vegetative, a. and n.
(ˈvɛdʒɪteɪtɪv, -tətɪv)
Also 5 vegetatiff, -tyf(f, 6 -ife, 6–7 -iue; 6 vegitatiue, 8 -ive.
[ad. med.L. vegetāt-īvus, f. the ppl. stem of L. vegetāre vegetate v.: see -ive. So F. végétatif (13th c.), Sp., Pg., It. vegetativo.]
A. adj.
1. Having the function of vegetation; endowed with the power or faculty of growth. a. Of the soul. (Cf. sensitive a. 1.)
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. (W. de W. 1495) iii. xiii, Þe [soule] vegetatyf desyryth to be,..& the resonable soule desyreth to [be] best. 1433 Lydg. St. Edmund App. 334 Quyk lyk a soule moore than vegetatyff. 1531 Elyot Gov. iii. xxiv, The one [part of the soul], wherin is the powar or efficacie of growinge, which is also in herbes and trees.., & that parte is callen vegetatife. 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 338 That order, which God hath set betweene the vertues of the Vegetatiue soule for the nourishing of the bodie. 1609 Bible (Douay) Gen. vi. comm., The powre or force to engender belongeth to the vegetative soul. 1659 Gentl. Calling (1696) 9 As we distinguish mens souls into the vegetative, the animal, and the rational. 1692 Ray Creation i. (ed. 2) 40 For my part, I should make no scruple to attribute the Formation of Plants, their growth and nutrition to the vegetative Soul in them. 1725 [see soul n. 6 (a)]. 1808 Barclay Muscular Motions 262 The ancient Δυναµεις, the ministers of Physis, were classed by Plato under three souls, the rational, animal, and vegetative. 1879 Tyndall Fragm. Sci. II. xi. 243 How..is this vegetative soul to be presented to the mind? where did it flourish before the tree grew? |
b. Of material things; in later use
esp. of plants or parts of these.
| 1477 Norton Ord. Alch. i. in Ashm. (1652) 20 Also nothing multiplyed shall ye finde, But it be of Vegetative or of Sensitive kinde. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 357 b/1 Alle thyngys obeyed to this holy man as well thynges not sensible as vegetatyf and not resonable. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. xxii. (1555) N iv b, Herbes and fruytes..In erthe he planted for to haue their life By diuers vertues and sundry growing, So to continue and be vegitatiue. 1601 Holland Pliny xvii. xxi, This marrow, this vegetative and vitall substance. 1613 tr. Mexia's Treas. Aunc. & Mod. Times 32 The vegetative Bodies; as Plants, Trees, and such like. 1670 Moral State Eng. 5 None but sensitive and vegetative Creatures pursue the primitive end of their institutions. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 100 ¶2 The indolent Man descends from the Dignity of his Nature, and makes that Being which was Rational merely Vegetative. 1796 Bp. Watson Apol. Bible 318 Somewhat after the way of your vegetative speck in the kernel of a peach. 1812 L. M. Hawkins C'tess & Gertr. I. 262 The vegetative adhesions [to books] of the undisturbed damp. 1853 G. Johnston Nat. Hist. E. Bord. I. 220 A very common weed, and so vegetative and retentive of life that it requires much labour..to clear the lands infested with it. 1880 C. & F. Darwin Movem. Pl. 523 When a new root-cap and vegetative point had been formed, they bent themselves perpendicularly downwards. |
| fig. 1782 Paine Let. Abbé Raynel (1791) 40 The mind is presented with a wide extended prospect of vegetative good, and sees a thousand blessings budding into existence. |
† c. vegetative stone,
= vegetable a. 1 d.
Obs.—1| c 1450 Lydg. & Burgh Secrees 531 Of stoonys, Specially of three—Oon myneral, Anothir vegetatyff, Partyd on foure to lengthe a mannys lyff. |
d. spec. in
Physiol. and
Bot. Concerned with growth and development, as opposed to
reproductive;
vegetative pole (
Embryology)
= vegetal pole s.v. vegetal a. 4.
| (a) 1857 Bullock tr. Cazeaux's Midwifery 172 One has been called the external, or serous layer, and the other is denominated the internal, mucous, or the vegetative one. 1891 W. A. Jamieson Dis. Skin i. (ed. 3) 5 The deepest layer of all is the vegetative or mucous proper. 1892 E. L. Mark tr. O. Hertwig's Text-bk. Embryol. i. 11 The dissimilar poles are distinguished:..the under, heavier and richer in yolk, as the vegetative pole. 1909 J. W. Jenkinson Exper. Embryol. 245 A blastopore is in very numerous cases formed at the vegetative pole. 1946 B. M. Patten Human Embryol. iv. 60 In mammals, as is the case with surprising uniformity throughout the animal kingdom, the mitotic spindle of the first cleavage division forms at right angles to an imaginary axis passing through the ovum from animal to vegetative pole. 1958 ― Foundations Embryol. ii. 52 The region opposite the animal pole is called the vegetative, or vegetal, pole because while material for growth is drawn from this region, it remains itself relatively less active. |
| (b) 1875 Bennett & Dyer tr. Sachs's Bot. 117 A conical elongation..distinguished as the Vegetative Cone. 1882 Vines tr. Sachs's Bot. 246 The multiplication of individuals being effected by the separation of the ordinary vegetative cells. 1884 Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. Introd. 2 Under the term vegetative organs we include all those organs of the plant which are not organs of reproduction. Ibid. 282 In the main vegetative axes of L[ycopodium] clavatum and L. annotinum. |
e. Biol. Pertaining to or being a stage in the replication of a virus at which non-infective viral components are synthesized and assembled within the host cell prior to its lysis.
| 1953 M. Delbrück in Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quantitative Biol. XVIII. 1/1 One new feature is the recognition that the infecting virus undergoes an essential change before it multiplies. The multiplying form is here called the vegetative phase, in analogy to the use of the word ‘vegetative’ in the bacteriology of sporulating bacteria. 1967 K. M. Smith Insect Virol. viii. 147 Whenever it has been shown that viruses of animals or higher plants go through cycles as described for bacteriophages, the terms provirus, vegetative virus and infective virus are appropriate for the corresponding stages. 1973 [see prophage]. 1982 Fraenkel-Conrat & Kimball Virology i. 11 The relative simplicity of extracellular viruses, termed the dormant phase, and the complexity of their interaction with host cell components leading to their replication, termed the vegetative phase, have placed viruses among the most useful tools in the study of all phenomena related to replication, information transfer, mutation, and many other aspects of molecular biology. |
2. Of or pertaining to, concerned or connected with, characterized by, vegetation or growth.
a. Of faculty, power, principle, etc.
| c 1400 tr. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh. 96 Þe wirkynge of þis last [virtue], (þat þe Auctour clepys vegetatyf, & I here strenght sustantyf). c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 196 To tempre the spiritis by vertu vegetatiff. |
| 1606 L. Bryskett Civ. Life 44 This power of the soule..is called vegetatiue (you must giue me leaue to vse new words of Art..) because it giueth life and increase to growing things. 1636 Featly Clavis Myst. xi. 143 The sensitive faculty includeth the vegetative. 1653 W. Ramesey Astrologie Restored 215 All things decay and diminish in their vegetative vigour. 1712 Hughes Spect. No. 554 ¶12 The Soul has in this Respect a certain vegetative Power, which cannot lie wholly idle. 1791 Cowper Yardley Oak 34 Thou fell'st mature, and in the loamy clod Swelling with vegetative force instinct Didst burst thine egg. 1802 Gouv. Morris in Sparks Life & Writ. (1832) III. 161 There is a vigorous vegetative principle at the root which will make our tree flourish. a 1871 Grote Eth. Fragm. v. (1876) 178 Of the irrational soul, one branch is, the nutritive and vegetative faculty. 1874 Blackie Self Cult. 41 This growth is a constant and habitual exercise of vital or vegetative force. |
b. Of life.
| 1567 J. Maplet Gr. Forest 25 b, For in them is the life vegetatiue or that life which nourisheth. 1598 R. Barckley Felic. Man (1631) 288 In naturall things there are three kindes of life: vegetative or increasing which is in plants; sensitive which is in beasts; rationall or reasonable which is in men. 1600 Surflet Countrie Farme i. ix. 47 The Sunne..giueth vnto earthly bodies their forme and vegetatiue life. 1678 Norris Miscell. (1699) 251 In Rationals [there is] Vegetative Life, Sense and Reason. 1726 Leoni Alberti's Archit. I. 5/2 Plants, Seeds, and every thing else that has the vegetative Life. 1729 Savage Wanderer iv. 124 Hail, glorious sun! to whose attractive fires, The waken'd, vegetative life aspires! 1835–6 Todd's Cycl. Anat. I. 126/2 The nerves of organic or vegetative life. 1867 J. Hogg Microsc. ii. i. 259 The whole vegetative life is run through in the same cell. 1870 Rolleston Anim. Life 1 Common Rat,..dissected so as to show..portions of most of the organs of vegetative life. |
c. In general use.
| 1594 Plat Jewell-ho. ii. 16 To proue that salt is no enemie, either to the vegetatiue, or sensatiue natures. 1647 H. More Poems Interpret. Gen. 432 That immense diffusion of atoms is to be referred to Psyche, as an internall vegetative act. 1683 Tryon Way to Health 130 [In] Winter..the Vegitative Quality stands as it were still. 1762 J. Hall-Stevenson Crazy Tales 7 The work of vegetative laws. 1782–3 W. F. Martyn Geog. Mag. II. 147 Olives and mulberries arrive at full vegetative perfection. 1836 J. Gilbert Chr. Atonem. iv. (1852) 93 A survey of the minute action of vegetative energies. 1880 Haughton Phys. Geogr. vi. 301 The Europasian Forest region is characterized by a pretty uniform temperature during the vegetative season. |
3. Causing or promoting vegetation; inducing vegetable growth; productive, fertile.
| 1594 Plat Jewell-ho. ii. 3 A Philosophicall discourse..vpon the vegetatiue and fructifying Salt of Nature. 1612 Peacham Gentl. Exerc. ii. iii. (1634) 114 The vegetative humour or moisture that quickeneth and giveth life to trees, plants, herbs and flowers, whereby they grow and increase. 1675 Evelyn Terra (1729) 317 Composts..are by no means fit for the Earth,..unless..so order'd as..to..communicate heat, and vegetative Spirits to what you shall apply them. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) I. 98 Fullers-earth is..very full of that vegetative Salt that helps the growth of Plants. 1782 Crèvecœur Lett. 50 In Europe they were as so many useless plants, wanting vegitative mould, and refreshing showers. 1834 Brit. Husb. I. 360 The vegetative mould which covers the earth in all situations undisturbed by the plough. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xviii. (1856) 138 The question whether unmixed snow can act as a vegetative matrix. |
† 4. Obtained or derived from, consisting of, vegetables or plants.
Obs. rare.
| 1662 R. Mathew Unl. Alch. 2 This pill is a Corrector of all Vegetative poysons. 1691 Tryon Wisd. Dictates 110 All Vegetative Foods are not only wholsom, but easily concocted. |
5. = vegetable a. 3.
| 1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 175 Having done with the Vegetative, I proceed to the Animal Kingdom. 1695 Ld. Preston Boeth. iii. 144, I, casting an Eye upon the Vegetative World, consider Herbs and Trees. 1722 Wollaston Relig. Nat. ix. 209, I think I may be sure that neither lifeless matter, nor the vegetative tribe,..have any reflex thoughts. 1772–84 Cook's Voy. (1790) I. 39 In regard to the vegetative and brute creation. 1859 I. Taylor Logic Theol. 44 The living world, vegetative and animal. |
6. a. fig. Vegetating; inactive.
| 1802 E. Parsons Myst. Visit IV. 74 In this vegetative state of happiness you found me. |
b. Path. Characterized by the exercise or activity of the physical functions only.
| 1893 Daily News 25 Apr. 5/4 He is in what his doctor calls a vegetative state, and incapable of connecting two ideas together. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VIII. 196 Idiots of vegetative grade. Ibid. 237 This girl led a vegetative life, but learnt to recognize those around her. 1969 Sci. Jrnl. Feb. 11/3 Two other patients..had flat eeg readings for prolonged periods, but subsequently recovered, although they remained ‘vegetative’. 1972 Lancet 1 Apr. 734/1 Patients with severe brain damage due to trauma..may now survive indefinitely... Such patients are best described as in a persistent vegetative state. 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 19 June 2 (caption) Their comatose daughter..has been in what doctors call a ‘vegetative state’ for 14 months... The Quinlans last March won court permission to turn off Karen's life⁓sustaining devices. 1982 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 20 Oct. 1022/2 The term ‘persistent vegetative state’ was suggested in 1972 to describe those patients with irreversible brain damage..who on recovery from deep coma pass into a state of seeming wakefulness and reflex responsiveness but do not return to a cognitive sapient state. |
B. n. † 1. Vegetative faculty or power.
rare.
| 1605 Timme Quersit. i. xiv. 68 In vegetables there were only those vegetatiues; which, in beastes, beside the vegetation which they retain,..become also sensatiue. |
† 2. An organic body capable of growth and development but devoid of sensation and thought; a vegetable or plant.
Obs.| 1634 W. Wood New Eng. Prosp. i. vi, Having related unto you the..nature of the Soile, with his vegetatives, and other commodities. a 1668 Feltham Resolves i. xxviii. (1677) 152 Even Plants, which are but Vegetatives, will not grow in Caues, where the..Air is barred from them. 1668 Clarendon Ess. Tracts (1727) 93 We live rather the Life of Vegetatives or Sensitives..than the lives of reasonable men. 1712 E. Cooke Voy. S. Sea 210 Having run over the living Creatures and Vegetatives. 1764 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. I. 372 We are vegetatives formed by education. |
Hence
ˈvegetatively adv.,
ˈvegetativeness.
| 1886 Encycl. Brit. XX. 431/2 In some instances the one generation may spring *vegetatively from the other without the intervention of a spore. 1905 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 25 Feb. 442 They develop into one of the three following forms all of which can reproduce themselves vegetatively. |
| 1727 Bailey (vol. II), *Vegetativeness, a vegetative Quality. 1889 Geddes & Thomson Evol. Sex 48 Superior constitutional vegetativeness in the females [of Lychnis]. |