PLANT

plant, flora, plant life

(noun) (botany) a living organism lacking the power of locomotion

plant, works, industrial plant

(noun) buildings for carrying on industrial labor; “they built a large plant to manufacture automobiles”

plant

(noun) something planted secretly for discovery by another; “the police used a plant to trick the thieves”; “he claimed that the evidence against him was a plant”

plant

(noun) an actor situated in the audience whose acting is rehearsed but seems spontaneous to the audience

plant, implant

(verb) put firmly in the mind; “Plant a thought in the students’ minds”

plant

(verb) place something or someone in a certain position in order to secretly observe or deceive; “Plant a spy in Moscow”; “plant bugs in the dissident’s apartment”

implant, engraft, embed, imbed, plant

(verb) fix or set securely or deeply; “He planted a knee in the back of his opponent”; “The dentist implanted a tooth in the gum”

plant, set

(verb) put or set (seeds, seedlings, or plants) into the ground; “Let’s plant flowers in the garden”

establish, found, plant, constitute, institute

(verb) set up or lay the groundwork for; “establish a new department”

plant

(verb) place into a river; “plant fish”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

plant (plural plants)

(botany) An organism that is not an animal, especially an organism capable of photosynthesis. Typically a small or herbaceous organism of this kind, rather than a tree.

(botany) An organism of the kingdom Plantae; now specifically, a living organism of the Embryophyta (land plants) or of the Chlorophyta (green algae), a eukaryote that includes double-membraned chloroplasts in its cells containing chlorophyll a and b, or any organism closely related to such an organism.

(ecology) Now specifically, a multicellular eukaryote that includes chloroplasts in its cells, which have a cell wall.

(proscribed as biologically inaccurate) Any creature that grows on soil or similar surfaces, including plants and fungi.

A factory or other industrial or institutional building or facility.

An object placed surreptitiously in order to cause suspicion to fall upon a person.

Anyone assigned to behave as a member of the public during a covert operation (as in a police investigation).

A person, placed amongst an audience, whose role is to cause confusion, laughter etc.

(snooker) A play in which the cue ball knocks one (usually red) ball onto another, in order to pot the second; a set.

(uncountable) Machinery, such as the kind used in earthmoving or construction.

(obsolete) A young tree; a sapling; hence, a stick or staff.

(obsolete) The sole of the foot.

(dated, slang) A plan; a swindle; a trick.

An oyster which has been bedded, in distinction from one of natural growth.

(US, dialect) A young oyster suitable for transplanting.

Usage notes

The scientific definition of what organisms should be considered plants changed dramatically during the 20th century. Bacteria, algae, and fungi are no longer considered plants by those who study them. Many textbooks do not reflect the most current thinking on classification.

Hypernyms

• (biology): Archaeplastida

Hyponyms

• desalination plant

• houseplant

• pot plant

• power plant

Verb

plant (third-person singular simple present plants, present participle planting, simple past and past participle planted)

(ambitransitive) To place (a seed or plant) in soil or other substrate in order that it may live and grow.

(transitive) To place (an object, or sometimes a person), often with the implication of intending deceit.

(transitive) To place or set something firmly or with conviction.

To place in the ground.

To furnish or supply with plants.

To engender; to generate; to set the germ of.

To furnish with a fixed and organized population; to settle; to establish.

To introduce and establish the principles or seeds of.

To set up; to install; to instate.

Etymology

Proper noun

Plant

A surname.

Source: Wiktionary


Plant, n. Etym: [AS. plante, L. planta.]

1. A vegetable; an organized living being, generally without feeling and voluntary motion, and having, when complete, a root, stem, and leaves, though consisting sometimes only of a single leafy expansion, or a series of cellules, or even a single cellule.

Note: Plants are divided by their structure and methods of reproduction into two series, phænogamous or flowering plants, which have true flowers and seeds, and cryptogamous or flowerless plants, which have no flowers, and reproduce by minute one-celled spores. In both series are minute and simple forms and others of great size and complexity. As to their mode of nutrition, plants may be considered as self-supporting and dependent. Self-supporting plants always contain chlorophyll, and subsist on air and moisture and the matter dissolved in moisture, and as a general rule they excrete oxygen, and use the carbonic acid to combine with water and form the material for their tissues. Dependent plants comprise all fungi and many flowering plants of a parasitic or saprophytic nature. As a rule, they have no chlorophyll, and subsist mainly or wholly on matter already organized, thus utilizing carbon compounds already existing, and not excreting oxygen. But there are plants which are partly dependent and partly self-supporting. The movements of climbing plants, of some insectivorous plants, of leaves, stamens, or pistils in certain plants, and the ciliary motion of zoöspores, etc., may be considered a kind of voluntary motion.

2. A bush, or young tree; a sapling; hence, a stick or staff. "A plant of stubborn oak." Dryden.

3. The sole of the foot. [R.] "Knotty legs and plants of clay." B. Jonson.

4. (Com.)

Definition: The whole machinery and apparatus employed in carrying on a trade or mechanical business; also, sometimes including real estate, and whatever represents investment of capital in the means of carrying on a business, but not including material worked upon or finished products; as, the plant of a foundry, a mill, or a railroad.

5. A plan; an artifice; a swindle; a trick. [Slang] It was n't a bad plant, that of mine, on Fikey. Dickens.

6. (Zoöl.) (a) An oyster which has been bedded, in distinction from one of natural growth. (b) A young oyster suitable for transplanting. [Local, U.S.] Plant bug (Zoöl.), any one of numerous hemipterous insects which injure the foliage of plants, as Lygus lineolaris, which damages wheat and trees.

– Plant cutter (Zoöl.), a South American passerine bird of the genus Phytotoma, family Phytotomidæ. It has a serrated bill with which it cuts off the young shoots and buds of plants, often doing much injury.

– Plant louse (Zoöl.), any small hemipterous insect which infests plants, especially those of the families Aphidæ and Psyllidæ; an aphid.

Plant, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Planted; p. pr. & vb. n. Planting.] Etym: [AS. plantian, L. plantare. See Plant, n.]

1. To put in the ground and cover, as seed for growth; as, to plant maize.

2. To set in the ground for growth, as a young tree, or a vegetable with roots. Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees. Deut. xvi. 21.

3. To furnish, or fit out, with plants; as, to plant a garden, an orchard, or a forest.

4. To engender; to generate; to set the germ of. It engenders choler, planteth anger. Shak.

5. To furnish with a fixed and organized population; to settle; to establish; as, to plant a colony. Planting of countries like planting of woods. Bacon.

6. To introduce and establish the principles or seeds of; as, to plant Christianity among the heathen.

7. To set firmly; to fix; to set and direct, or point; as, to plant cannon against a fort; to plant a standard in any place; to plant one's feet on solid ground; to plant one's fist in another's face.

8. To set up; to install; to instate. We will plant some other in the throne. Shak.

Plant, v. i.

Definition: To perform the act of planting. I have planted; Apollos watered. 1 Cor. iii. 6.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

23 November 2024

THEORETICAL

(adjective) concerned primarily with theories or hypotheses rather than practical considerations; “theoretical science”


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Coffee Trivia

The word “coffee” entered the English language in 1582 via the Dutch “koffie,” borrowed from the Ottoman Turkish “kahve,” borrowed in turn from the Arabic “qahwah.” The Arabic word qahwah was traditionally held to refer to a type of wine.

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