early 14c. (late 13c. in Anglo-Latin), "young fish," probably from an Anglo-French noun from Old French frier, froier "to rub, spawn (by rubbing abdomen on sand)," from Vulgar Latin *frictiare. First applied to human offspring c. 1400, in Scottish. Some sources trace this usage, or the whole of the word, to Old Norse frjo, fræ "seed, offspring."
1767, "dispersed upon the ground by hand," in reference to seed, from broad (adj.) + past participle of cast (v.). The figurative sense of "widely spread" is recorded by 1785. As an adverb from 1832. The modern media use began with radio (1922, adjective and noun). As a verb, recorded from 1813 in an agricultural sense, 1829 in a figurative sense, 1921 in reference to radio.
"plant with seeds contained in a protective vessel" (as distinguished from a gymnosperm, in which the seeds are naked), 1852, from Modern Latin Angiospermae, coined 1690 by German botanist Paul Hermann (1646-1695), from Greek angeion "vessel" (see angio-) + spermos, adjective from sperma "seed" (see sperm). So called because the seeds in this class of plants are enclosed. Related: Angiospermous.
"sikly envelop which the larvae of many insects spin as a covering while they are in the crysalis state," 1690s, from French coucon (16c., Modern French cocon), from coque "clam shell, egg shell, nut shell," from Old French coque "shell," from Latin coccum "berry," from Greek kokkos "berry, seed" (see cocco-). The sense of "one's interior comfort place" is from 1986. Also see -oon.
"prickly seed vessel of some plants," c. 1300, burre, from a Scandinavian source (compare Danish borre, Swedish hard-borre, Old Norse burst "bristle"), from PIE *bhars- (see bristle (n.)). It was transferred 1610s to "rough edge on metal," which might be the source of the sense "rough sound of the letter -r-" (see burr). Also the name given to various tools and appliances.
also shell lac, "lac melted and formed into thin plates," 1713, from shell (n.) + lac; so called for its form. It translates French laque en écailles "lac in thin plates." Commercially, lac came as stick lac (still on the twigs, insects and all), seed-lac (resin without the twigs and insects, partly processed), and fully processed plates of shell lac.
*grə-no-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "grain."
It forms all or part of: corn (n.1); filigree; garner; garnet; grain; granary; grange; granger; granite; granular; granule; grenade; grenadine; kernel; pomegranate.
It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Latin granum "seed," Old Church Slavonic zruno "grain," Lithuanian žirnis "pea," Old English corn.
1727, from Latin sparsus "scattered," past participle of spargere "to scatter, spread, shower," from Proto-Italic *sparg-, from PIE *sp(e)rg- "to strew," extended form of root *sper- "to spread, sow" (source also of Hittite išpar- "to spread out, strew;" Greek speirein "to strew, to sow," spora "a scattering, sowing," sperma "sperm, seed," literally "that which is scattered"). The word is found earlier in English as a verb, "to scatter abroad" (16c.). Related: Sparsely; sparseness.
c. 1600, "to scatter or sow for propagation," from Latin disseminatus, past participle of disseminare "to spread abroad, disseminate," from dis- "in every direction" (see dis-) + seminare "to plant, propagate," from semen (genitive seminis) "seed" (from PIE root *sē- "to sow"). Figurative sense of "to spread by diffusion (teaching, opinion, error, etc.) with reference to some intended result" is by 1640s. Related: Disseminated; disseminates; disseminating. Middle English had dissemen "to scatter" (early 15c.).
in scientific plant name classifications from late 18c., indicating a cultivated form, is from Latin sativus "cultivated, that is sown or planted," from satus, past participle of serere "to sow, plant seed" (from PIE root *sē-
"to sow"). Sative (adj.) formerly was used in English for "sown, as in a garden (1590s). E.g. Cannabis sativa, originally the plant cultivated in the West, distinguished from indica, a wild species growing in and around India.
