plant

n. [ 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ 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. [ 1913 Webster ] 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. [ 1913 Webster ] The movements of climbing plants, of some insectivorous plants, of leaves, stamens, or pistils in certain plants, and the ciliary motion of zoospores, etc., may be considered a kind of voluntary motion. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A bush, or young tree; a sapling; hence, a stick or staff. “A plant of stubborn oak.” Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The sole of the foot. [ R. ] “Knotty legs and plants of clay.” B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Com.) 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. A plan; an artifice; a swindle; a trick. [ Slang ] [ 1913 Webster ]

It was n't a bad plant, that of mine, on Fikey. Dickens. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Zool.) (a) An oyster which has been bedded, in distinction from one of natural growth. (b) A young oyster suitable for transplanting. [ Local, U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

[ 1913 Webster ]

Plant bug (Zool.), any one of numerous hemipterous insects which injure the foliage of plants, as Lygus lineolaris, which damages wheat and trees. --
Plant cutter (Zool.), 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 (Zool.), any small hemipterous insect which infests plants, especially those of the families Aphidæ and Psyllidæ; an aphid. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Planted; p. pr. & vb. n. Planting. ] [ AS. plantian, L. plantare. See Plant, n. ] 1. To put in the ground and cover, as seed for growth; as, to plant maize. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To set in the ground for growth, as a young tree, or a vegetable with roots. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees. Deut. xvi. 21. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To furnish, or fit out, with plants; as, to plant a garden, an orchard, or a forest. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To engender; to generate; to set the germ of. [ 1913 Webster ]

It engenders choler, planteth anger. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To furnish with a fixed and organized population; to settle; to establish; as, to plant a colony. [ 1913 Webster ]

Planting of countries like planting of woods. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To introduce and establish the principles or seeds of; as, to plant Christianity among the heathen. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. To set up; to install; to instate. [ 1913 Webster ]

We will plant some other in the throne. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Capable of being planted; fit to be planted. B. Edwards. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A word used once by Shakespeare to designate plants in general, or anything that is planted. [ 1913 Webster ]

As true as steel, as plantage to the moon. Shak. (Troil. iii. sc. 2). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. F. plantain-arbre, plantanier, Sp. plántano, plátano; prob. same word as plane tree. ] 1. (Bot.) A treelike perennial herb (Musa paradisiaca) of tropical regions, bearing immense leaves and large clusters of the fruits called plantains. See Musa. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The fruit of this plant. It is long and somewhat cylindrical, slightly curved, and, when ripe, soft, fleshy, and covered with a thick but tender yellowish skin. The plantain is a staple article of food in most tropical countries, especially when cooked. [ 1913 Webster ]

Plantain cutter, or
Plantain eater (Zool.), any one of several large African birds of the genus Musophaga, or family Musophagidæ, especially Musophaga violacea. See Turaco. They are allied to the cuckoos. --
Plantain squirrel (Zool.), a Java squirrel (Sciurus plantani) which feeds upon plantains. --
Plantain tree (Bot.), the treelike herb Musa paradisiaca. See def. 1 (above). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F., fr. L. plantago. Cf. Plant. ] (Bot.) Any plant of the genus Plantago, but especially the Plantago major, a low herb with broad spreading radical leaves, and slender spikes of minute flowers. It is a native of Europe, but now found near the abode of civilized man in nearly all parts of the world. [ 1913 Webster ]

Indian plantain. (Bot.) See under Indian. --
Mud plantain, a homely North American aquatic plant (Heteranthera reniformis), having broad, reniform leaves. --
Rattlesnake plantain, an orchidaceous plant (Goodyera pubescens), with the leaves blotched and spotted with white. --
Ribwort plantain. See Ribwort. --
Robin's plantain, the Erigeron bellidifolium, a common daisylike plant of North America. --
Water plantain, a plant of the genus Alisma, having acrid leaves, and formerly regarded as a specific against hydrophobia. Loudon. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. planta a plant. ] Belonging to plants; as, plantal life. [ Obs. ] Dr. H. More. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. plantaris, fr. planta the sole of the foot. ] (Anat.) Of or pertaining to the sole of the foot; as, the plantar arteries. [ 1913 Webster ]