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Definition seed

Etymology 1

From Middle English seed, sede, side, from Old English s?d, s?d (“seed, that which is sown”), from Proto-Germanic *s?diz (“seed”), from Proto-Indo-European *seh?tis (corresponding to Proto-Germanic *s?an? (“to sow”) +? *-þiz), from *seh?- (“to sow, throw”). Cognate with West Frisian sied (“seed”), Dutch zaad (“seed”), Low German Saad (“seed”), German Saat (“sowing; seed”), Icelandic sæði (“seed”), Danish sæd (“seed”), Swedish säd (“seed”), Latin satio (“seeding, time of sowing, season”). More at sow.

Noun

seed (countable and uncountable, plural seeds)

1. (countable, botany) A fertilized and ripened ovule, containing an embryonic plant.
2. (countable) Any small seed-like fruit.
3. (countable, agriculture) Any propagative portion of a plant which may be sown, such as true seeds, seed-like fruits, tubers, or bulbs.
4. (uncountable, collective) An amount of seeds that cannot be readily counted.
5. (countable) A fragment of coral.
6. (uncountable) Semen.
7. (countable, figuratively) A precursor.
8. (countable) The initial state, condition or position of a changing, growing or developing process; the ultimate precursor in a defined chain of precursors.
   1. The initial position of a competitor or team in a tournament. (seed position)
   2. The competitor or team occupying a given seed. (seed position)
   3. Initialization state of a pseudorandom number generator (PRNG). (seed number)
      1. (Should we delete this sense?) (Minecraft) An initial value assigned to world generation.
   4. Commercial message in a creative format placed on relevant sites on the Internet. (seed idea or seed message)
9. (now rare) Offspring, descendants, progeny.
10. Race; generation; birth.
11. A small bubble formed in imperfectly fused glass.