Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various photosynthetic, eukaryotic, multicellular organisms of the kingdom Plantae characteristically containing chloroplasts, having cell walls made of cellulose, producing embryos, and lacking the power of locomotion. Plants include trees, bushes, herbs, ferns, mosses, and certain green algae.
  • noun A plant having no permanent woody stem; an herb.
  • noun Any of various fungi, algae, or protists that resemble plants and were formerly classified in the plant kingdom. Not in scientific use.
  • noun A building or group of buildings for the manufacture of a product; a factory.
  • noun The buildings, fixtures, and equipment, including machinery, tools, and instruments, necessary for an industrial operation or an institution.
  • noun A person or thing put into place in order to mislead or function secretly, especially.
  • noun A person placed in a group of spectators to influence behavior.
  • noun A person stationed in a given location as a spy or observer.
  • noun A misleading piece of evidence placed so as to be discovered.
  • noun A remark or action in a play or narrative that becomes important later.
  • noun Slang A scheming trick; a swindle.
  • transitive verb To place or set (seeds, for example) in the ground to grow.
  • transitive verb To place seeds or young plants in (land); sow.
  • transitive verb To place (spawn or young fish) in water or an underwater bed for cultivation.
  • transitive verb To stock with spawn or fish.
  • transitive verb To introduce (an animal) into an area.
  • transitive verb To place or fix in a certain position.
  • transitive verb To deliver (a punch or blow).
  • transitive verb To fix firmly in the mind; implant.
  • transitive verb To establish; found.
  • transitive verb To station (a person) for the purpose of functioning in secret, as by observing, spying, or influencing behavior.
  • transitive verb To place secretly or deceptively so as to be discovered or made public.
  • transitive verb To conceal; hide.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To put or set in the ground for growth, as seed, young shoots, cuttings, vegetables with roots, etc.: as, to plant potatoes; to plant trees.
  • To lay out and prepare by putting or setting seed, etc., in the ground; furnish with plants: as, to plant a garden or an orchard.
  • To implant; sow the seeds or germs of; engender.
  • To put; place; set; especially, to post or place firmly in position; fix; set up: as, he planted himself in front of me; to plant a standard on the enemy's battlements.
  • To establish or set up for the first time; introduce and establish: as, to plant Christianity among the heathen; to plant a colony.
  • To furnish; provide with something that is set in position or in order.
  • To introduce and establish new settlers in; settle; colonize.
  • To place or locate as colonists or settlers.
  • To hide; conceal; place in concealment, as plunder or swag.
  • In fish-culture, to deposit (eggs or fry) in a river, lake, or pond.
  • To bed (oysters); bed down, transplant, or sow (young or small oysters).
  • To put, as gold or the like, in the ground, or in a pretended mine, where it can be easily found, for the purpose of affecting the price of the land; also, to treat, as land, in this way; “salt.”
  • To sow seed or set shoots, etc., in the soil, that they may grow.
  • To settle down; locate as settlers or colonists; take up abode as a new inhabitant, or as a settler in a new country or locality; settle.
  • noun The sole of the foot, or the foot itself. See planta.
  • In chess, to play (a piece) to a square whence it cannot easily be dislodged.
  • noun A shoot or slip recently sprouted from seed, or rooted as a cutting or layer; especially. such a slip ready for transplanting, as one of the cabbage-plants, tomato-plants, etc., of the market.
  • noun A sapling; hence, a stick or staff; a cudgel.
  • noun An herb or other small vegetable growth, in contrast with trees.
  • noun An individual living being with a material organism, not animal in its nature; a member of the vegetable kingdom; a vegetable, in the widest sense
  • noun The fixtures, machinery, tools, apparatus, appliances, etc., necessary to carry on any trade or mechanical business, or any mechanical operation or process.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English plante, from Old English and Old French, both from Latin planta, sprout, seedling; see plat- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English planten, from Old English plantian ("to plant"), from Latin plantare, later influenced by Old French planter. Compare also Dutch planten ("to plant"), German pflanzen ("to plant"), Swedish planta ("to plant"), Icelandic planta ("to plant").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin planta, later influenced by French plante.

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  • The Devil rose to his feet and planted himself opposite.

    January 18, 2018