from the coal measures. 2000 C. Tudge Variety of Life ii. xvii. 425 Rhynchosaurs seemed adapted to eat tough vegetation, like ‘seed-ferns’. seed finch n. (usually with distinguishing word) any of the small finches of the Central and South American genus Oryzoborus or certain related genera (family Emberizidae or Thraupidae); cf. seed eater n.The genus Oryzoborus is now often subsumed in the genus Sporophila. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > unspecified and miscellaneous birds > [noun] > miscellaneous night-raveneOE cold-finch1676 crane1678 diver1694 solitary1708 wheat-bird1747 yellow-bill1775 Chinese thrush1781 whidah thrush1781 tomtit1789 solitaire1797 year-bird1798 softbill1830 swift-shrike1841 scissor bird1843 seed finch1862 sea-flyer1869 stalker1872 seven sisters1873 dicky bird1879 baboon bird1883 the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > seed eaters > [noun] > family Emberizidae > subfamily Emberizinae (bunting) > genus Sicalis field finch1829 seed finch1862 1862 List Vertebrated Animals Gardens Zool. Soc. (ed. 3) 54 Oryzoborus torridus..Tropical seed-finch. 1938 Auk 55 41 Oryzoborus crassirostris... Thick-billed seed finch. 2015 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 2 Aug. 1 Inside each [cage] was a delicate songbird: a chestnut-bellied seed finch native to the northern parts of South America and the Caribbean. seed fish n. (a) a fish that is ready to spawn; (b) a fish used for propagation, esp. to stock a body of water or fish farm. ΚΠ 1851 Jrnl. House of Assembly New Brunswick App. p. ccxxx Injury may be done in the spawning season, more perhaps from the disturbance caused than from the quantity of seed fish taken. 1872 6th Ann. Rep. Commissioners Inland Fisheries (Commonw. Mass.) 32 Each seed fish (males and females together) sends back 17 grown fish. 1891 Cent. Dict. Seed-fish, a fish containing seed, roe, or spawn; a ripe fish. 1986 V. G. Jhingran in R. Billard & J. Marcel Aquaculture of Cyprinids 335 [This] is now the mainstay of seed-fish production for which hatcheries..have been established. 2010 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) B. 365 2893 Aquaculture is a farming activity, and requires inputs such as seed fish, feed and/or fertilizer. † seed fowl n. Obsolete a seed-eating bird. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > actions or bird defined by > [noun] > that eats specific things worm-fowlc1381 seed fowlc1500 thistle-eater1562 chipper1668 honeyeater1688 wheat-bird1747 falcon-fisher1759 worm-eater1760 bone-breaker1787 seed eater1820 carrion-bird1839 seed feeder1853 fish-tiger1879 c1500 (c1380) G. Chaucer Parl. Fowls (Selden) (1871) l. 328 Bothe watere foule and sede foule on the grene That so fele were þat wonder was to sene. a1525 (c1448) R. Holland Bk. Howlat l. 238 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1925) II. 102 All se fowle and seid fowle was nocht for to seike. seed head n. a flower head in seed; the (mature or dried) flowering part of a plant containing its seeds. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > flower or part containing reproductive organs > inflorescence or collective flower > [noun] crowna1350 knop1398 tuft?1523 coronet1555 crownet1578 head1597 seed head1597 truss1688 capitulum1704 glome1793 glomerule1793 glomus1832 flower-head1839 inflorescence1851 1597 J. Gerard Herball ii. 487 The flowers are in like sort little and white; the knaps or seede heads are like the former. 1640 J. Parkinson Theatrum Botanicum xiv. xxiv. 1244 Which [head] when it goweth toward ripenesse, becommeth cluster fashion like the seede head of Arum Wake Robin. 1703 Philos. Trans. 1702–03 (Royal Soc.) 23 1359 I plainly saw that all the bristles..were..bearded like the Ear on the Seed head of some Grasses. 1823 Trans. Soc. Arts 41 103 Eight bunches of straw, having the seed-heads on. 1902 C. J. Cornish Naturalist on Thames 91 Goldfinches flying from seed-head to seed-head. 2005 Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minnesota) (Nexis) 15 May f1 The seed heads of prairie smoke waved in the breeze. seed land n. now historical and rare ground suitable for growing crops; a plot of such ground; in quot. a1634 figurative and attributive. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > farm > farmland > land raising crops > [noun] seed landa1634 sweet-veld1785 cultivation paddock1837 cultivation1899 a1634 G. Chapman Bussy D'Ambois (1641) i. 4 But his unsweating thrift is policie, And learning-hating policie is ignorant To fit his seed-land soyl. 1732 tr. Frederick William I Edict in Polit. State Great Brit. 43 Mar. 284 The Seed shall be picked up as clean as possible, and the light Seed Lands ploughed before Winter. 1834 E. Mackenzie & M. Ross Hist., Topogr., & Descr. View County Palatine of Durham II. 258 Others prepared the seed land in autumn. 1945 Traditio 3 102 The system of Diocletian only fixed categories of seed land, vineyards land, etc. in order to simplify the taxation. seed lobe n. the cotyledon of an embryo plant (see cotyledon n. 3); cf. seed leaf n. 1. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > seed > [noun] > parts of > cotyledon or seed-leaf seed leafa1682 seedling leaf1699 ear leaf1718 seed lobe1720 deaf-ear1725 cotyledon1776 1720 P. Blair Bot. Ess. 336 The Fructus Linguiformis..shews the Radicle and two Seed-Lobes very plainly. 1848 C. A. Johns Gardening for Children 147 The seed-lobes..contain enough nourishment to support the young plant until it has formed roots and leaves, and is able to provide for itself. 1974 Guardian 2 Dec. 10/2 A wealth of three-winged seed lobes. 2012 Plant Systematics & Evol. 298 850/1 The seed lobes (cotyledons) in all taxa have a similar structure. seed metering n. Agriculture the action or process of controlling the number of seeds dispensed by an automatic planting device. ΚΠ 1938 U.S. Patent 2,141,044 2/1 Any suitable seed metering means may be used. 1955 R. Bainer et al. Princ. Farm Machinery xi. 225 Most seed-metering devices may be classified as: (a) those having cells on a moving member, the cells being sized to accommodate single seeds or groups of a few seeds each, (b) the so-called ‘force-feed’ devices.., (c) stationary-opening units. 2005 Rangeland Ecol. & Managem. 58 199 Tests were also conducted with a seed and fertilizer mixture as another method of improving uniformity of seed metering. seed money n. U.S. money allocated (originally from public funds) for the initiation of a project, with the aim of stimulating its independent economic expansion. ΚΠ 1959 Minutes 53rd Meeting Assoc. Res. Libraries 21 June 6 The role of the Office of Scientific Information Service is..to provide seed money for studies and experiments. 1970 Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 10 Jan. 27/1 This has been seed money in the best sense of the term. As President Nixon pointed out to Congress last month, every dollar of Foundation money has stimulated the donation of three dollars from other sources. 2009 Wall St. Jrnl. 18 Nov. a2/4 Among the ideas for unused TARP funds are direct lending to small businesses, and funding of an infrastructure bank that would provide seed money for projects. † seed nest n. Obsolete an ovary, esp. of a plant. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > flower or part containing reproductive organs > [noun] > parts of > ovary seed bud1721 ovarium1724 seed nest1727 ovary1731 germ1758 germen1759 ovulary1898 1727 R. Bradley Ten Pract. Disc. Growth Plants v. 90 There will be an Opportunity of the Farina, or Male-Dust, of one Sort, to impregnate the Egg, or Seed-nest, of another. 1912 Amer. Motherhood May 318/1 The mother shall always bear the seed nest, or ovary, and the father the fertilizing power in his body. 1914 L. Burbank et al. Methods & Discov. I. iii. 102 When the seeds within are mature, the outside covering splits and peels away, disclosing a seed nest. seed oil n. oil obtained from seeds; a particular oil of this kind. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > extracted or refined oil > [noun] > other plant-derived oils oil de baya1398 oil roseta1400 alkitranc1400 laurinec1400 oil of spicac1400 seed oil1400 rape oil1420 nut-oil?c1425 masticine?1440 oil de rose?1440 oil of myrtine?a1450 gingellya1544 rose oil1552 alchitrean1562 oil of spike1577 oil of ben1594 myrtle oil1601 sesamus1601 sampsuchine1616 oil of walnuts1622 rape1641 oil of rhodium1649 rapeseed oil1652 neroli1676 oil of mace1681 spirit of scurvy-grass1682 beech-oil1716 poppy oil1737 castor oil1746 oil of sassafras1753 orange-peel oil1757 wood-oil1759 bergamot1766 sunflower oil1768 Russia oil1773 oil castor1779 tung-yu1788 poppy-seed oil1799 cocoa butter1801 sassafras oil1801 phulwara1805 oil of wine1807 grass oil1827 oil of marjoram1829 cajuput oil1832 essence of mustarda1834 picamar1835 spurge oil1836 oenanthic ether1837 tea oil1837 capnomor1838 cinnamon-oil1838 oil of mustard1838 orange-flower oil1838 resinein1841 mustard oil1844 myrrhol1845 styrol1845 oenanthol1847 shea butter1847 wintergreen1847 gaultheria oil1848 ginger-grass oil.1849 nutmeg oil1849 pine oil1849 peppermint oil1850 cocoa fat1851 orange oil1853 neem oil1856 poonga oil1857 xanthoxylene1857 crab-oil1858 illupi oil1858 Shanghai oil1861 stand oil1862 mustard-seed oil1863 carap oilc1865 cocum butter or oilc1865 Kurung oil1866 muduga oil1866 pichurim oil1866 serpolet1866 sumbul oil1868 sesame oil1870 niger oil1872 summer yellow1872 olibene1873 patchouli oil1875 pilocarpene1876 styrolene1881 tung oil1881 becuiba tallow1884 soy oil1884 tea-seed oil1884 eucalyptus1885 sage oil1888 hop-oil1889 cotton-seed oil1891 lemon oil1896 palmarosa oil1897 illipe butter1904 hydnocarpus oil1905 tung1911 niger seed oil1917 sun oil1937 vanaspati1949 fennel oil- 1400 in C. Frost Early Hist. Hull (1827) App. 5 (MED) Pro cc bowstaves, ij bar. sedeoyle. 1694 J. Washington Abridgment Statutes King William & Queen Mary 21 For every Tun of Hemp-Seed, or other Seed-Oyl imported within that time, 8 l. and so proportionably for greater or lesser quantities. 1727 S. Forster Digest Laws relating Customs iv. 286 Hemp-Seed Oil, Rape and other Seed Oil by the said Impost, was to pay Eight Pounds the Ton for Oil made from Whales. 1822 European Mag. & London Rev. Jan. 92/2 The prices and demand for Whale Oil has improved.—Seed Oils are also higher. 1881 Harper's Mag. Oct. 726/2 There are now fifty-nine seed-oil mills in the South. 1954 E. W. Eckey Veg. Fats & Oils xiv. 445 Another weed of the western states whose seed oil has been examined is white top. 2015 Science 30 Jan. 517/3 Many fatty acids derived from seed oils have a linear tail containing a central double bond. seed orchard n. an orchard cultivated for the production of seed. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > cultivation of fruit > [noun] > orchard or fruit garden > type of apple-garth1268 oliveyarda1382 olivetc1384 apple orchard?c1400 nut garden1535 oil-garden1535 olive garden1577 lemon-orchard1611 meloniere1658 orange grove1688 melonry1717 nutterya1729 peachery1789 lemon-grove1830 nut grove1840 prune orchard1847 lemon-garden1864 seed orchard1903 1903 Ann. Rep. Wisconsin State Hort. Soc. 33 101 We want to grow our seed especially from one tree and one variety and keep providing a seed orchard to get our stock from. 1979 Beautiful Brit. Columbia Fall 40 Others are from seed orchards maintained by the province and the forest companies. 2013 Isle of Man Today (Nexis) 13 Apr. A seed orchard of native oaks grown from local acorns was established near to Kerrowkneale. seed ore n. U.S. (now historical and rare) iron ore occurring in the form of grains and small lumps. ΘΚΠ the world > the earth > minerals > ore > [noun] > pulverulent or granular seed ore1795 tierras1874 1795 City Gaz. & Daily Advertiser (Charleston, S. Carolina) 19 May The ore consists of large rocks above the surface, the depth not yet known; in cavities between the rocks lie an oker and seed ore. 1883 Jrnl. U.S. Assoc. Charcoal Iron Workers 4 314 The ‘loam ore’ could be shoveled, but the pick was necessary to remove the ‘seed ore’. 1910 W. S. Bayley Iron Mines & Mining New Jersey ii. 30 The three kinds of ore are generally found in each hole; the loam ore nearest the surface, the seed ore under this, and the massive ore at the bottom. 2013 A. K. Knowles Mastering Iron i. 40 The metallic precipitate from iron-rich groundwater formed consolidated lumps called seed ore. seed oyster n. a juvenile oyster, or a mature one ready to spawn, esp. as used to stock a commercial bed. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > class Pelecypoda or Conchifera > [noun] > section Asiphonida > family Ostreidae > member of (oyster) > spawn spat1667 spats1667 seed1722 seed oyster1839 1839 Analyt. Index Rep. Commissioners Munic. Corporations 203 (table) in Parl. Papers (H.C. 402) XVIII. 203 Purchase of seed oysters and attendant expenses. 1885 Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 109/2 Under proper restriction..mature oysters, and seed oysters as well, may be taken from any region. 1915 Jrnl. Educ. 7 Jan. 17/2 At the spawning time she is known as a seed oyster, and she is raised from her bed and carried away to populate other beds, either new ones or those that have been depopulated. 2012 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 4 Dec. a22/2 Her team has already covered the bottom with two million seed clams, 500,000 seed oysters and 150,000 adult clams. † seed-pair n. Obsolete rare a pair, male and female, regarded as primogenitors. ΘΚΠ the world > life > biology > biological processes > genetic activity > heredity or hereditary descent > [noun] > ancestor > pair of seed-pair1605 1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. i. ii. 71 Noah..sau'd a seed-pay'r of all liuing things. seed pan n. a shallow pan, traditionally of red earthenware, used for raising plants from seed. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > gardening > equipment and buildings > [noun] > seed-pot or -pan seed pot1727 seed pan1731 seed box1754 sprouter1915 peat pot1948 Jiffy pot1957 1731 P. Miller Gardeners Dict. I. at Tulipa There should be provided a Parcel of shallow Seed-Pans or Boxes. 1882 Garden 7 Jan. 10/3 When sufficiently large the plants should be pricked into seed-pans. 2000 Times 6 May (Weekend Suppl.) 10/1 He makes serviceable and well-proportioned plant pots ranging from seed pans, orchid planters and Victorian favourites such as ‘Long Toms’ to hanging containers and three-legged Chinese cachepots. seed parent n. (in plant breeding) a plant which is fertilized artificially by pollen from another plant; cf. pollen parent n. at pollen n. Compounds 2. ΚΠ 1848 Florist 1 56 Select those [plants] you intend to save the seed from..; and as the flowers unfold, impregnate them with the pollen of another variety, distinct, and remarkable for brilliancy of colour, purity of marking, or some other desirable property which the seed-parent does not possess. 1954 Illustr. London News 29 May 910/1 There were three selected seed parents, potted up and grown in my cold greenhouse. 2013 R. C. Clarke & M. D. Merlin Cannabis x. 295/1 The genes controlling for a selected trait must be present in two separate individuals—one male or pollen parent and one female or seed parent. seed-plant n. (a) a seedling; a plant grown from a seed; (b) a plant grown for its seed or for propagation; (c) [after German Samenpflanze (1873 in the passage translated in quot. 1875)] a seed-bearing (as opposed to spore-bearing) plant; = spermatophyte n. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > by age or cycles > [noun] > young or immature plant(s) > seedling or sporeling nurse-plant1601 seedling1608 seed-plant1653 germinant1886 sporeling1910 the world > plants > wild and cultivated plants > [noun] > cultivated or planted > grown for its foliage or seed small seed1793 foliage plant1862 seed-plant1878 1653 R. Austen Treat. Fruit-trees 45 Be sure to transplant all young seed-Plants, for by that meanes they get good Roots. 1735 B. Martin Philos. Gram. iv. iv. 247 When the Seed is sown, the Parts of the Seed Plant, now in Embryo, begin to vegetate, unfold, dilate, and at last burst the Matrix-Seed. 1753 Country Gentleman's Compan. II. 145 Pull up your Seed-Plants, when the Seed is full grown and coloured in the Husks, and let them stand in the Green-House till the Pods are dry. 1875 A. W. Bennett & W. T. T. Dyer tr. J. von Sachs Text-bk. Bot. ii. 338 A transition to Phanerogams,—from Spore-plants to Seed-plants [Ger. Samenpflanzen]. 1878 J. Inglis Sport & Work xvi. 187 The planters advance about four rupees a beegah to the ryot, who cuts his seed-plant, and brings it into the factory threshing ground. 1929 O. Olson Cigar-tobacco Production Pennsylvania (U.S. Dept. Agric. Farmers' Bull. No. 1580) 18 Growers are paying more and more attention to systematic selection of seed plants, based on uniformity of type, resistance to disease, and other desirable features. 1976 Financial Times 28 Jan. 2/7 A splendid seed plant which will actually flower this autumn if you sow the seed in a box in mid-February and keep it in a warm room. 2009 J. Silvertown Orchard Invisible ii. 11 The earliest seed plants found in the fossil record appeared in the Devonian period about 360 million years ago. seed-pod n. a structure containing the seeds of a flowering plant; the pericarp. ΚΠ 1640 J. Parkinson Theatrum Botanicum 1613 The seed pod, and seed of Ginger. 1718 R. Bradley Gentleman & Gardeners Kal. 35 Pulling up the whole Plants, and setting them upright in a Green-house till the Seed-Pods are dry. 1825 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Agric. ii. iv. ii. 398 A machine for reaping the heads or seed-pods of clover. 1961 R. S. Lemmon & C. J. Johnson Wildflowers N. Amer. iii. 133 The..seed pods are yellow at first, changing to brown at maturity. 2010 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 6 Apr. a23/2 Male trees and shrubs..produce no seeds or seed-pods. seed pot n. a pot in which a plant is raised from seed. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > gardening > equipment and buildings > [noun] > seed-pot or -pan seed pot1727 seed pan1731 seed box1754 sprouter1915 peat pot1948 Jiffy pot1957 1727 B. Langley New Princ. Gardening v. ii. 169 When your young Nursery, has lived two Years in the Seed-Pots, they must be transplanted into larger Pots singly. 1830 J. Baxter Libr. Agric. & Hort. Knowl. 347 Turn the young plants carefully out of the seed-pot, breaking the fibres as little as possible. 1993 Ottawa Citizen (Nexis) 27 Mar. i. 2 With a small stick or wooden label, gently ease a clump of seedlings from the seed pot. † seed seam n. Obsolete a seed furrow (cf. seam n.¹ 4e). ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > sowing > [noun] > seed-furrow or drill seed furrow?1530 rigol1599 rilling1610 cornhole1655 rill1658 drill1727 seed seam1775 seam1799 1775 W. Marshall Minutes Agric. 4 Dec. (1778) sig. U2 The third [plit],—nine or ten inches, hiding the mane of the second, and forming a seed-seam between the crests of the second and third. 1779 W. Marshall Exper. & Observ. conc. Agric. & Weather 94 I will endeavour to bury the Surface for Pease; leaving the Seed-Seams as open and deep as possible. 1868 Jrnl. Agric. 3rd Ser. 4 361 The land is then ploughed and the wheat sown either with a drill or on a seed seam formed by using the land presser. seedsnipe n. any of the superficially grouse-like wading birds of the South American genera Attagis and Thinocorus (family Thinocoridae), which feed on leaves and buds and have a snipe-like pattern of flight; also with distinguishing word.Anatomically these birds show some similarities to songbirds and game birds. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > order Charadriiformes > [noun] > member of (miscellaneous) painted snipe1811 pressiroster1842 seedsnipe1889 crab plover1893 1889 P. L. Sclater & W. H. Hudson Argentine Ornithol. II. 176 Thinocoridæ, or Seed-snipes. 1957 Ecol. Monogr. 27 209/2 The sudden whir of a flock of seed snipe taking wing causes vicuñas to raise their heads. 2004 Daily Post (Liverpool) (Nexis) 1 May 22 We came across a species we had really wanted, Grey-breasted seedsnipe, a cross between a wader and a gamebird. seed spark n. literary the first spark that ignites a fire (in quots. figurative). ΘΚΠ the world > matter > properties of materials > temperature > heat > burning > a fire > [noun] > germ of a fire seed spark1611 1611 J. Speed Hist. Great Brit. ix. ix. 535/1 These were..the seede-sparks of those factious fires which afterward brake forth. 1858 E. H. Sears Athanasia xviii. 158 The seed-spark of our resurrection-body will not appear till Gabriel blows after it with his trumpet and kindles it up somewhere. 2006 L. Kushner Kabbalah vii. 160 A seed spark that is not yet light and a womb containing only the possibility of the world yet to come. seed station n. a laboratory or other place where seeds are analysed and tested for quality, esp. before being treated and distributed for planting. ΚΠ 1880 19th Ann Rep. State Board Agric. Michigan 51 Reports of seed stations abound in startling frauds perpetrated on those who buy. 1945 Times 1 Mar. 2/5 Seed stations had distributed better qualities of grain. 2004 New Phytologist 163 596/1 Norway spruce..seeds from the Norwegian Seed Station..were washed in sterile water and germinated on filter paper. seed stitch n. (a) Knitting = moss stitch n. at moss n.¹ Compounds 2a; (b) Needlework = seeding n. 3. ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > sewn or ornamented textile fabric > [noun] > embroidery or ornamental sewing > stitch > other chain-stitch1598 French knot1623 picot1623 petty-point1632 tent-stitch1639 brede-stitch1640 herringbone stitch1659 satin stitch1664 feather-stitch1835 Gobelin stitch1838 crowfoot1839 seedingc1840 German stitch1842 petit point1842 long stitch1849 looped stitch1851 hem-stitch1853 loop-stitch1853 faggot stitch1854 spider-wheel1868 dot stitch1869 picot stitch1869 slip-stitch1872 coral-stitch1873 stem stitch1873 rope stitch1875 Vienna cross stitch1876 witch stitch1876 pin stitch1878 seed stitch1879 cushion-stitch1880 Japanese stitch1880 darning-stitch1881 Kensington stitch1881 knot-stitch1881 bullion knot1882 cable pattern1882 Italian stitch1882 lattice-stitch1882 queen stitch1882 rice stitch1882 shadow-stitch1882 ship-ladder1882 spider-stitch1882 stem1882 Vandyke stitch1882 warp-stitch1882 wheel-stitch1882 basket-stitch1883 outline stitch1885 pointing1888 bullion stitchc1890 cable-stitchc1890 oriental stitchc1890 Turkish stitchc1890 Romanian stitch1894 shell-stitch1895 saddle stitch1899 magic stitch1900 plumage-stitch1900 saddle stitching1902 German knot stitch1903 trellis1912 padding stitch1913 straight stitch1918 Hungarian stitch1921 trellis stitch1921 lazy daisy1923 diamond stitchc1926 darning1930 faggot filling stitch1934 fly stitch1934 magic chain stitch1934 glove stitch1964 pad stitch1964 1879 J. P. Smith Kiss, & be Friends xxi. 213 She produced her last pattern-book..to show the seed-stitch to her inquiring friend. 1934 M. Thomas Dict. Embroidery Stitches 182 Tiny stitches taken at all angles and in any direction but of more or less even length produce a surprisingly effective filling, as the diagram of Seed Stitch shows. 1976 Woman's Day (N.Y.) Nov. 132/1 Stunning knitted vest... The back is lattice and seed stitch. 2006 M. Webb Embroidery Stitches iii. 140/1 Seed stitch is a filling stitch used on plain- and even-weave fabrics. seed stock n. (a) a stock (stock n.¹ 4) used in grafting that is grown from seed (obsolete rare); (b) a supply or store of seeds, plants, animals, etc., which are used for propagation, breeding, or the production of seed. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > gardening > management of plants > propagation of plants > [noun] > grafting > place where graft inserted clefta1398 stockc1400 grafting1601 seed stock1702 crown graft1706 graft1802 root graft1824 saddle graft1830 rind-graft1907 1702 T. Tryon Way to get Wealth 71 In August take the Advantage of the beginning to Bud Orange Trees, but let the Seed Stock you Inoculate, be between 3 and 4 years Growth. 1817 Repertory of Arts 2nd Ser. 26 109 The principal cause of the curl in the potatoe, is the over-ripening of the seed-stock for the supply of the ensuing year. 1854 Pennsylvania Farm Jrnl. Sept. 284/2 The levying of a suitable tax on all male stock that are kept to breed from, would be the means of removing our scrubby animals, and bringing in their places, good seed stock of superior breeds. 1878 Trans. Minnesota Hort. Soc. 65 The roots of all biennials that are planted for seed crop are called seed stock. 1948 G. D. H. Bell Cultivated Plants Farm xviii. 191 The combined exertions of individuals, research institutes, seeds houses and other bodies concerned with the standard of seed stocks distributed to the farmer, are all directed to the principal objective of improving the efficiency of crop husbandry. 1993 Ont. Beef Farmer Sept. 18/2 (advt.) Rugged Cattle for the Real World since 1952. Seedstock Raised Under Natural Conditions. 2013 Atlantic Dec. 87/2 She got to work on creating a ‘seed stock’ of modified viruses that could be used to produce hundreds of millions of vaccine doses. seed thought n. fruitful or suggestive thought, likely to give rise to other thoughts; an instance of this. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of ideation > idea, notion, or concept > [noun] > fundamental mother-idea1821 idée mère1841 mother-thought1861 seed thought1863 1863 Notes & Queries 3rd Ser. 3 379 Aird's volume is full as a pomegranate of seed-thought. 1895 Educ. Rev. Sept. 107 Hegel..coming early to an appreciation of the seed-thought of Plato. 2010 Deming Headlight (New Mexico) (Nexis) 23 Apr. When we plant positive seed thoughts and nurture them with patience, faith, and love, great things can be produced. seed tick n. any of various ticks of the family Ixodidae, esp. a larva, nymph, or young adult. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Arachnida > [noun] > order Acari or family Acaridae > member of (tick) > family Ixodidae > member of seed tick1705 wood-tick1819 ixodid1952 the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Arachnida > [noun] > order Acari or family Acaridae > member of (tick) > family Ixodidae > member of genus Ixodes > young of seed tick1705 1705 R. Beverley Hist. Virginia iv. xix. 66 Seed-Ticks, and Red-Worms are small Insects, that annoy People by Day, as Musketaes, and Chinches do by Night. 1893 E. Custer Tenting on Plains 88 Two pests of that region, the seed-tick and the chigger. 1949 J. R. Mohler Tick Fever U.S. Dept. Agric. Farmers' Bull. No. 1625 13 When this disease is observed in northern animals, the young seed ticks may be so small and so low in number as to be passed readily. 2013 Hoosier Times (Bloomington, Indiana) 17 Nov. (Herald-Times ed.) f1/2 Most entomologists agree that what is called the turkey mite or turkey chigger is a ‘seed tick’. seed treatment n. the action or process of treating seed prior to planting (e.g. by the application of heat, a pesticide, etc.) in order to protect it from pests or disease; a treatment of this type; a pesticide, etc., applied to seed, a seed dressing. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > sowing > [noun] > treatment of seed emulsion1657 seed treatment1890 pregermination1942 biofortification1999 the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > sowing > [noun] > treatment of seed > seed-dressing hexachlorbenzene1885 seed treatment1890 1890 2nd Ann. Rep. Exper. Station Kansas State Agric. Coll. 1889 239 Soaking in brine is undoubtedly the oldest seed treatment against smut. 1959 A. Beaumont Dis. Farm Crops iii. 42 Covered smut is very much less common than it used to be before seed treatment was widely carried out. 1993 C. A. Meisner et al. in D. A. Saunders & G. P. Hettel Wheat in Heat-stressed Environments 364/2 All seed treatments contain a reddish blue dye that signals to all that the seed has been treated. 2013 Guardian 29 May 10/1 The insecticide fipronil poses a high acute risk to honeybees when used as a seed treatment for maize. † seed trough n. Anatomy Obsolete rare (probably) the vas deferens (spermatic duct). ΘΚΠ the world > life > the body > secretory organs > ducts > [noun] > seminal or spermatic ducts seed bringer1545 vas deferens1578 seed trough1615 seed vein1615 spermatic1690 seminal1733 rete testis1777 rete1849 parepididymis1881 spermaduct1891 1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια 207 Moreouer in copulation or coition they draw them back, that the seed trough becomming shorter, the seed may more easily and readily be supplyed. † seed vein n. Obsolete rare the testicular or ovarian vein, supposed to transport seed (sense 3) to the testicle or ovary; cf. seed bringer n. ΘΚΠ the world > life > the body > secretory organs > ducts > [noun] > seminal or spermatic ducts seed bringer1545 vas deferens1578 seed trough1615 seed vein1615 spermatic1690 seminal1733 rete testis1777 rete1849 parepididymis1881 spermaduct1891 1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια iv. ii. 201 If it should haue risen from the same place in the hollow veine where the right seede-veine arose, it must necessarily haue gone ouer the great arterie. 1671 J. Sharp Midwives Bk. i. xiv. 55 If you blow up the Seed Vein with a hollow pipe or quill, you shall see all the Vessels of the womb to swell at the same time. seed vessel n. (a) a structure containing the seeds of a flowering plant; the pericarp; (also figurative); †(b) a seminal vesicle; (also) any of various ducts or tubes which (supposedly) transport sperm or seed (sense 3) (obsolete). ΘΚΠ the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > seed > seed-vessel or pericarp > [noun] knop1398 seed vessel1562 pouch1577 bottle1609 uterus1682 pericarpium1691 vessel1691 pericarp1759 crust1776 1562 W. Turner 2nd Pt. Herball f. 77 The sede vessell is lyke fenegreke. 1566 T. Blundeville Order curing Horses Dis. cii. f. 74 in Fower Offices Horsemanshippe Gonorrhea..may come some tyme through abundaunce and rancknesse of seede, & sometyme by the weaknesse of the stones, and seede vessels not able to retayne the seede. 1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια iv. ii. 200 (heading) Of the preparing spermaticke or seede vessels. 1664 J. Beale Let. 21 Jan. in R. Boyle Corr. (2001) II. 249 Wormes beget unknowne maladyes..breeding in all parts of the body. In the wombe, & seede vessell. 1668 Bp. J. Wilkins Ess. Real Char. ii. iv. §5. 96 Herbs considered according to their Seed-vessel. 1725 Let. 9 Jan. in Suppl. to Onania (?1725) 120 By too much using of Coition, especially last Summer,..he has exhausted too much of his Spirits, Seed Vessels, and natural Heat. 1789 W. Meyrick New Family Herbal 35 Bear-berry..Seed-vessel: a round, smooth berry, which is of a glossy red colour when ripe. 1852 J. L. Curtis Manhood (ed. 67) 22 The seed vessels in the Testis, when unravelled, measure about 40 feet in length. 1869 J. Martineau Ess. Philos. & Theol. 2nd Ser. 22 The code is the seed-vessel of all the virtues. 1983 Financial Times 23 Apr. 18/4 The tiny seed vessel explodes and the seeds are thrown far and wide. 2002 Oecologia 133 511/2 The mobile larva may also feed on the seed vessels of Stachys, Aquilegia, Geranium and Erodium species. † seed water n. Obsolete a decoction of coriander and caraway seeds mixed with sack and sugar. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > drink > decoction > [noun] > of herbs, seeds, or bark sorrela1400 cinnamon-water1589 borage-water1620 sage drink1747 sage juice1747 seed water1747 mauby1790 sabzi1804 gentian1840 Angostura1856 gentian bitter1864 sage gargle189. hop bitters1894 rooibos1911 1747 H. Glasse Art of Cookery x. 120 Seed Water. Take a Spoonful of Coriander-Seed, half a Spoonful of Caraway-Seed bruised, and boiled in a Pint of Water, then strain it, and bruise it up with the Yolk of an Egg, and so mix it with Sack and double refined Sugar, according to your Palate. seed weed n. a weed which propagates itself by seed, as distinguished from one that spreads by means of roots. Cf. root weed n. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > valued plants and weeds > [noun] > weed > according to type of propagation root weed1683 seed weed1762 1762 A. Dickson Treat. Agric. ii. xiii. 243 When the design of ploughing is to..destroy seed-weeds [etc.]. 1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 415 Where seed-weeds are to be eradicated, the surface should constantly be..made as fine and smooth as the nature of the land will admit. 1935 Meldinger Fra Norges Landbrukshøgskole 15 131 These 3 species constituted 74 % of all the seed-weeds. 2015 S. Leslie Horse-powered Farming 21st Cent. iv. 136/1 Stubble plowing is..done to plow under the grown ‘seed’ weeds and crop regrowth. seed year n. (a) the first year of growth of a plant from a seed (now rare); (b) a year of growth in which a particular plant or crop produces a (plentiful) crop of seeds. ΚΠ 1721 R. Bradley Gen. Treat. Husbandry & Gardening II. 71 If a Plant in the Seed Year weigh'd two Ounces, the same plant if it is in Health this second Year, will weight about a Dram more than four Ounces. 1735 P. Collinson Let. 16 Aug. in W. Darlington Memorials J. Bartram & H. Marshall (1849) 70 I hope this will prove a good seed year, that thee may be able to send a cargo which will produce some money here. 1844 W. Shaw & C. W. Johnson tr. A. D. Thaër Princ. Agric. II. 523 According to the early time of the sowing,..we may obtain two, three, or even four plentiful green-crops from it, even in the seed-year itself. 1889 W. Schlich Man. Forestry I. ii. ii. 173 The quantity of seed is governed by two things:—(1.) The average yield of each seed-year; and (2.) The frequency of seed-years. 1907 Nature 4 Apr. 546/1 The observed correlations between the crop and the weather of the seed year as well as that of the harvest year. 1960 Times 10 Dec. 7/7 Not every year is a good seed year; some species produce seed in bulk only at intervals. 2005 O. Heikkinen in M. Seppälä Physical Geogr. Fennoscandia (2008) ix. 195/2 Regeneration of the forest is slow and unsure owing to the rarity of seed years. Derivatives seed-like adj. ΚΠ a1617 P. Baynes Comm. First & Second Chapters Colossians (1634) 286 His rising..had in it a seed-like vertue to worke the resurrection of us all. 1798 W. Marshall Rural Econ. Southern Counties I. 16 Its contexture uniform,..thickly interspersed, with minute seedlike granules, of a black or dark color. 1887 W. Phillips Man. Brit. Discomycetes 110 A number of small, hard, seed-like bodies. 1989 Times 22 July 13 The perfectly preserved fossil of a seed-like structure from the South of France will set researchers thinking about the origins of seeds. 2001 G. C. McGavin Essent. Entomol. 130 Stick insect eggs look very seed-like. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2018; most recently modified version published online June 2022). seedv. Brit. /siːd/, U.S. /sid/ Forms: Old English sedia (Northumbrian), Old English sædian, Middle English cede, Middle English–1500s sede, Middle English–1500s seede, Middle English– seed. Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: seed n. Etymology: < seed n. Compare sow v.¹Compare Old Frisian sēdia (West Frisian siedzje). 1. intransitive. To sow seeds in or upon the ground; to sow land with seed. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > sowing > sow [verb (intransitive)] > sow seed seedOE OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Matt. xiii. 3 Exiit qui seminat seminare : geeade seðe sawes sede uel gesawe uel sedege. tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) i. l. 263 (MED) Yf thee nede In londis salt that treen or graynys growe, Thou must anoon on heruest plaunte or seede [L. est..conserenda]. 1848 Sheboygan (Wisconsin Territory) Mercury 4 Mar. He..hauls off the corn, harrows, then plows, then seeds, then harrows again three times. 1912 Evening Gaz. (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) 12 Oct. 6/4 (advt.) The Denning Motor Farm Machine plows, seeds, harrows, pulls the mower, binder, manure spreader or loaded wagon. 1979 Verbatim Summer 8/1 In South Australia a farmer seeds,..and in Queensland he plants. 2014 A. B. Arnold Fueling Gilded Age ii. 25 For another man to then work in the room of a miner who was sick or on strike..was like a landlord dispossessing a sharecropper after he's plowed and seeded, watered and hoed. 2. a. To sow (land) with seed. (a) transitive. Without complementary prepositional phrase, or with with indicating the plant. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > sowing > sow seed [verb (transitive)] > sow land sowc825 seedlOE seed1834 lOE Laws: Rectitudines (Corpus Cambr.) x. 450 Folgere gebyreð, þæt he.. ii æceras geearnige, oðerne gesawene & oðerne unsawene; sædige sylf ðæne. 1425 Indenture of Agreem. in Paston Lett. & Papers (2005) III. 3 Þe seid William Joye..shal..ocupie, eryn, telyn, sedyn, sowen and harwyn in seisonable tyme al þe arable londes of þe seid William Paston in Paston and Edyngthorp. tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) vi. l. 71 (MED) The spaces that in heruest sowe or sede Me wol, may best ha now their pastynynge. a1500 Walter of Henley's Husbandry (Sloane) (1890) 48 (MED) It shall be more advayle for you to seede your londes withe seed þat growe on oþere mennes londis þen withe seede þat growe on your owne londes. 1598 R. Dallington View of Fraunce sig. N 4^v He giues them also Wheat to seed their land. 1610 W. Folkingham Feudigraphia i. x. 32 They will Marle, Till, and Seede it for halfe the increase. 1610 J. Guillim Display of Heraldrie iv. vi. 202 This is an Instrument of Husbandrie, ordained for the breaking of Clods, after the Husbandman hath plowed and seeded his land. 1707 tr. P. Le Lorrain de Vallemont Curiosities in Husbandry & Gardening 120 A third part less than usual will sufficiently seed the Ground. 1778 A. Wight Present State Husbandry in Scotl. II. 16 The outfields were cropped four years with oats, after teathing with cattle and sheep, or watering; then rested six years, without being seeded with grass-seeds. 1798 W. Marshall Rural Econ. Southern Counties I. iii. xxiv. 162 It may be needless to re-suggest, that, in seeding a sainfoin soil, it is evidently right to add a portion of clover seed. 1814 Apostate ii. iv, in New Brit. Theatre III. 320 You taught us arts—divided us in bands, These for the chace, and those to seed the soil. 1895 Outing 27 254/1 The field was plowed, seeded and rolled. 1909 Westm. Gaz. 27 Oct. 7/3 The old lady..recently harvested a crop of wheat from a small plot which she seeded herself. 1986 R. Frame Long Weekend (1988) 146 A deep, expansive hole in the ground, already seeded with the first quick-growing grasses. 2016 Dayton (Ohio) Daily News (Nexis) 16 Jan. d1 People who waited until later in the fall to seed lawns with turf type tall fescues may notice some damage. (b) transitive. With to indicating the plant. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > sowing > sow seed [verb (transitive)] > sow land sowc825 seedlOE seed1834 1834 Maine Farmer 19 Sept. 282/3 I paced off what I supposed to be about one acre of land that had been mowed two years, which had been seeded to herdsgrass and clover. 1866 Rural Amer. (Utica, N.Y.) 15 Dec. 373/2 It frequently happens that in seeding land to timothy and clover, both prove a partial failure the first year and yield but a scanty crop of hay the second year. 1908 Standard 29 Apr. 2/5 Reliable authorities place the area to be seeded to wheat in Western Canada this year at six million acres. 1928 Garden & Home Builder Aug. 544/3 I seeded the lawn to an expensive grass mixture known as Herbae Mira, called the ‘boss of all bluegrasses’. 2015 Yorks. Post (Nexis) 26 Sept. I have arranged for the field to be rotovated, ploughed, levelled and seeded to grass. b. transitive. figurative and in extended use. To provide with the germ or latent beginning of some future growth or development.In quot. a1400: to stock with inhabitants. ΚΠ a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Gött.) 1626 Here bigines at noe þe lede þe toþer world for to sede. 1647 C. Harvey Schola Cordis Epigr. xxviii Manure the ground [of my heart], then come Thyself and seed it, And let Thy servants water it and weed it. a1670 J. Hacket Scrinia Reserata (1693) ii. 6 And the Keeper understood that no Peace was to be had from an Adversary seeded with such Qualities. 1768 J. Brown Sacred Tropol. ii. vii. 176 Amid tares of wicked men and vile corruptions, how, seeded with the good word of God, watered with his blood and Spirit, and warmed with his redeeming love, they [sc. saints] gradually grow up. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 12 Jan. 10/2 We know that a cow suffering from tuberculosis may yield milk seeded with the germs of consumption. a1942 J. Murray Poems (1947) iii. 71 The round face of the day is seeded with infinities. 1970 Sci. Amer. Dec. 15/3 Oysters are particularly appropriate for marine farming because their spawn can be collected and used for ‘seeding’ new areas of cultivation. 2014 R. L. Daft & D. Marcic Building Managem. Skills iii. 131/2 The basic idea of targeted self-talk is to seed your mind with a self-instruction for a desired behavior. c. transitive. Biology. To inoculate (a culture vessel, medium for growth, etc.) with cells or organisms from a culture which is to be propagated. ΚΠ 1877 Chem. News 14 Dec. 263/2 Two of the bottles were seeded with about 1 grm. of surface-soil. 1917 Jrnl. Hygiene 16 100 When a suitable nutrient medium is seeded with bacteria, there is usually a period during which the bacteria grow at a slower rate. 1953 R. W. Fairbrother Text-bk. Bacteriol. (ed. 7) iv. 41 The instruments commonly used to inoculate or seed a medium are the platinum loop and needle. 1978 Nature 23 Mar. 372/2 Eight-compartment chamber slides..that had been seeded three days earlier with 15,000 cells in each compartment. 2015 New Scientist 6 June 8/4 The flesh of the organ is recellularised by seeding the scaffold with the relevant cells from the recipient. 3. a. intransitive. Of a plant: to produce or disperse seed; to run to seed. Hence also: to reproduce by means of seed; to germinate and grow from a seed. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > creation > productiveness > be productive [verb (intransitive)] yield1297 fruit1377 seeda1398 germ1483 buddle1581 fructuate1663 seminate1676 teem1746 spend1854 to lift well1959 the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > seed > plant having seed > be a seed-bearing plant [verb (intransitive)] > produce or form seeds kern1297 seeda1398 kernel1483 corn1632 a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xvii. viii. 908 Þe tree þerof seediþ [L. semen reddit] in clustris cleuynge togideres. c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) i. l. 639 (MED) Cornys gynne in þe felde to sede. ?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. xii^v Drake is like vnto rye tyl it begyn to sede. 1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry i. f. 22 The weedes..plucked vp by the rootes before they haue seeded, wyll neuer spring agayne. 1617 W. Lawson Countrie Housewifes Garden viii. 14 in New Orchard & Garden (1618) Hollyhocke riseth high, seedeth and dyeth. 1693 T. Robinson in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 17 826 The Arachydna's, and some other Legumes, which flower above, but seed under ground. 1716 H. Stevenson Young Gard'ner's Director 110 They all die after they have seeded. 1765 Museum Rusticum 4 187 If they are suffered to seed, they will soon stock the land. 1824 W. Wheeler Let. 25 July (1952) 285 Out of the top of this pole comes the blossoms that lasts a considerable time, it then seeds and dies. 1880 C. R. Markham Peruvian Bark 345 The tea plants are now three or four feet high, and seeding freely. 1928 R. S. Troup Silvicultural Syst. iv. 46 The pine seeds as a rule annually. 1989 M. Dibdin Ratking vii. 143 Plants had already seeded in crevices around the foundations. 2010 Townsville (Austral.) Bull. (Nexis) 18 Feb. 19 It [sc. the dove orchid] has acclimatised very well into our northern tropical region and..flowers and seeds many times a year. b. intransitive. figurative and in figurative context. To spread or propagate, as from the dispersal of seed. Now rare. ΚΠ a1450 (c1375) G. Chaucer Anelida & Arcite (Tanner 346) (1878) l. 306 Youre chere floureth but hit will not sede. c1450 (?a1400) Wars Alexander (Ashm.) l. 3725 (MED) Ȝoure saule sa full of sapient sedis & floures..Þat all þe present is apert. 1554 J. Proctor tr. St. Vincent of Lérins Waie Home to Christ sig. L.v Whatsoeuer therfore the auncient fathers, y^e faith full laborours in thys Agricolation & husbandrie of Christ hys churche, haue sowed and planted, mete it is..that the same doe styll floure, and sede, and atteyne to perfect ripenes. 1600 J. Bodenham Bel-vedére 227 First doe we bud, then blow; next seed, last fall. 1829 R. Southey Ireland ix, in Sir Thomas More (1829) I. 299 Labours of love remain;... To weed out noxious customs rooted deep In a rank soil, and long left seeding there. 1983 A. Mason Illusionist iv. 128 The communities were spreading, seeding into regions beyond the mountains and the eastern desert, along the coasts of the Great Sea. c. intransitive. To develop or grow into some final form or state. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > suffering > displeasure > be or become displeased [verb (intransitive)] > become unpleasant seed1671 1671 R. Head & F. Kirkman Eng. Rogue IV. xv. 246 Pity did at last turn into affection; this Love soon seeded into Matrimony. 1898 B. Gregory Side Lights 205 The egotism..had not seeded into the fanatical distension of your genuine demagogue. 1909 Sat. Rev. 17 Apr. 487/1 In Persia it [sc. Parliamentary government] soon blossomed out into civil war, and now is seeding into anarchy. 1984 R. E. Duncan Ground Work 131 Out of me, the very last of me, Til I am rid of every rind and seed Into that sweetness, That final giving over. †4. a. intransitive. To beget a child, procreate. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ society > inhabiting and dwelling > furnishing with inhabitants > [verb (transitive)] set971 publish?a1400 inhabitc1400 seedc1400 man?a1425 peoplea1475 peoplish1530 repletec1540 empeople1582 popule1588 world1589 appopulate1625 populate1885 the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > multiply or reproduce [verb (intransitive)] > beget genderc1384 seedc1400 c1400 (?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 137) (1873) C. xi. l. 251 And god sente to seth..for no kyne catel ne no kyne byheste Suffren hus seed seeden with caymes seed hus broþer. b. intransitive. To be born of. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > life > source or principle of life > birth > be born [verb (intransitive)] arisec950 to come forthOE to come into (also to) the worldOE riseOE breedc1200 kenec1275 birtha1325 to wax forth1362 deliver?c1450 kindlec1450 seed?a1475 issuec1515 arrive1615 born1698 to see the light1752 ?a1475 Ludus Coventriae (1922) 365 (MED) The voys of my moder me nyhith fulny; I am dyssend on to here of whom I dede sede. 5. a. transitive. To sow or plant (a kind of seed) in the ground. In quot. ?1440: to plant (chestnuts).†Formerly also with cognate object, in to seed seed [originally (in quot. 1560) after Hebrew zāraʿ zeraʿ to sow seed] : to sow or scatter seed (obsolete). ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > sowing > sow seed [verb (transitive)] sowc1000 besowc1175 inseminate1623 to put in1657 sprain1744 shed1770 to get in1771 seminate1796 broadcast1807 seed1814 tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) xii. l. 284 (MED) Theryn do thy chastyns forto growe; A foote depe the crafte is hem to seede. 1560 Bible (Geneva) Gen. i. 12 The budde of the herbe, that sedeth sede according to his kinde. 1614 W. Raleigh Hist. World i. i. i. §7. 11 The Earth..brought forth the budde of the hearbe that seedeth seede. 1784 J. Cullum Hist. & Antiq. Hawsted in Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica No. 23. 218 About the same time, turneps also, that capital addition to modern husbandry, were first sown here, as a crop, by the same person that seeded clover. 1814 J. Taylor Arator (ed. 2) 154 When the wheat was seeded on high and narrow ridges. 1851 C. Cist Sketches & Statistics Cincinnati xv. 317 The cotton crop is seeded in the spring. 1894 Times 14 Aug. 15/2 In the course of another week or two, English farmers..will be seeding ‘trifolium’ upon the wheat stubble. 1923 Burlington (Iowa) Gaz. 27 Apr. Some spring wheat was seeded while oats seeding was virtually completed in the southern part of the state. 1987 Stock & Land (Melbourne) 18 June 13 Utilising an air seeder on a row crop rig for seeding wheat and barley has been..successful. 2012 Kamloops (Brit. Columbia) Daily News (Nexis) 15 Oct. (Final ed.) b1 The variety of corn he seeded on his two-hectare patch grew more than three metres high. b. transitive. figurative and in extended use. To provide the germ or latent beginning of (some future growth or development); to plant the kernel of. ΚΠ 1597 T. Middleton Wisdome of Solomon Paraphr. xii. sig. P So fares it with the wicked plants of sin, The rootes of mischiefe, toppes of villany... Oh cursed plant, Seeded with other seede. 1600 R. Allen Treat. Christian Beneficence sig. Ii2^v The name of men is too good for them, seeing they are monsters in nature, the which hath seeded a certaine sence of thankfulnesse in all creatures. 1602 S. Rowlands Greenes Ghost 8 I wish..he had also looked into other grosse sinnes, which are seeded in the hearts of sundrie persons. 1844 S. Wilberforce Hist. Protestant Episc. Church Amer. (1846) 408 Division has grown up in all its rankness, and seeded freely on every side a new crop of errors. 1942 G. Greene Brit. Dramatists 39 As its [sc. Tom Robertson's Caste] finest flower it was to seed the work of Pinero, Henry Arthur Jones, Galsworthy. 1994 Harrowsmith June 62/3 A newfound scientific interest in the profound interaction between plant and person..is seeding a new crop of research studies. 2008 N. McAfee Democracy & Polit. Unconscious iv. 77 The United States began to seed a new threat. c. transitive (reflexive). Of a plant: to reproduce (itself) and spread by means of seed. Cf. later self-seed vb. at self- prefix 6. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > wild and cultivated plants > be wild or propagate itself [verb (reflexive)] seed1797 1797 A. Young Gen. View Agric. Suffolk vii. 85 Trefoil..will, by seeding itself, last several years in the land. 1860 Daily Evening Bull. (San Francisco) 21 Nov. The indiginous [sic] grain seeds itself in the adobe soil of the plain. 1889 E. Wakefield N.Z. after Fifty Years iv. 100 It was found that primroses had seeded themselves for the first time, and were springing up in abundance in Canterbury. 1909 Eng. Rev. Feb. 403 There is no further need of planting, for they [sc. the pines] seed themselves. 1956 ‘I. English’ Every Eye 69 Giant poppies..had seeded themselves into the suffocating undergrowth of St John's wort and bindweed. 2003 Horticulture Mar. 32/2 Lent lily..has seeded itself across much of continental Europe. d. transitive. Biology. To introduce (cultured cells, organisms, etc.) into an area, esp. a culture vessel or medium for growth. ΚΠ 1890 Public Health 2 382/1 It is..necessary to make a third or a fourth cultivation in the carbolised broth before it is seeded into simple broth. 1937 R. W. Fairbrother Text-bk. Med. Bacteriol. xx. 239 The blood should be collected at the height of the fever and 5 c.c. seeded into two flasks containing about 100 c.c. of liver infusion broth. 1973 Nature 22 June 450/1 Cells..were seeded into each 100-mm Petri dish..and incubated at 37°C. 1997 J. A. Sherman Oral Radiosurgery (ed. 2) i. 5 It [sc. a scalpel] seeds bacteria into incision site. 2005 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 24 July xiii. 1/4 The osteoblast is then seeded into bioglass, a porous bioactive material that encourages cell growth. †6. intransitive. To take seed well; to be suitable for germination. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > picking or gathering > [verb (intransitive)] > gather seed seed1573 1573 T. Tusser Fiue Hundreth Points Good Husbandry (new ed.) f. 48 Slack neuer thy weding,..and specially where ye do trust to for seede. †7. transitive (in passive). To run to seed, to mature. Obsolete.In early quots. in figurative context. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > undertaking > preparation > prepare or get ready [verb (intransitive)] > mature ripeOE ripen1549 seed1594 develop1744 mature1805 perfect1870 1594 W. Shakespeare Lucrece sig. E3^v How will thy shame be seeded in thine age When thus thy vices bud before thy spring? View more context for this quotation 1606 T. Dekker Seuen Deadly Sinnes London v. sig. E4 This flower when it first came into the Citie, had a prettie scent,..hath bene let to run so high, that it is now seeded. 1659 R. Amyas Antidote against Melancholy 6 Take the tops of Nettles when they be seeded. 1764 P. Miller tr. H. L. Duhamel du Monceau Elements Agric. I. ii. iii. 169 Weeds, scatter such a prodigious quantity of seed that the land is infested with young plants... This is not the case with plants that are sown; for as they are turned in before they are seeded. 8. transitive. To lightly sprinkle or cover (a surface); esp. to decorate (the material of a garment) with a scattering of small ornaments. Usually in passive. ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > tailoring or making clothes > tailor or make clothes [verb (transitive)] > other fur13.. buttonc1380 lashc1440 pointa1470 set1530 tuft1535 vent1547 ruff1548 spangle1548 string1548 superbody1552 to pull out1553 quilt1555 flute1578 seam1590 seed1604 overtrim1622 ruffle1625 tag1627 furbelow1701 tuck1709 flounce1711 pipe1841 skirt1848 ruche1855 pouch1897 panel1901 stag1902 create1908 pin-fit1926 ease1932 pre-board1940 post-board1963 society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > ornamental art and craft > pattern or design > pattern [verb (transitive)] > scattered pattern powderc1380 interseam1589 seed1604 pounce1610 1604 R. Dallington View of Fraunce sig. L4 The Constable..as the Grand Escuyer,..hath the Sword in the scabberd D'Azure, semé de fleurs de Lys d'or: Azure seeded with flowers de Lyce. 1604 B. Jonson His Pt. Royall Entertainem. 55 Theosophia, or Diuine wisdome, al in white, a blew mantle seeded with Stars. 1633 J. Shirley Triumph of Peace 4 In the next Chariot of equall glory, were placed on the lowest staires foure in skie-coloured Taffata Robes seeded with starres. 1678 T. Jordan Triumphs of London 4 Vigilancy, in a Silver Robe, a French green Mantle, seeded with waking Eyes. 1723 tr. N. Menin Hist. & Chronol. Treat. Anointing & Coronation Kings & Queens France iv. 20 Some Authors have asserted, that the Escutcheon, seeded (or powder'd, we shall use either Term indifferently) with Fower-de-Luces [sic], and the Oriflamb, were deposited that same night. 1747 Universal Hist. (rev. ed.) IV. i. x. 449 This goddess [sc. Cybele] was pictured sitting in a chariot drawn by four lions..and attired with a garment seeded with flowers of different colours. 1894 Sterling (Illinois) Standard 8 Mar. Pretty house-waists are now displayed made of soft, pliable satin surah, seeded with color grey dotted with rose color, dark wine with gold, blue with petunia, etc. 1926 Davenport (Iowa) Democrat & Leader 3 Jan. 7/3 Miss Kathyrne Weber and R. J. McKinney were Russians in white satin costumes, Miss Weber having an elaborate head-dress seeded with pearls. 1993 G. McCaughrean Gold Dust (2004) 60 She wore an ancient satin dress seeded with black jet so that she shimmered like a geyser of crude oil each time she shook her gigantic hips. 2003 A. Ball Encycl. Catholic Devotions & Pract. 443/1 The Virgin appeared in a blue robe seeded with golden stars. 9. transitive. To remove the seeds from (a plant, fruit, etc.), to deseed; to ‘stone’. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation for table or cooking > preparing fruit and vegetables > prepare fruit and vegetables [verb (transitive)] > remove stones or seeds stone1639 seed1780 pit1879 deseed1986 1780 A. Young Tour Ireland (ed. 2) II. 224 The turnips to be twice hand hoed, and the flax to be seeded, stacked and threshed like corn. 1865 Mechanics' Mag. 14 July 23/1 Mr. George Parsons..has patented an invention which consists in constructing machines for seeding and for breaking flax as hereafter described. For seeding flax he employs a pair of rollers. 1875 Newport (Rhode Island) Daily News 5 Feb. Two pounds of fine raisins, seeded and chopped, or of seedless sultana raisins, cut in half. 1904 Daily Chron. 9 June 8/5 Seed a pound of raisins, cut them in quarters, and mix them with six ounces of shredded citron. 1972 Encycl. Americana XI. 382/1 The harvested stems are first seeded by machine or by the ancient hand method called rippling. 1985 L. Blue Kitchen Blues 97/1 Peel and seed the cucumber. 2015 Observer (Nexis) 8 Nov. Halve and seed the grapes, then add them to the pan. 10. †a. intransitive. To form small grains of solid matter. Obsolete. rare. ΚΠ 1887 Colonial & Indian Exhib., London 1886: Rep. Colonial Sections 272 The fatty acids ‘seed’ on cooling slowly, and yield a distinct solid and liquid on pressing. b. transitive. Chemistry. To introduce a crystal or small particle into (a liquid or apparatus) so as to promote further crystal growth.Originally in sugar manufacture. Cf. seed n. 8. ΚΠ 1896 Jrnl. Amer. Chem. Soc. 18 219 A very small proportion of crystals may be separated, which do not appear to be increased in quantity by ‘seeding’ with crystallized xylose. 1921 Jrnl. Physical Chem. 25 534 Points on the stable curve..were then easily determined by seeding the proper mixtures..with small crystals from this lot of hydrate. 1930 Amer. Speech 6 14 Sometimes a crystallizer is seeded with a nest egg of sugar. 1964 G. H. Haggis et al. Introd. Molecular Biol. iv. 94 It has further been possible recently to study this process in vitro by ‘seeding’ near-saturated solutions of calcium phosphate with collagen fibres. 2015 D. L. Pavia et al. Small Scale Approach Org. Lab. Techniques (ed. 4) iii. xlii. 419 Better crystal formation can be achieved by seeding the solution before it cools to room temperature. c. transitive. To release a crystalline substance into (a cloud, weather system, etc.) in order to cause ice or water droplet formation and usually precipitation.Substances used include silver compounds (esp. silver iodide), common salt, and dry ice (carbon dioxide).In quot. 2004 figurative. ΚΠ 1946 Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gaz. 14 Nov. 9/1 Other clouds..had not been seeded with dry-ice. 1974 Nature 11 Oct. 461/3 Potential hail clouds are observed by radar, and then seeded by lead iodide from a rocket fired into the cloud's centre. 1975 Daily Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) 16 July 3/3 The United States government did not seed hurricane Fifi, nor was it ever contemplated. 1998 L. Forbes Bombay Ice (1999) 157 My father knew a pilot called Krishna who was paid to fly his Dakota into the rain clouds and seed them with a fine dust of ground soapstone and salt. 2004 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 31 May b15/5 For years, law firms have been hiring ex-politicians as so-called rainmakers to seed the corporate clouds. 11. Sport (originally Tennis). a. transitive. To assign (each of a chosen number of the better competitors) to a position in an ordered list, forming the basis of a draw which ensures that the most highly ranked players do not meet in the early stages of an elimination competition. Now frequently with complement, indicating position on the list. Cf. seed n. 9. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > sport > judging or umpiring > umpire or referee [verb (transitive)] > exclude best players from early rounds seed1897 1897 Amateur Athlete 1 July 14/1 For many years it has been an unwritten law that ‘seeding’ the best players through a draw is legitimate. 1929 Times 29 June 4/4 Three of the women who had been ‘seeded’ for the draw were defeated during the day. 1953 Sunday Graphic 7 June 22/4 Rose, likely to be seeded in the first four at Wimbledon, did not play up to his reputation. 1955 N.Y. Times 10 May 33/5 Joe Burk's Red and Blue eight, which beat Navy and Harvard Saturday for the Adams Cup, was seeded first in the draw for the tenth annual regatta. 1972 D. Delman Sudden Death (1973) i. 17 Timmy was up against a big Australian kid who'd given me fits at Wimbledon... Timmy..would probably go into the tournament seeded second behind Cole. 1991 Sports View (U.S.) 208/1 The teams would be seeded according to their records, with the top two seeds getting first-round byes. 2015 Evening Gaz. (Nexis) 7 Oct. 51 The Loftus player was seeded 15th but was beaten in the first match he played. b. transitive. To arrange (a draw or event) to this end. ΚΠ 1898 Spalding's Lawn Tennis Ann. 101 It is generally advisable to ‘seed’ the draw in handicap tournaments so that the players in each class shall be separated as far as possible one from another. 1911 Spalding's Official Lawn Tennis Guide 55 Unlike many big events, Longwood is never seeded, and in consequence the possibility of an uneven draw materialized. 1924 Times 23 June 4/4 This year, for the first time, the draw has been ‘seeded’; how little seeding accords with British notions may be gathered from there being no reference in the Oxford Dictionary—at any rate in the smaller one... In some countries the seeding is designed to keep the better players apart until the final stages. 2015 Stirling Observer (Nexis) 5 Aug. 56 The way the draw was seeded meant Stirling wouldn't have faced the Ibrox club had they progressed. Phrasal verbs to seed down transitive. To sow (land) with grass or clover seeds, in between periods of crop-growing; (also) to intersperse grass or clover seeds amongst (a crop of oats, wheat, etc.). With †for, to, with. Also figurative. Also occasionally intransitive. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > sowing > sow seed [verb (transitive)] > sow interspersedly or at intervals intersow1725 to seed down1794 1794 C. Vancouver Gen. View Agric. Cambr. 167 When the land tires of this round, and becomes foul of weeds, it is seeded down with red clover, and rye grass. 1846 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 7 ii. 505 It is the practice of one farmer..to seed down without a crop: his custom is to fallow. 1864 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 25 ii. 527 I seed down the oat-crop for clover. 1873 W. Carleton Farm Ballads 30 And I'll plough her grave with hate, and seed it down to scorn! 1910 Penny Illustr. Paper 2 Apr. 436/1 The land to be seeded down to grass must be poor, hungry soil, or the seed will not germinate freely. 1960 Berkshire Eagle (Pittsfield, Mass.) 6 Oct. 26/7 The corn fields are seeded down with a grass legume mixture of 20 per cent red clover, 10 percent ladino clover, 35 per cent alfalfa, and 35 per cent timothy. 2010 A. L. Hansen Org. Farming Man. ix. 240/1 You will in most cases have to seed down the area. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2018; most recently modified version published online June 2022). < n.eOEv.OE
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