Seed
A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering. The formation of the seed is part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiosperm plants.
Seeds are the product of the ripened ovule, after fertilization by pollen and some growth within the mother plant. The embryo is developed from the zygote and the seed coat from the integuments of the ovule.
Seeds have been an important development in the reproduction and success of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants, relative to more primitive plants such as ferns, mosses and liverworts, which do not have seeds and use water-dependent means to propagate themselves. Seed plants now dominate biological niches on land, from forests to grasslands both in hot and cold climates.
The term “seed” also has a general meaning that antedates the above – anything that can be sown, e.g. “seed” potatoes, “seeds” of corn or sunflower “seeds”. In the case of sunflower and corn “seeds”, what is sown is the seed enclosed in a shell or husk, whereas the potato is a tuber.
Many structures commonly referred to as “seeds” are actually dry fruits. Plants producing berries are called baccate. Sunflower seeds are sometimes sold commercially while still enclosed within the hard wall of the fruit, which must be split open to reach the seed. Different groups of plants have other modifications, the so-called stone fruits (such as the peach) have a hardened fruit layer (the endocarp) fused to and surrounding the actual seed. Nuts are the one-seeded, hard-shelled fruit of some plants with an indehiscent seed, such as an acorn or hazelnut.
Pip (noun)
Any of various respiratory diseases in birds, especially infectious coryza. from the 15th c.
Pip (noun)
Of humans, a disease, malaise or depression.
Pip (noun)
a pippin, seed of any kind
Pip (noun)
something or someone excellent, of high quality
Pip (noun)
P in RAF phonetic alphabet
Pip (noun)
One of the spots or symbols on a playing card, domino, die, etc.
Pip (noun)
One of the stars worn on the shoulder of a uniform to denote rank, e.g. of a soldier or a fireman.
Pip (noun)
A spot; a speck.
Pip (noun)
A spot of light or an inverted V indicative of a return of radar waves reflected from an object; a blip.
Pip (noun)
A piece of rhizome with a dormant shoot of the lily of the valley plant, used for propagation
Pip (noun)
One of a series of very short, electronically produced tones, used, for example, to count down the final few seconds before a given time or to indicate that a caller using a payphone needs to make further payment if he is to continue his call.
Pip (noun)
The smallest price currencies in trading.
Pip (verb)
To get the better of; to defeat by a narrow margin
“He led throughout the race but was pipped at the post.”
Pip (verb)
To hit with a gunshot
“The hunter managed to pip three ducks from his blind.”
Pip (verb)
To peep, to chirp
Pip (verb)
To make the initial hole during the process of hatching from an egg
Seed (noun)
A fertilized grain, initially encased in a fruit, which may grow into a mature plant.
“If you plant a seed in the spring, you may have a pleasant surprise in the autumn.”
Seed (noun)
A fertilized ovule, containing an embryonic plant.
Seed (noun)
An amount of fertilized grain that cannot be readily counted.
“The entire field was covered with geese eating the freshly sown seed.”
Seed (noun)
Semen.
“A man must use his seed to start and raise a family.”
Seed (noun)
A precursor.
“germ”
“the seed of an idea; which idea was the seed (idea)?”
Seed (noun)
The initial state, condition or position of a changing, growing or developing process; the ultimate precursor in a defined chain of precursors.
Seed (noun)
The initial position of a competitor or team in a tournament. (seed position)
“The team with the best regular season record receives the top seed in the conference tournament.”
Seed (noun)
The competitor or team occupying a given seed. (seed position)
“The rookie was a surprising top seed.”
Seed (noun)
Initialization state of a pseudorandom number generator (PRNG). (seed number)
“If you use the same seed you will get exactly the same pattern of numbers.”
Seed (noun)
Offspring, descendants, progeny.
“the seed of Abraham”
Seed (noun)
Race; generation; birth.
Seed (noun)
A small bubble formed in imperfectly fused glass.
Seed (verb)
To plant or sow an area with seeds.
“I seeded my lawn with bluegrass.”
Seed (verb)
To cover thinly with something scattered; to ornament with seedlike decorations.
Seed (verb)
To start; to provide, assign or determine the initial resources for, position of, state of.
“A venture capitalist seeds young companies.”
“The tournament coordinator will seed the starting lineup with the best competitors from the qualifying round.”
“The programmer seeded fresh, uncorrupted data into the database before running unit tests.”
Seed (verb)
To allocate a seeding to a competitor.
Seed (verb)
To leave (files) available for others to download through peer-to-peer file sharing protocols (e.g. BitTorrent).
Seed (verb)
To be qualified to compete, especially in a quarter-final, semi-final{{,}} or final.
“The tennis player seeded into the quarters.”
Seed (verb)
To produce seed.
Seed (verb)
To grow to maturity.
Seed (verb)
To ejaculate inside the penetratee during intercourse, especially in the rectum.
Seed (verb)
simple past tense and past participle of see