plant

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   buildings for carrying on industrial labor

   they built a large plant to manufacture automobiles

2. 2
   noun

   something planted secretly for discovery by another

   the police used a plant to trick the thieves

3. 3
   verb

   fix or set securely or deeply

   The warrior planted a knee in the back of their opponent.

4. 4
   verb

   put or set (seeds, seedlings, or plants) into the ground

   Let's plant flowers in the garden

5. 5
   verb

   place into a river

   plant fish

6. 6
   noun

   An organism that is not an animal, especially an organism capable of photosynthesis. Typically a small or herbaceous organism of this kind, rather than a tree.

   The garden had a couple of trees, and a cluster of colourful plants around the border.

7. 7
   noun

   Any creature that grows on soil or similar surfaces, including plants and fungi.

   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.

8. 8
   noun

   A factory or other industrial or institutional building or facility.

   The company has production plants in three countries.

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”), Icelan…