Seed vs. Pollen

Seednoun

(countable) 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.’;

Pollennoun

A fine granular substance produced in flowers. Technically a collective term for pollen grains (microspores) produced in the anthers of flowering plants. (This specific usage dating from mid 18th century.)

Seednoun

A fertilized ovule, containing an embryonic plant.

Pollennoun

(obsolete) Fine powder in general, fine flour. (16th-century usage documented by the OED.)

Seednoun

(uncountable) An amount of fertilized grain that cannot be readily counted.

‘The entire field was covered with geese eating the freshly sown seed.’;

Pollenverb

To cover with, or as if with, pollen.

Seednoun

(uncountable) Semen.

‘A man must use his seed to start and raise a family.’;

Pollennoun

Fine bran or flour.

Seednoun

A precursor.

‘the seed of an idea; which idea was the seed (idea)?’;

Pollennoun

The fecundating dustlike cells of the anthers of flowers. See Flower, and Illust. of Filament.

Seednoun

(countable) The initial state, condition or position of a changing, growing or developing process; the ultimate precursor in a defined chain of precursors.

Pollennoun

the fine spores that contain male gametes and that are borne by an anther in a flowering plant

Seednoun

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.’;

Pollen

Pollen is a powdery substance consisting of pollen grains which are male microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce male gametes (sperm cells). Pollen grains have a hard coat made of sporopollenin that protects the gametophytes during the process of their movement from the stamens to the pistil of flowering plants, or from the male cone to the female cone of coniferous plants.

Seednoun

The competitor or team occupying a given seed. (seed position)

‘The rookie was a surprising top seed.’;

Seednoun

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.’;

Seednoun

Commercial message in a creative format placed on relevant sites on the Internet. (seed idea or seed message)

‘The latest seed has attracted a lot of users in our online community.’;

Seednoun

Offspring, descendants, progeny.

‘the seed of Abraham’;

Seednoun

Race; generation; birth.

Seednoun

A small bubble formed in imperfectly fused glass.

Seedverb

(transitive) To plant or sow an area with seeds.

‘I seeded my lawn with bluegrass.’;

Seedverb

(transitive) To cover thinly with something scattered; to ornament with seedlike decorations.

Seedverb

(transitive) 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.’;

Seedverb

To allocate a seeding to a competitor.

Seedverb

To leave (files) available for others to download through peer-to-peer file sharing protocols (e.g. BitTorrent).

Seedverb

(intransitive) To be qualified to compete, especially in a quarter-final, semi-final, or final.

‘The tennis player seeded into the quarters.’;

Seedverb

(intransitive) To produce seed.

Seedverb

(intransitive) To grow to maturity.

Seedverb

To ejaculate inside the penetratee during intercourse, especially in the rectum.

Seedverb

(dialectal) see

Seednoun

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.

‘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.’;

Seednoun

The generative fluid of the male; semen; sperm; - not used in the plural.

Seednoun

That from which anything springs; first principle; original; source; as, the seeds of virtue or vice.

Seednoun

The principle of production.

‘Praise of great acts he scatters as a seed,Which may the like in coming ages breed.’;

Seednoun

Progeny; offspring; children; descendants; as, the seed of Abraham; the seed of David.

Seednoun

Race; generation; birth.

‘Of mortal seed they were not held.’;

Seedverb

To sow seed.

Seedverb

To shed the seed.

Seedverb

To grow to maturity, and to produce seed.

‘Many interests have grown up, and seeded, and twisted their roots in the crevices of many wrongs.’;

Seedverb

To sprinkle with seed; to plant seeds in; to sow; as, to seed a field.

Seedverb

To cover thinly with something scattered; to ornament with seedlike decorations.

‘A sable mantle seeded with waking eyes.’;

Seednoun

a small hard fruit

Seednoun

a mature fertilized plant ovule consisting of an embryo and its food source and having a protective coat or testa

Seednoun

one of the outstanding players in a tournament

Seednoun

anything that provides inspiration for later work

Seednoun

the thick white fluid containing spermatozoa that is ejaculated by the male genital tract

Seedverb

go to seed; shed seeds;

‘The dandelions went to seed’;

Seedverb

help (an enterprise) in its early stages of development by providing seed money

Seedverb

bear seeds

Seedverb

place (seeds) in or on the ground for future growth;

‘She sowed sunflower seeds’;

Seedverb

distribute (players or teams) so that outstanding teams or players will not meet in the early rounds

Seedverb

sprinkle with silver iodide particles to disperse and cause rain;

‘seed clouds’;

Seedverb

inoculate with microorganisms

Seedverb

remove the seeds from;

‘seed grapes’;

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.