Seed1, n.
n. [A-S. sæd, from sâwan, to sow; Goth. seds, seths, O. Sax. & Icel. sâd, Icel. also sädi, Dan. & Sw. säd, D. zaad, O. H. Ger. sât, N. H. Ger. saat.]
Sense 1. (Bot.) The embryo, with its envelop or envelops, or the matured ovule, the growth of which gives origin to a new plant; as, an apple-seed; a currant-seed.
☞ Several seeds often combine to form the fruit, as in the blackberry, the raspberry, and the like. The seed has an outer and an inner coat, and, within these, the kernel or nucleus. The kernel is either the embryo alone, or the embryo enclosed in the albumen, which is the material for the nourishment of the developing embryo. The scar on a seed, left where the stem parted from it, is called the hilum; and the closed orifice of the ovule, the micropyle.
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself. Gen. i. 11.
Sense 2. (Physiol.) The generative fluid of the male; semen; sperm.
Sense 3. That from which any thing springs; first principle; original; as, the seeds of virtue or vice.
Sense 4. The principle of production.
Praise of great acts he scatters as a seed. Waller.
Sense 5. 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.
Sense 6. Race; generation; birth.
Of mortal seed they were not held. Waller.
