Emily Dickinson Lexicon

GERM, n. [L. germen.]

1. In botany, the ovary or seed-bud of a plant, the rudiment of fruit yet in embryo. It is the base or lower part of the pistil, which in the progress of vegetation swells and becomes the seed-vessel. Martyn. Milne.
2. Origin; first principle; that from which any thing springs; as, the germ of civil liberty, or of prosperity.