SEED, n.

1. The substance, animal or vegetable, which nature prepares for the reproduction and conservation of the species. The seeds of plants are a deciduous part, containing the rudiments of a new vegetable. In some cases, the seeds costitute the fruit or valuable part of plants, as in the case of wheat and other esculent grain; sometimes the seeds are inclosed in fruit, as in apples and melons. When applied to animal matter, it has no plural.

2. That from which any thing springs; first principle; original; as the seeds of virtue or vice.

3. Principle of production.

Praise of great acts he scatters as a seed. Waller.

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

5. Race; generation; birth.

Of mortal seed they were not held. Waller.

SEED, v. i.

1. To grow to maturity, so as to produce seed. Maiz will not seed in a cool climate.

2. To shed the seed.

SEED, v. t. To sow; to sprinkle with seed, which germinates and takes root.

1. The substance, animal or vegetable, which nature prepares for the reproduction and conservation of the species. The seeds of plants are a deciduous part, containing the rudiments of a new vegetable. In some cases, the seeds constitute the fruit or valuable part of plants, as in the case of wheat and other esculent grain; sometimes the seeds are inclosed in the fruit, as in apples and melons. When applied to animal matter, it has no plural.
2. That from which any thing springs; first principle; original; as, the seeds of virtue or vice. – Hooker.
3. Principle of production. Praise of great acts he scatters as a seed. – Waller.
4. Progeny; offspring; children; descendants; as, the seed of Abraham; the sea of David. In this sense, the word it applied to one person, or to any number collectively, and admits of the plural form; but rarely used in the plural.
5. Race; generation; birth. Of mortal seed they were not held.

1. To grow to maturity, so as to produce seed. Maiz will not seed in a cool climate. – Swift.
2. To shed the seed. – Mortimer.

To sow; to sprinkle with seed, which germinates and takes root. Belknap.

1. A ripened ovule, consisting of an embryo with one or more integuments, or coverings; as, an apple seed; a currant seed. By germination it produces a new plant.
   
   
   (b)
2. To sow seed.
3. To sprinkle with seed] to plant seeds in; to sow; as, to seed a field.
4. The generative fluid of the male; semen; sperm; -- not used in the plural.
5. To shed the seed.
   
   
   Mortimer.
6. To cover thinly with something scattered; to ornament with seedlike decorations.
   
   

   A sable mantle seeded with waking eyes. B. Jonson.

   To seed down, to sow with grass seed.

7. That from which anything springs; first principle; original; source; as, the seeds of virtue or vice.
8. To grow to maturity, and produce seed.
   
   

   Many interests have grown up, and seeded, and twisted their roots in the crevices of many wrongs. Landor.

9. The principle of production.
   
   

   Praise of great acts he scatters as a seed,
   Which may the like in coming ages breed. Waller.

10. Progeny; offspring; children; descendants; as, the seed of Abraham; the seed of David.
    
    

    * In this sense the word is applied to one person, or to any number collectively, and admits of the plural form, though rarely used in the plural.

11. Race; generation; birth.
    
    

    Of mortal seed they were not held. Waller.

    Seed bag (Artesian well), a packing to prevent percolation of water down the bore hole. It consists of a bag encircling the tubing and filled with flax seed, which swells when wet and fills the space between the tubing and the sides of the hole. -- Seed bud (Bot.), the germ or rudiment of the plant in the embryo state; the ovule. -- Seed coat (Bot.), the covering of a seed. -- Seed corn, or Seed grain (Bot.), corn or grain for seed. -- Seed down (Bot.), the soft hairs on certain seeds, as cotton seed. -- Seed drill. See 6th Drill, 2 (a). -- Seed eater (Zoöl.), any finch of the genera Sporophila, and Crithagra. They feed mainly on seeds. -- Seed gall (Zoöl.), any gall which resembles a seed, formed on the leaves of various plants, usually by some species of Phylloxera. -- Seed leaf (Bot.), a cotyledon. -- Seed lobe (Bot.), a cotyledon; a seed leaf. -- Seed oil, oil expressed from the seeds of plants. -- Seed oyster, a young oyster, especially when of a size suitable for transplantation to a new locality. -- Seed pearl, a small pearl of little value. -- Seed plat, or Seed plot, the ground on which seeds are sown, to produce plants for transplanting; a nursery. -- Seed stalk (Bot.), the stalk of an ovule or seed; a funicle. -- Seed tick (Zoöl.), one of several species of ticks resembling seeds in form and color. -- Seed vessel (Bot.), that part of a plant which contains the seeds; a pericarp. -- Seed weevil (Zoöl.), any one of numerous small weevils, especially those of the genus Apion, which live in the seeds of various plants. -- Seed wool, cotton wool not yet cleansed of its seeds. [Southern U.S.]