seminal, a. and n.
(ˈsɛmɪnəl)
Also 4–5 semynall, 5–6 seminall.
[a. F. séminal (14th c. in Hatz.-Darm.), = Pr., Sp., Pg. seminal, It. seminale, ad. L. sēmināl-is, f. sēmin-, sēmen seed, semen: see -al1.]
A. adj. Of or pertaining to seed; of the nature of seed.
1. a. Of or pertaining to the seed or semen of men and animals (applied Phys. and Anat. to structures adapted to contain or convey semen); of the nature of semen.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. i. (Bodl. MS.), Þe humoure seminal. 1477 Norton Ord. Alch. v. in Ashm. (1652) 90 Then is the Marriage perfect..; And ye maie trewly know..How the seminall seed Masculine, Hath wrought and won the Victory, Upon the menstrualls worthily. 1620 Venner Via Recta vii. 154 They notably strengthen the seminall vessels. 1673 Phil. Trans. VIII. 6047 Animals, of spontaneous and seminal generation. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) II. 19 The seminal liquor, not only of males, but of females also, abounds in these moving little animals. 1853 G. Bird Urin. Deposits §345 (ed. 4) 360 Some time after a seminal emission. 1861 T. R. Jones Anim. Kingd. (ed. 3) 51 We regard the former as an ovary and the second as a testicle or seminal capsule. 1880 Huxley Crayfish 351 The seminal matter is poured out. |
† b. Begotten of the seed (of a person). Obs.
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. i. x. 43 Some deny his Divinity, that he was begotten of humane principles, and the seminall sonne of Joseph. |
2. a. With reference to plants: Pertaining to or of the nature of seed. Bot. Of organs or structures: Serving to contain the seed.
† seminal plant (= mod.L. plantula seminalis): the future plant as contained in the seed, the embryo. † seminal root = radicle 1. seminal leaf = cotyledon.
| 1658 Sir T. Browne Gard. Cyrus iii. 125 The seminal spike of Mercurie weld. 1660 Sharrock Vegetables 56 Every small particle of that imperfect plant being rather beleived seminall..than [etc.]. 1671 Grew Anat. Pl. i. i. (1682) 5 If you take the Lobe of a Bean, and lengthwise pare off its Parenchyma by degrees, and in extreme thin slices, many Branches of the Seminal Root..will appear. 1691 Ray Creation i. (1692) 99 Most Seeds having in them a seminal Plant perfectly formed. 1704 J. Harris Lex. Techn. I, Seminal Leaves. c 1770 A. Hunter Georg. Ess. (1777) 262 The seminal root serves the purposes of an anchor. 1833 Hooker in Smith Eng. Flora V. i. 10 The inner membrane (or seminal bag) is attached by numerous threads or veins to the inside of the outer covering. 1837 P. Keith Bot. Lex. 119 The former [epigean cotyledons] springing up during the process of germination, and being converted into seminal leaves. |
† b. Produced from seed. Obs.
| 1731 Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Crocus, There are several other Varieties of the Spring Crocus.., which are seminal Productions. 1766 Complete Farmer s.v. Pease 5 Z 1/1 Several of the above-mentioned..are..only seminal variations, which will degenerate into their original state in a few years, if they are not very carefully managed. 1796 C. Marshall Gardening v. (1798) 68 A seminal variety of any tree, or shrub, that is remarkably different from the original. |
3. gen. Of or pertaining to the seed or reproductive elements existing in organic bodies, or attributed in pre-scientific belief to inorganic substances. Formerly often in seminal power, seminal virtue: the power of producing offspring.
| 1605 Timme Quersit. ii. iv. 117 Gold phylosophicall,..having gotten a more perfect vegetation and seminal vertue, may be dissolued into any liquor. 1651 Biggs New. Disp. ¶73 The Earth hath of herself a seminall vertue of producing herbs. 1662 Stillingfl. Orig. Sacræ iii. ii. §17. 463 And consequently different appearances and effects may be caused in the same bodies, though it results from seminal principles. 1692 Bentley Boyle Lect. 122 To prove our assertion about the seminal production of all living creatures,..we appeal to observation and experiment. 1701 Swift Contests Nobles & Comm. v. Misc. (1711) 74 We cannot prolong the Period of a Commonwealth beyond the Decree of Heaven, or the Date of its Nature, any more than Humane Life beyond the Strength of the Seminal Virtue. |
4. fig. a. Having the properties of seed; containing the possibility of future development. Also, freq. used of books, work, etc., which are highly original and influential; more loosely: important, central to the development or understanding of a subject.
| a 1639 Wotton Surv. Educ. in Reliq. (1672) 77 In divers Children their ingenerate and seminal powers (as I may call them) lie deep. 1651 Baxter Inf. Bapt. 294 Conferring upon them Seminal and Initial Grace, which doth not presuppose Faith, but is it self the seed of Faith. a 1703 Burkitt On N.T. Acts viii. 25 Sinful thoughts are radical and seminal evils. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 184 ¶1 A careless glance upon a favourite author,..is sufficient to supply the first hint or seminal idea. 1779 ― L.P., Milton, It is pleasant to see great works in their seminal state, pregnant with latent possibilities of excellence. 1838 Mill Bentham in Westm. Rev. Aug. 468 Jeremy Bentham and Samuel Taylor Coleridge—the two great seminal minds of England in their age. 1883 A. Roberts O.T. Revision v. 105 The Book of Job..seems to abound in those seminal thoughts which were developed and exhibited clearly in the later books. 1889 J. M. Robertson Ess. towards Crit. Method 30 It was due to no seminal virtue in him that French literature later flowered afresh. 1947 Partisan Rev. XIV. 409 To be sure, Engels' more specialized Anti-Dühring and Feuerbach, if less seminal are more systematized, more apposite to Lenin's immediate purposes. 1957 D. J. Enright Apothecary's Shop 233 The seminal works of modern literary criticism (such as Eliot's earlier essays and Leavis's Revaluation). 1960 Guardian 14 Oct. 8/6 Everything he says is of real value... This is what academics call a seminal book. 1960 Twentieth Century Nov. 438 Since the war there has been..no seminal poet in the younger generation. 1977 New Yorker 6 June 122/2 That the two pianists, each seminal, agreed to play together at all was startling. |
b. nonce-use. Concerned with the ‘seeds’ of future growth.
| 1827 Hare Guesses Ser. i. (1873) 199 The true reformer is the Seminal Reformer, not the Radical. |
† B. n. Obs.
1. A seminal particle; a seed, germ. Also fig.
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. vii. xvii. 379 Perhaps they containe the seminals of Spiders, and Scorpions. 1661 Glanvill Van. Dogm. 155 Did it [the Peripatetic Philosophy] suppose any thing of the form to pre-exist in the matter, as the seminal of its being; 'twere a tolerable sense to say it were educed from it. 1671 R. Bohun Disc. Wind 175 The seminals of heat. 1682 Sir T. Browne Chr. Mor. iv. §4 Mother-vices, which carry in their Bowels the seminals of other Iniquities. |
2. Phys. A seminal vessel or duct.
| 1733 Ordinary of Newgate No. 1. Advt., By..replenishing the Reins and Seminals. |