a small hard fruit
"She cracked open the pod to reveal the tiny, hard seed inside that she intended to plant in her garden."
a mature fertilized plant ovule consisting of an embryo and its food source and having a protective coat or testa
"The gardener carefully planted each seed in moist soil to ensure the embryo had enough food stored within its hard coat to sprout."
one of the outstanding players in a tournament
"The top-seeded player was eliminated in the first round, shocking everyone who thought she was untouchable."
A fertilized and ripened ovule, containing an embryonic plant.
"The gardener carefully planted a single seed in the moist soil to watch it sprout into a new tomato plant."
In plain English: A seed is a tiny plant part that grows into a new tree, flower, or vegetable when it lands in soil and gets water.
"We planted vegetable seeds in the garden to grow a fresh harvest."
help (an enterprise) in its early stages of development by providing seed money
"The venture capitalist agreed to invest $50,000 to seed the startup's initial product launch."
distribute (players or teams) so that outstanding teams or players will not meet in the early rounds
"The tournament organizers seeded the top four tennis players to ensure they wouldn't face each other until later in the competition."
inoculate with microorganisms
"The microbiologist carefully seeded the sterile culture medium with a precise amount of bacteria to ensure rapid growth."
To plant or sow an area with seeds.
"The seed had seen better days when it finally sprouted in the dry soil."
simple past tense and past participle of see
In plain English: To seed something means to put small pieces of it into another place so it can grow.
"The farmer will seed the field next week to plant corn."
Usage: Use this verb to describe planting crops, flowers, or vegetables by scattering their seeds in soil. It is often confused with the noun form when referring to starting something new, but here it specifically denotes the physical act of sowing.
A surname.
"Many attendees at the local harvest festival were surprised to see a famous chef named Seed giving a demonstration on knife skills."
The word "seed" comes from Old English, where it originally meant anything that was sown. It traveled into modern English with this same meaning of plant reproductive material.