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Webster 1913 Edition


Germinate

Ger′mi-nate

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Germinated
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Germinating
.]
[L.
germinatus
, p. p. of
germinare
to sprout, fr.
germen
. See
Germ
.]
To sprout; to bud; to shoot; to begin to vegetate, as a plant or its seed; to begin to develop, as a germ.
Bacon.

Ger′mi-nate

,
Verb.
T.
To cause to sprout.
Price (1610).

Webster 1828 Edition


Germinate

GERM'INATE

,
Verb.
I.
[L. germino, from germen.] To sprout; to bud; to shoot; to begin to vegetate, as a plant or its seed.

GERM'INATE

,
Verb.
T.
To cause to sprout. [Unusual.]

Definition 2024


germinate

germinate

English

Verb

germinate (third-person singular simple present germinates, present participle germinating, simple past and past participle germinated)

  1. (botany, horticulture) Of a seed, to begin to grow, to sprout roots and leaves.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)
    • 2014 April 5, “Quite interesting: A quietly intriguing column from the brains behind QI, the BBC quiz show. This week; QI orchids you not”, in The Daily Telegraph (Weekend), page W22:
      Orchids rely on fungi to reproduce. Their tiny seeds don't have any on-board nutrients (like beans and apples) and will not germinate until they are infected by a symbiotic fungus which supplies them with food. Known as a protocorm, this tiny orchid-fungus ball grows, turns green and eventually starts to photosynthesise.
    • 2014 December 23, Olivia Judson, “The hemiparasite season [print version: Under the hemiparasite, International New York Times, 24–25 December 2014, p. 7]”, in The New York Times:
      [] The flesh [of the mistletoe berry] is sticky, and forms strings and ribbons between my thumb and forefinger. For the mistletoe, this viscous goop – and by the way, viscous comes to English from viscum – is crucial. The stickiness means that, after eating the berries, birds often regurgitate the seeds and then wipe their bills on twigs – leading to the seeds' getting glued to the tree, where they can germinate and begin the cycle anew.
  2. To cause to grow.
    • 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 5, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad:
      These were business hours, and a feeling of loneliness crept over him, perhaps germinated by his sight of the illustrated papers, and accentuated by an attempted perusal of them.

Translations

Anagrams


Italian

Verb

germinate

  1. second-person plural present of germinare
  2. second-person plural imperative of germinare

Anagrams


Latin

Participle

germināte

  1. vocative masculine singular of germinātus