seed
    n 1: a small hard fruit
    2: a mature fertilized plant ovule consisting of an embryo and
       its food source and having a protective coat or testa
    3: one of the outstanding players in a tournament [syn: seeded
       player, seed]
    4: anything that provides inspiration for later work [syn:
       source, seed, germ]
    5: the thick white fluid containing spermatozoa that is
       ejaculated by the male genital tract [syn: semen, seed,
       seminal fluid, ejaculate, cum, come]
    v 1: go to seed; shed seeds; "The dandelions went to seed"
    2: help (an enterprise) in its early stages of development by
       providing seed money
    3: bear seeds
    4: place (seeds) in or on the ground for future growth; "She
       sowed sunflower seeds" [syn: sow, seed]
    5: distribute (players or teams) so that outstanding teams or
       players will not meet in the early rounds
    6: sprinkle with silver iodide particles to disperse and cause
       rain; "seed clouds"
    7: inoculate with microorganisms
    8: remove the seeds from; "seed grapes"

Seed \Seed\ (s[=e]d), n.; pl. Seed or Seeds. [OE. seed, sed,
   AS. s[=ae]d, fr. s[=a]wan to sow; akin to D. zaad seed, G.
   saat, Icel. s[=a][eth], sae[eth]i, Goth. manas[=e][thorn]s
   seed of men, world. See Sow to scatter seed, and cf.
   Colza.]
   1. (Bot.)
      (a) A ripened ovule, consisting of an embryo with one or
          more integuments, or coverings; as, an apple seed; a
          currant seed. By germination it produces a new plant.
      (b) Any small seedlike fruit, though it may consist of a
          pericarp, or even a calyx, as well as the seed proper;
          as, parsnip seed; thistle seed.
          [1913 Webster]

                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.
          [1913 Webster]

   Note: The seed proper has an outer and an inner coat, and
         within these the kernel or nucleus. The kernel is
         either the embryo alone, or the embryo inclosed 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.
         [1913 Webster]

   2. (Physiol.) The generative fluid of the male; semen; sperm;
      -- not used in the plural.
      [1913 Webster]

   3. That from which anything springs; first principle;
      original; source; as, the seeds of virtue or vice.
      [1913 Webster]

   4. The principle of production.
      [1913 Webster]

            Praise of great acts he scatters as a seed,
            Which may the like in coming ages breed. --Waller.
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   5. Progeny; offspring; children; descendants; as, the seed of
      Abraham; the seed of David.
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   Note: 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.
         [1913 Webster]

   6. Race; generation; birth.
      [1913 Webster]

            Of mortal seed they were not held.    --Waller.
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   Seed bag (Artesian well), a packing to prevent percolation
      of water down the bore hole. It consists of a bag
      encircling the tubing and filled with flax seed, which
      swells when wet and fills the space between the tubing and
      the sides of the hole.

   Seed bud (Bot.), the germ or rudiment of the plant in the
      embryo state; the ovule.

   Seed coat (Bot.), the covering of a seed.

   Seed corn, or Seed grain (Bot.), corn or grain for seed.
      

   To eat the seed corn, To eat the corn which should be saved
      for seed, so as to forestall starvation; -- a desparate
      measure, since it only postpones disaster. Hence: any
      desparate action which creates a disastrous situation in
      the long-term, done in order to provide temporary relief.
      

   Seed down (Bot.), the soft hairs on certain seeds, as
      cotton seed.

   Seed drill. See 6th Drill, 2
      (a) .

   Seed eater (Zool.), any finch of the genera Sporophila,
      and Crithagra. They feed mainly on seeds.

   Seed gall (Zool.), any gall which resembles a seed, formed
      on the leaves of various plants, usually by some species
      of Phylloxera.

   Seed leaf (Bot.), a cotyledon.

   Seed lobe (Bot.), a cotyledon; a seed leaf.

   Seed oil, oil expressed from the seeds of plants.

   Seed oyster, a young oyster, especially when of a size
      suitable for transplantation to a new locality.

   Seed pearl, a small pearl of little value.

   Seed plat, or Seed plot, the ground on which seeds are
      sown, to produce plants for transplanting; a nursery.

   Seed stalk (Bot.), the stalk of an ovule or seed; a
      funicle.

   Seed tick (Zool.), one of several species of ticks
      resembling seeds in form and color.

   Seed vessel (Bot.), that part of a plant which contains the
      seeds; a pericarp.

   Seed weevil (Zool.), any one of numerous small weevils,
      especially those of the genus Apion, which live in the
      seeds of various plants.

   Seed wool, cotton wool not yet cleansed of its seeds.
      [Southern U.S.]
      [1913 Webster +PJC]

Seed \Seed\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Seeded; p. pr. & vb. n.
   Seeding.]
   1. To sprinkle with seed; to plant seeds in; to sow; as, to
      seed a field.
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   2. To cover thinly with something scattered; to ornament with
      seedlike decorations.
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            A sable mantle seeded with waking eyes. --B. Jonson.
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   To seed down, to sow with grass seed.
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Seed \Seed\, v. i.
   1. To sow seed.
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   2. To shed the seed. --Mortimer.
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   3. To grow to maturity, and to produce seed.
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            Many interests have grown up, and seeded, and
            twisted their roots in the crevices of many wrongs.
                                                  --Landor.
      [1913 Webster]

BitTorrent
seed
torrent

    A popular, distributed form of peer-to-peer
   file sharing that enables a client program to fetch
   different parts of a file (a "torrent") from different sources
   in parallel.  The system is designed to encourage users to
   make downloaded data available for others to upload.  This is
   aided by a scheme for exchanging unique identifiers, commonly
   stored in ".torrent" files.  A downloader who does not serve
   data to others is called a "leech".  A "seed" is a computer
   that has a complete copy of a file, possibly the original.

   The bittorrent.com site claims there are over 100 million
   users as of 2007-03-24.

   Most of the data is copyright material like films or
   commercial software.

   <http://www.bittorrent.com/what-is-bittorrent>.

   (2007-03-27)

SEEDS. The substance which nature prepares for the reproduction of plants or 
animals. 
     2. Seeds which have been sown in the earth immediately become a part of 
the land in which they have been sown; quae sata solo cedere intelliguntur. 
Inst. 2, 1, 32.