seed--prophetes.ai

▪ I. seed, n.
    (siːd)
    Forms: 1 sǽd, Anglian séd, 2–5 sed, (2–3 sad(e), 2–6 sede, 3, 6 side, 4 seod, Kent. zed, Sc. seiyde, 4–6 Sc. seid(e, 4–7 seede, 5 seyde, ceed, ced, 6 siede, sead(e, 4 -seed.
    [OE. sǽd neut. = OFris. sêd, OS. sâd neut. (MLG. sât), MDu. saet neut. (Du. zaad), OHG., MHG. sât fem. (mod.G. saat), Goth. -sêþ-s (in manasêþ-s fem., mankind), ON. sáð neut., whence sǽði in the same sense (Sw. säd fem., Da. sæd):—OTeut. *sǣđi-, sǣđo-, f. root *sǣ- to sow.]
    1. a. That which is or may be sown (often as cognate obj. to sow v.); the ovules of a plant or plants (chiefly, when in the form of ‘grains’ or small roundish bodies) esp. as collected for the purpose of being sown. Also, in Agriculture and Horticulture, applied by extension to other parts of plants (e.g. tubers, bulbs) when preserved for the purpose of propagating a new crop. In pl., kinds of seed. Phr. to go to seed (go v. 44 b): to cease flowering as seeds develop; fig., to become habitually unkempt, ineffective, etc.; to deteriorate; to run to seed (see run v. 69 e); also † to grow to seed (obs.), to be in seed.

c 825 Vesp. Psalter cxxv. 6 Gongende eodon & weopun sendende sed [etc.]. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Mark iv. 3 Ut eode se sædere his sæd to sawenne. c 1200 Ormin 15905 Swa þatt itt muȝhe takenn wel Wiþþ sed to berenn wasstme. c 1250 Prov. ælfred 93 in O.E. Misc. 108 And þe cheorl beo in fayþ his sedes to sowen, his medes to mowen. a 1300 Cursor M. 5230 His suns all and þair flitting..In weynis war þai don to lede, Þat ioseph wit ful of side. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. vi. 34, I haue..Boþe I-sowed his seed and suwed his beestes. c 1381 Chaucer Parl. Foules 328 But foul that lyuyth be sed sat on the grene. 1520 Nisbet N.T. I. 10 Christ..schewe the parrabile of the seide. 1526 Grete Herball xlvii. (1529) C v b, Auena is an herbe, the sede of it is called otes. 1602 Shakes. Ham. i. ii. 136 Oh fie, fie, 'tis an vnweeded Garden That growes to Seed. 1611 Bible Gen. i. 29 Every herb bearing seed. 1675 Evelyn Fr. Gard. 244 When it [the onion] is in seed, 'tis very subject to be over⁓thrown by the wind. 1729 Fog's Wkly. 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 Brown Compl. Farmer ii. 15 All seed degenerates, if long sown upon any land. 1817 J. K. Paulding Lett. fr. South I. xvii. 188 His white dimity could not last for ever, and he gradually went to seed. 1831 Loudon Encycl. Agric. (1857) §4856 The only small seeds the farmer has to sow on a large scale, are the clovers, grasses, the different varieties of turnip, and probably the mangold wurzel and carrot. 1839 Stonehouse Axholme 32 Those [potatoes] grown upon the warp land are generally disposed of for seed to the market gardeners and others. 1856 Glenny Gard. Everyday-bk. 174/1 Cut down the old plants that have rambled and are past their prime, unless you are saving seed. 1859 [see go v. 44 b]. 1929 G. Ade Let. 8 Feb. (1973) 139 We have ridden for miles and miles [in Peking], visiting 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. 1951 E. Paul Springtime in Paris ii. 33 Clients, mostly young and disreputable, or old and gone to seed. 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.

b. An individual grain of seed. In Bot., technically restricted to the fertilized ovule of a phanerogam. Popularly applied also to the ‘spore’ of a cryptogam, and to certain ‘fruits’ (in the scientific sense of the word) which have the appearance of seeds, e.g. that of the strawberry.

c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Mark iv. 31 Hit is ealra sæda læst þe on eorðan synt. a 1300 Cursor M. 22875 Þat mighti godd þat all waldes, qua can sai me hu of a side He dos an hundret for to brede? 1340 Ayenb. 113 Þet zed o mostard is wel small. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 64/2 Ceede of corne, as kyrnel, granum. c 1450 Holland Howlat 31 Under the Cirkill solar thir sauoruss seidis War nurist be dame Natur. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. v. i. 46 A beggerly account of emptie boxes, Greene earthen pots, Bladders, and mustie seedes. 1712 tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 38 Little, thin, black Seeds, each one having a spiral head. 1797 Wordsw. Poems Old Age i. Old Cumb. Beggar 86 Like the dry remnant of a garden flower Whose seeds are shed. 1811 A. T. Thomson Lond. Disp. (1818) 568 Seeds are to be collected when they are ripe, and before they drop from the plant. 1875 E. White Life in Christ i. i. (1876) 11 Each seed possessing a life originating in the life of the plant, but capable of an independent survival.

c. pl. (a) Land sown with corn. (b) Clover and ‘artificial’ grasses raised from seed.

1794 R. Lowe Agric. Notts 9 Artificial grasses, (generally called here, simply seeds). 1885 Field 31 Jan. 118/1 Some seeds came in the line, and, with the ground in the state it was in just after frost, of course it was incumbent on all to..avoid crossing them as much as possible. 1910 Daily News 4 July 6/4 Yet it is those who have had ‘seeds’ to cut that have come off best this haysel.

d. collect. sing. and pl. Various kinds of grain suitable as the food of a cage-bird. Cf. bird-seed s.v. bird n. 9.

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.

e. pl. Particles of bran. Now dial. Cf. sid.

1598 Sc. Acts Jas. VI (1816) IV. 179/2 Þe haill subiectis susteinis greit lose and skayth in paying alss deir for dust and seidis as gif þe samyn wes guid meill. a 1779 D. Graham Writings (1883) II. 36 Your groat meal, and gray meal, sand dust and seeds. 1799 H. Mitchell Scotticisms 73 ‘I have got a seed in my throat’, is a phrase very common among the Scots. They mistake a piece of the husk for the seed. 1814 Abstract, Proof, Mill of Inveramsay 2 (Jam. s.v. Dust) Some of the dust and sheeling seeds..is left at the mill. 1815 Pennecuik's Wks. 87 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.

2. a. fig. (often with reference to a metaphorical ‘sowing’, ‘soil’, or the like). The germ or latent beginning of some growth or development. Also, with allusion to the Parable of the Sower, applied to religious or other teaching, viewed with regard to its degree of fruitfulness.

sing. a 1000 Boeth. Metr. xxii. 37 Þeah bið sum corn sædes ᵹehealden symle on þære saule soðfæstnesse. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 151 Þe sed þat he sew were soðe wordes. a 1300 Cursor M. 21226 In all þe stedes quar he yede, O godds word he sceued þe sede. ? a 1366 Chaucer Rom. Rose 1617 For venus sone daun Cupido Hath sowne there of loue the seed. c 1480 Henryson Test. Cress. 137 The seid of luf was sawin in my face, And ay grew grene throw your supply and grace. 1596 Spenser F.Q. v. i. 1 Yet then like⁓wise the wicked seede of vice Began to spring. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. i. x. 37 Beside..the seed of error within our selves..there is an invisible Agent. 1732 Berkeley Alciphr. vi. §18 The advantages which we experience from the seed of the gospel sown in good ground. 1840 Bp. A. Jolly Sunday Serv. 309 The blood of the martyrs, in Tertullian's expression, proved the seed of the Church.

pl. 1605 Shakes. Macb. i. iii. 58. 1608 ― Per. iv. vi. 93. 1692 R. L'Estrange Fables xxxviii. 38 We have the seeds of Virtue in us, as well as of Vice. a 1729 J. Rogers Twelve Serm. viii. (1730) 238 Some Seeds of Grace are yet alive in him. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 168 ¶8 The seeds of knowledge may be planted in solitude, but must be cultivated in publick. 1821 Lamb Elia Ser. i. Old Benchers, The seeds of exaggeration will be busy there.

b. Chem. A small crystal of the desired substance introduced into a liquid in order to promote crystallization and to provide a nucleus for crystal growth. Orig. spec. in sugar manufacture. Also fig.

1909 in Cent. Dict. Suppl. 1915 H. C. Prinsen-Geerligs Pract. White Sugar Manuf. ii. i. 80 White sugar destined for direct consumption should not only be white and brilliant, but 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. 1959 Engineering 13 Feb. 219/2 Seeds can be cut to provide grown crystals that can be sawn in the most efficient manner. 1966 McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. III. 601/1 A small crystal of the desired substance is added to the solution as a ‘seed’ to induce the formation of the first crystals. 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.

3. Sport, esp. Lawn Tennis. [f. sense 11 of the vb.] One of a number of seeded players in a tournament.

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. 1963 Times 12 June 5/6 Mr. McKinley, the United States number one and runner-up at Wimbledon in 1961, is top seed in the men's event. 1977 Western Morning News 30 Aug. 12/8 Fiona Moffitt, the number five seed from Dawlish, is Devon's main hope for the title.

4. = semen. Now rare.

c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. 319/700 A swyþe foul þing is þat sed of ȝwan Man is i-spreind. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 445 He was geten aftir, als es knawen, Of vile sede of man with syn sawen. 1471 Caxton Recuyell (Sommer) 103 She..also conceyued of his seed a sone that was named Abas. 1548 Vicary Anat. ix. (1888) 78 The which seede of generation commeth from al the partes of the body, both of the man and the woman. 1608 Topsell Serpents 293 When the male [Viper] hath filled her with all his seed-genitall. 1668 Culpepper & Cole Barthol. Anat. i. xvii. 48 Others have attributed to the Kidneys the preparation of Seed, because hot Kidneys cause a propensity to fleshly lust. 1713 Cheselden Anat. iv. i. (1726) 290 The office of the Testes, is to separate the seed from the blood. 1847–9 Todd's Cycl. Anat. IV. 472/1 This fluid, so indispensably necessary as the medium of sexual generation, is the seed or semen. 1914 J. London Let. 24 Feb. (1966) 415, I have never wantonly scattered my seed. 1973 K. A. Sey Ghanaian English vii. 84 To take seed, to become pregnant.

5. Offspring, progeny. Now rare exc. in Biblical phraseology.

c 825 Vesp. Psalter xxxvi. 28 Ða unrehtwisan soðlice bioð wicnade & sed arleasra forweorðeð. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Mark xii. 22, & onfengon ða ilca ᵹelic ða seofona & ne forleorton vel ne læfdon sed vel team. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 133 Vre drihten cleopede monnes streon sed. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 1613 And ðis lond ic sal giuen ðin sed. a 1340 Hampole Psalter xxi. 23 Þe sede of iacob is þe folke of cristen men. c 1366 Chaucer A.B.C. 182 Sithe þou canst and wilt Ben to þe seed of Adam merciable. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. lxxv. 61 His seed shal bycome faderles in straunge lond for euer⁓more. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 80 marg., The seid and successione of Simon Brechus stil inherited Irland. 1618 Chapman Hesiod's Georg. i. 398 Iustice is seed to Ioue. 1644 Directory for Publ. Worship 11 The rest of the Royal Seed. 1715 Pope Iliad ii. 724 'Till, vain of Mortal's empty Praise, he strove To match the Seed of Cloud-compelling Jove. 1739 C. Wesley Hymn, ‘Hark how all the Welkin rings’ vii, Rise, the Woman's Conqu'ring Seed, Bruise in Us the Serpent's Head. 1842 Tennyson Godiva 5 Not only we, the latest seed of Time,..have loved the people well. 1864 Pusey Lect. Daniel 397 Certain of the seed-royal and of the nobles were carried to Babylon.

6. a. sing. and pl. The ova of the lobster (cf. berry n.¹ 3) and of the silkworm moth. b. Oyster-spat (cf. seed oyster in 9 below).

a. 1620 Observ. Making Fit Rooms Silkworms 5 The Silk-wormes comming of ten ounces of seed [etc.]. 1662 J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 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. 1778 Mrs. Raffald Eng. Housekpr. 41 Take all the red seeds and the meat of a lobster. 1870 Yeats Nat. Hist. Comm. 334 The eggs in this state are called by the silk cultivators seed.

b. 1721 Phil. Trans. XXXI. 251 From the Spat or Seed of which, it is most probable,..all the Bottom at length,..became covered with Oysters. 1887 Goode, etc. Fish. Industr. U.S. v. II. 524 The cultivation of oysters transplanted when young (termed ‘seed’) from the natural reefs where they were spawned to inshore [etc.].

7. a. Glass-making. A minute bubble arising in glass during fusion.

1856 H. Chance in Jrnl. Soc. Arts IV. 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.

b. Med. A small container for holding a radioactive material such as radon when it is placed in body tissue in radiotherapy. Cf. radon seed s.v. radon 2.

1925 Glasgow Herald 26 Mar. 9 To capture the gas emanating from radium, purify it, and bottle it in tiny tubes called from their shape seeds. 1974 R. M. Kirk et al. Surgery iv. 66 The gas radon ²²²Rn, a product of radium decay, with a half-life of four days, can be sealed in gold tubes or ‘seeds’ and implanted into the tissues. 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.

8. attrib. and Comb.: a. simple attrib. (a) (sense 1) seed catalogue, seed-crop, seed-fall, seed-farm, seed-garden, seed-growth (in quot. fig.), seed-gutter, seed-house, seed-market, † seed-month, seed-oil (also attrib.), seed packet, seed rate, seed-season, seed set, seed-shop, seed tray, seed weight, etc.; also seed-field, -furrow, -plot, -time; (b) (sense 1 b) seed-ball, seed-branch, seed-capsule, † seed-case, seed-cone, seed-cover, seed-down, † seed-embryo, seed-glume, seed-head, seed-pod, seed-speck, seed-spike, seed-stalk, seed-stem, † seed-umbel, etc.; also seed-crown 2; (c) in the sense of grain, etc. preserved for raising new crops, as seed-barley, seed-grain, seed-maize, seed-oats, seed-potatoes, seed-wheat; also seed-corn; (d) in names of agricultural implements or their component parts used in the sowing of land with seed, as seed-barrel, seed-basket, seed-drill, seed-funnel, seed-harrow, † seed-plough (also fig.), seed-slide, seed-tube, seed-vent; also seed-box.

1917 D. H. Lawrence Look! We have come Through! 119 The *seed-ball of the sun Is broken at last.

1540 Test. Ebor. VI. 95 One strike of *sede barlie.

1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm III. 790 The true seed-box..is in form of a small barrel, and is hence called the *seed-barrel. 1831 *Seed-basket [see seed-carrier 2].

1671 Grew Anat. Plants i. vii. (1682) 47 In this Inner Coat in a Bean the Lignous Body or *Seed-Branch is distributed. 1844 Zoologist II. 451 The seed-branches of field grasses.

1860 Gosse Rom. Nat. Hist. 21 Ever and anon the *seed-capsule of some forest-tree bursts with a report like that of a musket.

1677 Grew Anat. Plants, Anat. Fruits v. (1682) 186 The *Seed-Case, whether it be called a Cod, Pod, or by any other name. 1724 P. Blair Pharmaco-Bot. ii. 68 The Top of the flowering Foot-stalk, supports the Ovarium or Seed-case.

[1760 J. Webb (title) A catalogue of seeds and hardy plants.] 1901 L. H. Bailey Princ. Veg. Gardening v. 168 The differences..might be of such a character that they could not be definitely described in a *seed catalogue. 1938 N. Marsh Death in White Tie xxv. 266 He hastily gathered up..parish magazines, Church Times, and seed catalogues. 1973 K. Giles File on Death v. 138 ‘Do you get much mail?’.. ‘Today there were three letters and a seed catalogue.’

1842 Longfellow Hiaw. xviii. 44 So they gathered cones together, Gathered *seed-cones of the pine tree.

1796 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) I. 80 *Seed-cover (calyculus) the real cover of the seed. 1868 Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869) 204 When the orange-colored capsules open, and show the scarlet seed-covers.

1824 Loudon Encycl. Gard. (ed. 2) §7484 In cases where a partial failure has taken place in the *seed crop.

1829 T. Castle Introd. Bot. 87 The less essential parts of a seed are, the pellicle, the tunic, the *seed-down [etc.]. 1883 Good Words Dec. 790/1 Thus, as seed-down is to dandelion and thistle..so is this adhesive pulp to the Mistletoe.

1792 W. Rutherford Let. 28 Feb. in Trans. Soc. Promotion of Useful Arts (N.Y.) I. 121 Some years ago a farmer in Somerset county, in New Jersey, first introduced a *seed-drill of his invention. 1850 Mary Wedlake's Priced List Farming Implements 14 (heading) Improved corn and seed drill. 1941 [see combine n. c]. 1973 L. Russell Colonial Canada iii. 38 The seed drill was invented in the 1850s; 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.

1671 Grew Anat. Plants i. vii. (1682) 49 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.

1968 Jrnl. Forestry LXVI. 422/2 The estimated *seedfall..averaged..almost 1 pound per acre. 1981 Country Life 16 July 184/1 My fear of the allium menace..prompts me to dead-head every species before seed-fall.

1824 Loudon Encycl. Gard. (ed. 2) §7361 *Seed-gardens, or *seed-farms, require a dry soil.

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

1840 J. Buel Farmer's Comp. 228 It may be known by its..*seed-glumes resembling a cock's-foot.

1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 447 The steeping of *seed-grain may be useful in other respects. 1840 Carlyle Heroes i, This seems to me the primary seed-grain of the Norse Religion. 1852 Mundy Antipodes (1857) 23 They were furnished with..implements of husbandry, seed-grain, live⁓stock.

1876 Geo. Eliot Dan. Der. xxvi, Yet in the dark *seed-growths of Consciousness a new wish was forming itself.

1831 Loudon Encycl. Agric. (1857) §2714 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.

Ibid. §2704 Gray's *seed-harrow for wet weather promises to be useful..in a tenacious retentive soil.

1823 Trans. Soc. Arts XLI. 103 Eight bunches of straw, having the *seed-heads on. 1902 Cornish Naturalist Thames 91 Goldfinches flying from seed-head to seed-head.

1912 ‘C. F. Benton’ Fairs & Fetes 116 Give to every purchaser a catalogue, which will be donated by any *seed-house on request. 1941 Sun (Baltimore) 6 Aug. 16/7 Gray's standard manual apparently versus a Philadelphia seed-house.

1809 A. Henry Trav. 233, I distributed *seed-maize among the Indians here, which they planted accordingly.

1824 Loudon Encycl. Gard. (ed. 2) §7515 The *seed-market is held twice a-week..in a large roofed space in Mark-lane. 1898 Daily News 9 June 7/5 To-day's seed market..was most thinly attended.

1647 Hexham 1, *Seed-moneth, Zaey-maent. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) II. 360 This [Febr.] is a principal Seed Month, for such as they commonly call Lenten Grain.

1801 Farmer's Mag. Aug. 272 The same premium..to be given for ascertaining the proper quantity of *seed oats dibbled on a lay, or on old pasture ground.

1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, *Seed-oil, an indefinite name for several kinds of oil, which enter into commerce. 1881 Harper's Mag. Oct. 726/2 There are now fifty-nine seed-oil mills in the South.

1935 A. G. L. Hellyer Pract. Gardening v. 43 Beginners are safe in following the directions printed on the *seed packet. 1981 ‘M. Yorke’ Hand of Death xvi. 143 Ronald..sorted through old seed packets.

1552 Latimer Serm. Lincolnsh. i. (1584) 186 Vppon the Sabboth day Gods *seede plough goeth. 1764 Ann. Reg. 76 At York: † a newly invented seed plough..on two wheels.

1718 R. Bradley Gentl. & Gard. Kal. 35 Pulling up the whole Plants, and setting them upright in a Green-house till the *Seed-Pods are dry. 1831 Loudon Encycl. Agric. (1857) §2741 A machine for reaping the heads or seed-pods of clover.

1742 J. Savage in New Hampshire Probate Rec. (1916) III. 115, I Give to my Dear and Loving Wife..Ground..for to plant one bushel of *Seed pertators. 1901 L. H. Bailey Cycl. Amer. Hort. III. 1419/2 The seed Potatoes are cut to one eye, and dropped about 12 to 15 in. apart. 1977 Belfast Tel. 22 Feb. 22/4 (Advt.), Foundation stock seed potatoes for sale.

1960 Times 28 Nov. 16/5 The recommended *seed⁓rate [for maize] is 30 to 35 lb. an acre. 1977 J. L. Harper Population Biol. Plants viii. 250 Seed of T[rifolium] repens was sown together with varying seed rates of Lolium perenne.

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

1946 Nature 12 Oct. 519/2 The reactions based on pollen-tube growth and *seed-set determinations of these two groups of plants are given in the accompanying table. 1978 Ibid. 7 Sept. 54/2 In artificial field bean pollination, manual stripping of open flowers is a recommended practice for increasing seed set in autosterile lines.

1700 T. Brown Amusem. Ser. & Com. iii. 33 A Red-Headed Monkey lost from a *Seed-Shop in the Strand. 1866 Chamb. Encycl. VIII. 600/2 In sending a parcel from a seed-shop to a neighbouring garden.

1875 Knight Dict. Mech. s.v. Seed-planter, The rod-shaft, which communicates by rods with the *seed-slides of the separate hoppers, which discharge into the seed-tubes of the shares.

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

1840 J. Buel Farmer's Comp. 228 It may be known by its coarse appearance, both of the leaf and *seed-spike.

1744 W. Ellis Mod. Husbandman Jan. ii. 32 A Turnep runs up a *Seed-stalk sometimes near seven Feet high. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) II. 19 They will shoot in summer in single tall seed-stalks.

1813 Vancouver Agric. Devon 355 In summer, it chiefly subsists on the tops and *seed⁓stems of thistles. 1875 *Seed-tube [see seed-slide above].

1953 E. R. Janes Sweet Peas vii. 53 Standard *seed trays give little trouble. 1971 P. D. James Shroud for Nightingale vi. 183 A small stack of seed trays, pruning shears, a trowel and small fork.

1786 Abercrombie Gard. Assist. 201 Dill—if now advanced in *seed-umbels, may be pulled up for use.

1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 538 A register screw..by which the sower could at once fix upon the extent of opening in the *seed⁓vents.

1927 Haldane & Huxley Animal Biol. x. 219 They will produce plants each of which will have the same range of *seed-weight as did its parent. 1977 J. L. Harper Population Biol. Plants vii. 203 The year to year variation in seed weight is quite large.

1592 Shuttleworths' Acc. (Chetham Soc.) 78 Foure mettes of *side whette which was soune at Eclestone, xij^s iiij{supd}. 1801 Farmer's Mag. Aug. 271 The proper quantity of seed-wheat to be used per acre.

b. Objective and objective genitive, as seed-bearer, seed-crusher, seed-grower, seed planter, † seed-saver, seed-seller, seed-serving, seed sower, seed-sowing, seed-testing; seed-bearing, seed-eating adjs.; also seed-carrier.

1883 ‘Annie Thomas’ Mod. Housewife 19 John had cut certain heads of asparagus that were intended for *seed⁓bearers.

1766 Complete Farmer Z 2/2 s.v. Hemp, This other species,..which is commonly termed male hemp, should be called *seed-bearing hemp, or female hemp. 1877 Heath Fern World 25 These beautiful plants, however, though flowerless, are seed-bearing.

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

1927 Haldane & 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.

1824 Loudon Encycl. Gard. (ed. 2) §7390 *Seed growers are as frequently farmers as gardeners.

1850 Rep. Comm. Patents 1849 (U.S.) I. 151 Having thus fully described my improved grain and *seed planter.

1585 Higins Junius' Nomencl. 513 Seminaria,..a *seedesauer: a woman that gathereth and preserueth the seedes of herbs.

1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 212 We *seede sellers must sell seedes one with an other.

1848 Commerc. Rev. VI. 133 *Seed-Sowers, &c.—These machines are quite ingenious and labor-saving in their contrivance, [etc.]. 1977 Young's Sporting Appliances (S. Young & Sons Ltd.) 5 Seed sower.

1865 Rep. Maine Board Agric. X. 65 The use of the drill for general *seed-sowing is at present considered too expensive. 1896 U.S. Dept. Agric. Yearbk. 1895 175 The importance of *seed testing is recognized not only by professional seedmen, but also by intelligent farmers. 1910 Chambers's Jrnl. Oct. 685/1 Next comes seed-testing under the microscope, which shows the weed, seeds, and rubbish amongst them. 1950 N.Z. Jrnl. Agric. Mar. 243/1 Some 80 years ago the first seed-testing station was established in Saxony by Professor Nobbe. 1973 Country Life 15 Mar. 714/2 Work on onions at the Cambridge Official Seed Testing Station.

c. Similative, as seed-coral, seed-egg; also seed-like adj.; seed-pearl.

1879 Simmonds Commerc. Products of Sea 441 The Chinese..used to prepare strings of small rows of *seed⁓coral beads for embroidery.

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

1715 Phil. Trans. XXIX. 351 These *seedlike Bodies may be the Ovaria of some Insects. 1887 Phillips Brit. Discomyc. 110 A number of small, hard, seed-like bodies.

d. Instrumental, as seed-borne adj.

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.

9. Special combinations: seed-bag (see quot.); seed bank, (a) a place where seeds of different plant varieties and species are stored as a safeguard against their possible extinction; (b) the seeds that have accumulated naturally in a given area of ground; seed-bird, (a) the Pied Wagtail, Motacilla lugubris or alba; (b) any sea-fowl, esp. the Common Gull, Larus canus; † seed-bone Anat. = sesamoid n.; † seed-bringer Anat. (see quot.); seed-bud Bot. (see quot. 1796); seed bull, a bull kept to serve cows; seed-coat Bot. = testa; † seed-cob, † -cod, † -cot = seed-lip; seed-cotton, cotton in its native state, with the seed not separated; seed crystal = sense 2 b above; seed dressing, a preparation applied to seed in order to protect it against pests; the practice or an instance of employing this; † seed-earth [earth n.²], the side of a seed-furrow; seed-eater, -feeder, any granivorous bird, spec. the Grass-quit, Phonifara bicolor; seed fat, a fat obtained from seeds; seed-finch, -fish (see quots.); † seed-fowl, a granivorous bird; † seed-horse, a stallion; † seed-land, ground capable of raising crops (in quot. fig. and attrib.); seed-leaf, (a) = cotyledon 3 (but see quot. 1793 for seed-lobe); (b) used attrib. and absol. to designate a kind of tobacco grown in the northern United States and used chiefly for wrapping cigars (so called because it was first grown from imported seed); seed-lobe = seed-leaf (a); seed metering, automatic control of the numbers of seeds sown or planted by a machine; seed money U.S., money allocated (esp. from public funds) for the initiation of a project and designed to stimulate the independent economic expansion of the project; † seed-nest Bot. = ovary 2; seed orchard, a group of trees cultivated for the production of seed; † seed-ore, ore found in the form of grains; seed oyster, oyster-spat; † seed-pair, a pair, male and female, regarded as primogenitors; seed-pan, a pan of red earthenware used for the raising of plants from seed; seed parent, in hybridization, a plant whose seed is fertilized by pollen from a different plant; seed-plant, (a) a plant grown from a seed, a seedling; (b) a plant grown for its seed; seed-pot, a pot in which a plant is raised from seed; † seed-seam, a seed-furrow (cf. seam n.¹ 4 e); seed-snipe, a bird of the S. American genus Thinocorys; † seed-spark, the germ of a fire (in quots. fig.); seed stitch Needlework = seeding vbl. n. 4; seed-thought, thought comparable to seed, fruitful or suggestive thought; seed-tick, a mite of the family Ixodidæ, esp. the young of Ixodes bovis; † seed-trough Anat., ? the vas deferens; † seed-vein, ? the spermatic cord; seed-vessel = pericarp (also fig.); † seed-water, a decoction of coriander and caraway seeds mixed with sack and sugar; seed-weed, a weed that propagates itself by seeding, as distinguished from one that spreads by its roots; seed year, one of the years in which a particular tree produces a good crop of seeds. See also seed-cake, seed-lac, etc.

a 1864 Gesner Coal, Petrol., etc. (1865) 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.

1958 Economist 25 Oct. 328/2 In America's first central *seed bank, which has recently been opened at Colorado State University, there is space to store supplies of several hundred thousand basic seed stocks. 1974 Nature 24 May 303/2 As part of a worldwide effort to conserve this fast disappearing genetic resource, a seed bank had already been set up. 1977 J. L. Harper Population Biol. Plants iv. 83 The store of seeds buried in soil (the seed bank) is composed in part of seeds produced on the area and partly of seeds blown in from elsewhere.

1678 Ray Willughby's Ornith. 237 Moreover it [the white Wagtail] follows the Plough..: As..our Husbandmen have told me of their own observation; who therefore call it the *Seed-bird, as Mr. Johnson informed me. 1791 Sir J. Sinclair Statist. Acc. Scot. 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.

1634 T. Johnson tr. Parey's Wks. vi. xxvii. 220 The Ossa Sesamoidea, or *seed bones: these are 19 in number.

1545 T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde i. ix. (1552) 13 b, The *sede bringers, called in Latyn Vasa semen adferentia, be two vaines & two artyres.

1776 Withering Bot. Arrangem. Veget. I. 2 Hippuris... *Seed⁓bud oblong; superior. 1796 ― Brit. Plants (ed. 3) I. 61 Germen, or Seed-bud, the lower part of a Pistil. It is the rudiment of the seed-vessel, or of the embryo fruit. 1837 P. Keith Bot. Lex. 43 A little gnat, Cynips Ficus Caricæ, which lays its egg in the seed-bud of the Wild Fig.

1932 E. Hemingway Death in Afternoon xi. 118 The usual ranch has two hundred cows and four *seed bulls.

1796 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) I. 80 *Seed-coat (arillus) the proper coat of a seed which falls off spontaneously.

1766 Complete Farmer K 3/2 s.v. Cob, A *seed-cob, or seed-lip.

1235–52 Rentalia Glaston. (Somerset Rec. Soc.) 113 Unum *sedcod plenum frumenti. 1407 in Kennett Par. Antiq. (1818) II. 213 Et pro uno Seedcod empto, iij{supd}.

1733 W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farm. 58 Some will dress..this Chalk..with Rags chop'd small..and then sown out of a *Seed Cot all over the Ground.

1797 F. Baily Jrnl. Tour N. Amer. 285 The *seed-cotton loses three-fourths of its weight by jenning. 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 113 One hundred and six pounds of wool from the first kind of seed-cotton.

1934 Industr. & Engin. Chem. Nov. 1201/1 The initial formation of crystal nuclei is profoundly influenced by the chance presence of very small *seed crystals of the solute. 1962 [see melt n.³ 2]. 1974 Encycl. Brit. Macropædia V. 337/1 If the structure and interatomic spacing of the surface..approximate that of the crystal, growth on the surface can resemble growth on a normal seed crystal.

1926–7 Army & Navy Stores Catal. p. lxxi/2 *Seed Dressings, Liquid. 1955 E. Holmes Pract. Plant Protection iv. 31 By far the most important fungicidal seed-dressings are those based on chemicals known as the organo-mercury products. 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.

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

1879 G. N. Lawrence in Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. I. 355 Phonipara bicolor (Linn.)... ‘Mangeur des herbes’. *Seed-eater. 1884 J. Burroughs in Century Mag. Dec. 220/1 Even the slate-coloured snow-bird, a seed⁓eater, comes and nibbles.

1940 T. P. Hilditch Chem. Constitution of Natural Fats i. 18 However varied the fatty acids in *seed fats may be, the resulting triglycerides are..fundamentally similar in type. 1949 Thorpe's Dict. Appl. Chem. (ed. 4) IX. 8/2 In many seed fats..the main component acids are confined to palmitic, oleic, and linoleic in varying proportions. 1963 Times 22 May (Suppl.) p. iv/2 The main sources of edible oils and fats are vegetable fats—particularly palm oil; seed fats, notably those of groundnut, coconut, soya bean, palm kernel and cotton seed; [etc.].

1853 Zoologist II. 4025 The *seed⁓feeders are far more likely to escape observation.

1888 P. L. Sclater Argentine Ornith. I. 69 Sycalis lutea... (Yellow *Seed-finch). Ibid. 71 Orospina pratensis... (Meadow Seed⁓finch.)

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

c 1381 Chaucer Parl. Foules (MS. Seld.) 328 Bothe watere foule and *sede foule on the grene That so fele were þat wonder was to sene. c 1450 Holland Howlat 238 All Se fowle and Seid fowle was nocht for to seike.

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

1607 Chapman Bussy d'Ambois i. i. 124 But his unsweating thrift is policy, And learning-hating policy is ignorant To fit his *seed-land soil.

1693 Evelyn De La Quint. Compl. Gard. Dict., *Seed Leaves, are the first Leaves that Spring up like ears on each side, at the first cleaving or sprouting of any Seed. 1852 Hunt's Merch. Mag. XXVII. 555 The ‘seed leaf’ is raised on the Miami River. 1877 Huxley & Martin Elem. Biol. 71 The cotyledons of the contained embryo swell, burst the seed coat, and, becoming green, emerge as the fleshy seed leaves. 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIII. 425/2 The ‘seed⁓leaf’ tobacco of Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Ohio, grown from Havana seed, is devoted to cigar-making in the United States. 1910 ‘Mark Twain’ Speeches 267, I bought what was called a seed-leaf cigar with a Connecticut wrapper. 1946 W. W. Garner Production of Tobacco ii. 35 The process of fermenting the leaf in cases in preparation for manufacture..began about 1845 and gave great impetus to the manufacture of the ‘Seed and Havana’ cigar, composed of Cuban filler and Connecticut Seedleaf wrapper. 1968 B. C. Akehurst Tobacco xi. 266 The current U.S. Department of Agriculture classification is as follows: Class 4..Type 41 Pennsylvania Seed Leaf.

1793 Martyn Lang. Bot. s.v. Cotyledon, In English we commonly call this part the Cotyledon or *seed-lobe, when we speak of it as a portion of the seed, in a quiescent state—and the seed-leaf, when the seed is in a growing state. 1796 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) I. 80 Seed-lobes (cotyledone) the perishable parts of a seed, designed to afford nourishment to the young plant when it first begins to expand. 1871 H. Macmillan True Vine iii. 76 The embryo of the seed is provided with two seed-lobes.

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. 1971 Power Farming Mar. 29/4 The gearing..has been improved to give greater precision in seed metering.

1966 N.Y. Times 21 Aug. f15/2 The bonds would have enabled the state to gain $17-million, to be used as *seed money to set up the loan guarantee rotary fund. 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. 1977 Time 12 Dec. 33/2 It calls for $120 million in federal seed money to create 14,000 new jobs and rehabilitate four neighborhoods.

1728 Bradley Dict. Bot. Introd. 15 In these [lilies] the *Seed-nests are at the Bottom of the Pistillum.

1951 H. McKusick in Tree Planters' Notes VIII. 8 It..seems logical that we should explore the possibility of establishing *seed orchards. 1979 Beautiful British Columbia Fall 40 Others are from seed orchards maintained by the province and the forest companies.

1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 683 In the cavities between [large rocks of iron ore] lie an ochre and *seed ore. 1885 Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 109/2 Under proper restriction..mature oysters, and seed oysters as well, may be taken from any region.

1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. ii. 1210 Noah..sav'd a *seed-pair of all living things.

1731 Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. 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.

1902 Jrnl. R. Hort. Soc. XXVII. 209 We suggested..crossing our common Wood Anemone..with the scarlet Anemone fulgens, making the Wood Anemone the *seed parent. 1970 R. Gorer Devel. Garden Flowers 19, I have tried to follow the convention in which the seed parent is the first named and the pollen parent the second.

1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) II. 251 It is necessary to remove *Seed-plants often as well as Forest-trees, because by that means they get good Roots. 1878 J. Inglis Sport Nepaul Frontier xvi. 187 The planters advance about four rupees a beegah to the ryot, who cuts his [indigo] seed⁓plant, and brings it into the factory threshing ground.

1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) II. 71 Turn the young plants carefully out of the *seed-pot, breaking the fibres as little as possible.

1778 W. H. Marshall Minutes Agric., Observ. 94, I will endeavour to bury the Surface for Pease; leaving the *Seed-Seams as open and deep as possible.

1889 P. L. Sclater Argentine Ornith. II. 176 Thinocoridæ, or *Seed-snipes.

1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. ix. §92. 618 These were..the *seede-sparkes of those factious fires which afterward brake forth. 1858 Sears Athan. 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.

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. 1964 McCall's Sewing xiii. 246/2 Seed stitch,..a very tiny chain stitch tightly drawn and scattered in all directions to fill an open area.

1863 N. & Q. Ser. iii. III. 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.

1705 R. Beverley Hist. Virginia iv. xix. (1722) 267 *Seed-Tick and Red-Worms are small Insects, that annoy the People by Day, as Musketaes and Chinches do by Night. 1893 E. Custer Tenting 88 Two pests of that region, the seed-tick and the chigger.

1615 Crooke Body of Man 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.

Ibid. 201 The hollow veine where the right *seede-veine arose.

1668 Wilkins Real Char. ii. iv. §5. 96 Herbs considered according to their *Seed-vessel. 1857 A. Gray First Less. Bot. (1866) 127 A simple fruit consists, then, of the Seed-vessel (technically called the Pericarp), or the walls of the ovary matured, and the seeds contained in it. 1869 J. Martineau Ess. II. 22 The code is the seed-vessel of all the virtues.

1747 H. Glasse Cookery x. 120 *Seed Water.

1765 A. Dickson Treat. Agric. (ed. 2) 270 When the design of plowing 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.

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. 1979 H. W. Hocker Introd. Forest Biol. ii. 55 Heavy seed years do not occur at frequent intervals, but are usually offset by succeeding years of light to very light crops.

Sense 8 in Dict. becomes 9. Add: 8. Math. A number taken as the initial value for a series of applications of a given algorithm, usu. in order to generate a sequence of pseudorandom numbers.

1971 Jrnl. Statistical Computation & Simulation I. 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. 1972 G. A. Mihram Simulation ii. 48 A fundamental requirement for the use of the technique was an initial, user-supplied, number..from which the first random number could be generated. This initial number..is termed the random number seed, or seed. 1984 Which Micro? Dec. 36/3 Here we have..a 32 bit number which can act as a seed or a number. 1988 J. Gleick Chaos 63 Repeat the process, using the new population as the seed, and you get ·1353.

▪ II. seed, v.
    (siːd)
    Forms: see the n.
    [f. seed n. Cf. OFris. sêdia, WFris. siedsje.]
    I. intr.
    1. a. To produce seed; to run to seed. Also fig.

c 1374 Chaucer Anel. & Arc. 306 Youre chere floureth but hit will not sede. a 1400–50 Wars Alex. 3725 Ȝoure saule sa full of sapient sedis & floures. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §20 Drake is lyke vnto rye, till it begynne to sede. 1600 Bodenham Belvedere 227 First doe we bud, then blow; next seed, last fall. 1606 Dekker Seven Sins v. (Arb.) 36 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. 1617 Markham Country Housew. Gard. viii. (1623) 12 Hollyhocke riseth high, seedeth and dyeth. 1713 Petiver in Phil. Trans. XXVIII. 190 It flowers and seeds with us in May, June, &c. 1821 Southey Ode King's Vis. Irel. ix, Labours of love remain; To weed out noxious customs rooted deep In a rank soil, and long left seeding there. 1880 C. R. Markham Peruv. Bark 345 The tea plants are now three or four feet high, and seeding freely.

b. To develop into something undesirable.

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 [Parliamentary government] soon blossomed out into civil war, and now is seeding into anarchy.

† 2. To beget children. Obs. rare^—1.

1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xi. 251 And god sente to seth.., That for no kyne catel ne no kyne byheste Suffren hus seed seeden with caymes seed hus broþer.

† 3. To be born of. Obs. rare^—1.

c 1450 Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.) 393 The voys of my moder me nyhith ful ny I am dyssend on to here of whom I dede sede.

† 4. To gather seed. Obs. rare^—1.

1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 112 Slack neuer thy weeding.., And specially where ye doo trust for to seede.

II. trans.
† 5. To stock with inhabitants. Obs. rare^—1.

13.. Cursor M. 1627 (Gött.) Here bigines at noe þe lede Þe toþer world for to sede.

6. a. To sow (land) with seed. Also absol.

c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. vi. 71 The spaces that in heruest sowe or sede Me wol, may best ha now their pastynynge. 1482 Paston Lett. III. 293 Weche absenting of the tenauntes is to them a greet hurt and los, for lak of sedyng ther londes with ther wynter corn. 1598 Dallington Meth. Trav. N 4 b, He giues them also Wheat to seed their land. 1610 W. Folkingham Art of Survey i. x. 32 They will Marle, Till, and Seede it for halfe the increase. 1707 Curios. in Husb. & Gard. 120 A third part less than usual will sufficiently seed the Ground. a 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. 1888 Vermont Agric. Rep. X. 48, I..then seed broadcast with grass-seed. 1895 Outing (U.S.) XXVII. 254/1 The field was plowed, seeded and rolled. 1979 [see plant v. 1].

b. transf. and fig. spec. (i) To introduce a crystal or small particle into (a liquid or apparatus) so as to induce crystallization. Cf. seed n. 2 b. (ii) To introduce crystals of a substance such as silver iodide into (a cloud, etc.) in order to cause precipitation. (iii) Biol. To inoculate (a culture vessel) with cells from a culture which is to be propagated.

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. a 1670 Hacket Abp. Williams ii. (1693) 6 And the Keeper understood that no Peace was to be had from an Adversary seeded with such Qualities. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 12 Jan. 10/2 We know that a cow suffering from tuberculosis may yield milk seeded with the germs of consumption.

(i) 1909 in Cent. Dict. Suppl. 1921 Jrnl. Physical Chem. XXV. 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 VI. 14 Sometimes a crystallizer is seeded with a nest egg of sugar. 1936 H. L. Alling Interpretative Petrol. Igneous Rocks iv. 41 Supercooled water, left undisturbed, is stable if not in contact with ice. ‘Seeding’ it with the solid phase produces crystallization. 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.

(ii) 1947 Sun (Baltimore) 9 Sept. 3/3 Today's storm developed too close to the Florida West Coast to be seeded with dry ice or other crystals by Army and Navy planes. 1958 Observer 12 Jan. 6/3 The nearest thing to weather control so far is ‘seeding’ clouds with ice or silver iodide to persuade them to give up their rain. 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, B.C.) 16 July 3/3 The United States government did not seed hurricane Fifi, nor was it ever contemplated.

(iii) 1960 Virology X. 387 One hundred-millimeter petri dishes were seeded with cells from primary cultures of normal mouse. 1978 Nature 23 Mar. 372/2 The procedure was repeated using cultures of Wi-38 cells prepared in..eight-compartment chamber slides..that had been seeded three days earlier with 15,000 cells in each compartment.

c. const. to.

1887 Blackw. Mag. CXLI. 813 The estate..had been seeded largely to grass and clover, the very acme of high farming in the South. 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.

d. to seed down: to sow grass or clover seeds amongst (a crop of oats, wheat, etc.). Cf. sow down s.v. sow v. Also fig.

1846 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. VII. ii. 505 It is the practice of one farmer..to seed down without a crop: his custom is to fallow. 1864 Ibid. XXV. ii. 527, I seed down the oat-crop for clover. 1873 W. Carleton Farm Ball. 30 And I'll plough her grave with hate, and seed it down to scorn!

7. a. To sow (a particular kind of seed) upon land. † Also with cogn. obj., to seed seed (a Hebraism).

1560 Bible (Geneva) Gen. i. 12 The budde of the herbe, that sedeth sede according to his kinde. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World i. i. §7. 11 The Earth..brought forth the budde of the hearbe that seedeth seede. 1814 J. Taylor Arator (ed. 2) 154 When the wheat was seeded on high and narrow ridges. 1851 C. Cist 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.

b. transf.

1602 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. Prot. Episc. Ch. Amer. (1846) 408 Division has grown up in all its rankness, and seeded freely on every side a new crop of errors.

c. refl. of a plant: To sow itself.

1909 Eng. Rev. Feb. 403 There is no further need of planting, for they [the pines] seed themselves.

d. Biol. To inoculate (cells from a culture) into a culture vessel or medium.

1965 Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. LIV. 1585 The cells were..seeded into 60-mm plastic dishes at a density of 2·5 ×10⁶ cells per dish. 1973 Nature 22 June 450/1 Cells (10⁷) were seeded into each 100-mm Petri dish (Falcon Co.) and incubated at 37°C in a humidified incubator with 5% CO₂ in air.

† 8. pass. To run to seed, to mature. Obs.

1593 Shakes. Lucr. 603 How will thy shame be seeded in thine age When thus thy vices bud before thy spring?

† 9. To sprinkle or cover a surface lightly with; so, to decorate the material of a garment with powdering of small ornament. Obs.

1598 Dallington Meth. Trav. L 4, 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. 1603 B. Jonson King's Entertainm. Wks. 1616 I. 844 Theosophia, or diuine Wisedome, all in white, a blue mantle seeded with starres. 1633 Shirley Tri. 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 Jordan Triumphs of Lond. 4 Vigilancy, in a Silver Robe, a French green Mantle, seeded with waking Eyes.

10. To remove the seeds from (fruit), to ‘stone’.

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. 1908 Ibid. 5 Mar. 8/3 The currants should be cleaned, raisins seeded, and citron shredded.

11. Sport, esp. Lawn Tennis. To assign (to several of the better competitors) a position in an ordered list, so that those most highly ranked do not meet until the later stages of an elimination competition; to arrange (a draw or event) to this end. Cf. seed n. 3. orig. U.S.

1898 Amer. Lawn Tennis 13 Jan. 4/2 Several years ago, it was decided to ‘seed’ the best players through the championship draw, and this was done for two or three years. 1900 Spalding's Lawn Tennis Ann. 78 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 Off. 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. 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. 1982 Guardian 8 June 22/8 She is seeded 14th and is not particularly worried that a seeding at Wimbledon is unlikely.