Word: plant Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English plante, from Old English plante (“young tree or shrub, herb newly planted”), from Proto-West Germanic *plantu, from Latin planta (“sprout, shoot, cutting”). Broader sense of "any vegetable life, vegetation generally" is from Old French plante. Doublet of clan (borrowed through Celtic languages) and planta (directly from Latin). The verb is from Middle English planten, from Old English plantian (“to plant”), from Latin plantāre, later influenced by Old French planter. Compare also Dutch planten (“to plant”), German pflanzen (“to plant”), Swedish plantera (“to plant”), Icelandic planta (“to plant”). The factory and machinery senses comes from the Latin sense of "any vegetable production that serves to propagate the species," which refers to something that produces. Pronunciation: /plɑːnt/, [pʰl̥ɑːnt], /plɐːnt/, [pʰl̥ɐ̞ːnt], /plant/ 1. An organism that is not an animal, especially an organism capable of photosynthesis, and typically a small or herbaceous organism of this kind, rather than a tree. Example: The garden had a couple of trees, and a cluster of colourful plants around the border. Example: In plants, the ability to recognize self from nonself plays an important role in fertilization, because self-fertilization will result in less diverse offspring than fertilization with pollen from another individual. Many genes with reproductive roles also have antibacterial and immune functions, which indicate that the threat of microbial attack on the sperm or egg may be a major influence on rapid evolution during reproduction. 2. An organism of the kingdom Plantae, and 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. 3. Now specifically, a multicellular eukaryote that includes chloroplasts in its cells, which have a cell wall. 4. A young tree, vine, shrub, or herb; a sapling. Labels: obsolete Example: Take, Shepherd, take a Plant of ſtubborn Oak; / And labour him with many a ſturdy ſtroke: / Or with hard Stones, demoliſh from afar / His haughty Creſt, the feat of all the War. 5. Any creature that grows on soil or similar surfaces, including plants and fungi. Labels: proscribed Example: Some plants, such as mushrooms found in the wild, are difficult to identify. Some plants are poisonous, and an inexperienced individual may make mistakes in identification of wild plants, with tragic results. 6. A factory or other industrial or institutional building or facility. Labels: countable Example: The company has production plants in three countries. Example: My dad worked at the plant for 27 years. 7. Machinery and other supplies and equipment, such as the kind used in heavy industry, light industry, earthmoving, or construction. Labels: uncountable Example: Near-synonym: capital equipment Example: industrial plant 8. The equipment and work animals of a drover or other rural worker travelling through the countryside. Labels: Australia Example: Nigger smoke-talks had told him of the patrol and of Felix’s mustering plant. Once he had absorbed the ‘outside’ news the night’s new the conversation started in earnest. 9. An object placed surreptitiously in order to cause suspicion to fall upon a person. Example: That gun’s not mine! It’s a plant! I’ve never seen it before! 10. A stash or cache of hidden goods. Labels: obsolete, slang 11. Anyone assigned to behave as a member of the public during a covert operation (as in a police investigation). 12. A person, placed amongst an audience, whose role is to cause confusion, laughter etc. 13. A play in which the cue ball knocks one (usually red) ball onto another, in order to pot the second; a set. Example: O’Sullivan risked a plant that went badly astray, splitting the reds. Example: The company's product range includes tools, construction plant, diggers, dumpers and rollers. 14. The sole of the foot. Labels: obsolete Example: Knotty legs, and plants of clay, / Seek for eaſe, or love delay. 15. A plan; a swindle; a trick. Labels: dated, slang Example: It wasn’t a bad plant that of mine, on Fikey, the man accused of forging the Sou’ Westeru Railway debentures—it was only t’ other day—because the reason why? I’ll tell you. Example: Now, Max, by what combination of circumstances is a rogue to know my password, to be able to forge my signature, to possess himself of my key, and to resemble me personally? And, finally, how is he possibly to determine beforehand whether there is anything in my safe to repay so elaborate a plant? 16. An oyster which has been bedded, in distinction from one of natural growth. 17. A young oyster suitable for transplanting. Labels: US, dialectal 18. A system, such as a motor, whose behaviour is being regulated or controlled by a control system. 19. A position in the street to sell from; a pitch. Labels: UK, obsolete, slang