Dictionary entries for 'seed'

Synonyms

seed (sēd)

[Middle English, from Old English sǣd, sēd.]

noun: pl., seeds or seed

A ripened plant ovule containing an embryo.
A propagative part of a plant, as a tuber or spore.
Seeds considered as a group.
The seed-bearing stage of a plant.
Something that resembles a seed, as a tiny bubble in a piece of glass.
1. A small amount of material used to start a chemical reaction.
2. A small crystal used to start a crystallization process.
Medicine A form of a radioactive isotope that is used to localize and concentrate the amount of radiation administered to a body site, such as a tumor.
A source or beginning; a germ.
Offspring; progeny.
Family stock; ancestry.
Sperm; semen.
A seed oyster or oysters; spat.
Sports A player who has been seeded for a tournament, often at a given rank: a top seed.

To plant seeds in (land, for example); sow.
To plant in soil.
To remove the seeds from (fruit).
To furnish with something that grows or stimulates growth or development: a bioreactor seeded with bacteria.
Medicine To cause (cells or a tumor, for example) to grow or multiply.
Meteorology To sprinkle (a cloud) with particles, as of silver iodide, in order to disperse it or to produce precipitation.
Sports
1. To arrange (the drawing for positions in a tournament) so that the more skilled contestants meet in the later rounds.
2. To rank (a contestant) in this way.
To help (a business, for example) in its early development.

Set aside for planting a new crop: seed corn; seed wheat.
Intended to help in early stages: provided seed capital for a fledgling business.

go to seed: To pass into the seed-bearing stage. To become weak or devitalized; deteriorate: The old neighborhood has gone to seed.