English

Verb

germinate ‎(third-person singular simple present germinates, present participle germinating, simple past and past participle germinated)

1. (botany, horticulture) Of a seed, to begin to grow, to sprout roots and leaves.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)

   • 2014 April 5, “Quite interesting: A quietly intriguing column from the brains behind QI, the BBC quiz show. This week; QI orchids you not”, in The Daily Telegraph (Weekend), page W22:

     Orchids rely on fungi to reproduce. Their tiny seeds don't have any on-board nutrients (like beans and apples) and will not germinate until they are infected by a symbiotic fungus which supplies them with food. Known as a protocorm, this tiny orchid-fungus ball grows, turns green and eventually starts to photosynthesise.

   • 2014 December 23, Olivia Judson, “The hemiparasite season [print version: Under the hemiparasite, International New York Times, 24–25 December 2014, p. 7]”, in The New York Times:

     […] The flesh [of the mistletoe berry] is sticky, and forms strings and ribbons between my thumb and forefinger. For the mistletoe, this viscous goop – and by the way, viscous comes to English from viscum – is crucial. The stickiness means that, after eating the berries, birds often regurgitate the seeds and then wipe their bills on twigs – leading to the seeds' getting glued to the tree, where they can germinate and begin the cycle anew.

2. To cause to grow.
   • 1913, Robert Barr, chapter 5, in Lord Stranleigh Abroad:

     These were business hours, and a feeling of loneliness crept over him, perhaps germinated by his sight of the illustrated papers, and accentuated by an attempted perusal of them.

Translations

Anagrams

• reteaming

Italian

Verb

germinate

1. second-person plural present of germinare
2. second-person plural imperative of germinare

Anagrams

• emigrante, regimante, regimenta, remigante

Latin

Participle

germināte

1. vocative masculine singular of germinātus