plant
pronunciation
How to pronounce plant in British English:
UK [plɑːnt]
How to pronounce plant in American English:
US [plænt]
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- Noun:
- buildings for carrying on industrial labor
- a living organism lacking the power of locomotion
- something planted secretly for discovery by another
- an actor situated in the audience whose acting is rehearsed but seems spontaneous to the audience
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- Verb:
- put or set (seeds or seedlings) into the ground
- fix or set securely or deeply
- set up or lay the groundwork for
- place into a river
- place something or someone in a certain position in order to secretly observe or deceive
- put firmly in the mind
Word Origin
- plant
- plant: [OE] Etymologically, a plant is probably something you press into the ground with the ‘sole’ of your foot. The word was borrowed from Latin planta ‘shoot, sprout, cutting’, a derivative of the verb plantāre ‘plant, transplant’, and it has been speculated that this was based on Latin planta ‘sole of the foot’ (source of English plantain and plantigrade ‘walking on the soles of the feet’ [19]).=> plan, plantain
- plant (n.)
- Old English plante "young tree or shrub, herb newly planted," from Latin planta "sprout, shoot, cutting" (source of Spanish planta, French plante), perhaps from *plantare "to drive in with the feet, push into the ground with the feet," from planta "sole of the foot," from nasalized form of PIE *plat- "to spread, flat" (see place (n.)). Broader sense of "any vegetable life, vegetation generally" is first recorded 1550s. Most extended usages are from the verb, on the notion of "something planted;" such as "construction for an industrial process," 1789, at first with reference to the set-up of machinery, later also the building; also slang meaning "a spy" (1812). Many of these follow similar developments in the French form of the word. German Pflanz, Irish cland, Welsh plant are from Latin.
- plant (v.)
- "put in the ground to grow," Old English plantian, from Latin plantare (see plant (n.)). Reinforced by cognate Old French planter. Without reference to growing, "to insert firmly," late 14c. Of colonies from c. 1300. Figuratively, of ideas, etc., from early 15c. Meaning "to bury" is U.S. slang from U.S., 1855. Related: Planted; planting.
Example
- 1. Meanwhile , the chengdu plant is not without its problems .
- 2. The build cost for a solar thermal plant dropped 10 % to $ 4,692 per kilowatt .
- 3. Gm has said its bochum , germany assembly plant could be closed in 2016 .
- 4. J & j now says it won 't reopen the plant until late 2013 .
- 5. Do you have any plant or seed ?