seed (sed)

[ The floure nel seeden of my corn. Rom, of the Rose, 1. 4344. Your chere floureth, but hit wol not sede . Chaucer, Anelida and Arcite, 1. 306. They pick up all the old roots, except what they design for seed, which they let stand to seed the next year. Mortimer, Husbandry. Encyc. Brit., XXIII. 103. The tree [teak] seeds freely every year. The old are all against you, for the name of pleasure is an affront to them; they know no other kind of it than that which has flowered and seeded , and of which the withered stems have indeed a rueful look. Landor, Imag. Conv., Epicurus, Leontion, and Terni a. Fisheries of U. S. , V. ii. 354. seecawk (sē'kâk), n. [Cree Indian.] The common American skunk, Mephitis mephitic a . seed (sēd), n. [ seed , sede, sed, sad , sæd , seed, sowing, offspring, = OS. sād =OFries. sēd = MD. sæd , D. zaad = MLG. sāt = OHG. MHG. sāt , G. saat = Icel. sæthi , sath = Sw. säd =Dan. sæd = Goth.* seths (in comp. mana - sēths , mankind, the world), seed; with formative -d ( -th ), from the root of AS. sāwan , etc., sow: see sow1.] 1. The fertilized and matured ovule of 3t. To graft. [Rare.] the higher or flowering plants. It is a body within the pericarp or seed-ve el, containing an organized embryo, or nucleus, which, on being placed under favorable circumstances, develops into an individual similar to that from which it came. The reproductive bodies of the lower or flowerle plants (cryptogams) differ in their mode of germination and in other ways, and are not called true seeds, but spores. (See spore.) The seed-coats are those of the ovule - two, or rarely only one. The outer, answering to the primine, is the more firm and is not rarely crustaceous in texture, and takes the name of testa (also sper moderm and episperm ). The inner, answering to the secundine, is called tegmen (sometimes endopleura ); when present, it is always conformed to the nucleus, and is thin or soft and delicate in texture. The seed-stalk podosperm, when there is one, is the pedicel or attach ment of the seed to the placenta, and answers to the funiculus of the ovule. The chalaza, raphe, and hilum of the ovule retain the same names in the seed. The foramen of the ovule is called the micropyle in the seed. The terms which denote the position of the ovule, such as orthotro- pous , anatropous , amphitropous , etc., also apply equally to the resulting seed. The nucleus may consist of the embryo alone, or of the embryo and the albumen, which is the nourishing substance upon which the developing plant is to feed until it is capable of maintaining itself. See the various terms, and cuts under anatropous , caтру- lotropal , Cruciferæ , ovary , and plumule . Oute of thaire kynde eke seedes wol renewe, And change hemself, as writeth clercs trewe. Palladius , Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 5. 2. The male fecundating fluid; semen; sperm or milt, as of fish; spat, as of oysters: without a plural.-3. Very young animals, as oysters. Now the Wareham district gives little else except seed : that is, young oysters intended to be transferred to other localities where they may pursue their growth under more favorable conditions. Fisheries of U. S. , V. ii. 515. 4. Progeny; offspring; children; descendants: as, the seed of Abraham; the seed of David. In this sense, chiefly scriptural, the word is applied to one person or to any number collectively, and is not used in the plural. The seed of Banquo kings! Shak . , Macbeth, iii. 1. 70. His faith full eyes were fixt upon that incorruptible reward, prom is'd to Abraham and his seed in the Me iah. Milton , Apology for Smectymnuus. Tennyson, Godiva. We, the latest seed of Time. II. trans. 1. To sow; plant; sprinkle or supply with or as with seed. - 2. To cover with something thinly scattered; ornament with small and separate figures. A sable mantle seeded with waking eyes. B. Jonson, Part of the King's Entertainment, Or thus I rede You doo: with gentil graffes hem [vines] to sede . Palladius , Husbondrie (E. E. T. S.), p. 107. 4. In lard - rendering and -refining , to granulate by slow cooling, or cooling without stirring, as stearin in lard. - To seed down, to sow with gra -seed. seed-bag (sēd'bag), n . A bag designed to contain seeds; specifically, a bag filled with flax seed, put around the tubing in a bore-hole, in order that by its swelling it may form a watertight packing: formerly extensively used in the oil-region of Pennsylvania. seed-basket (sed basket), n. In agri., a bas ket for holding the seed to be sown. seed-bed (sēd'bed), n. A piece of ground prepared for receiving receiving seed: often used figuratively. The family, then, was the primal unit of political soc i ety, and the seed - bed of all larger growths of government. W. Wilson, State, § 26. seed-bird (sēd'bėrd), n. The water-wagtail. Hall i well. [Prov. Eng.]