Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SEM'IN-A-RY, n. [Fr. seminaire; L. seminarium, from semen, seed; semino, to sow.]

1. A seed-plat; ground where seed is sown for producing plants for transplantation; a nursery; as, to transplant trees from a seminary. – Mortimer. [In this sense, the word is not used in America; being superseded by nursery.]
2. The place or original stock whence any thing is brought. This stratum, being the seminary or promptuary furnishing matter far the formation of animal and vegetable bodies. [Not in use.] – Woodward.
3. Seminal state. [Not in use.] – Brown.
4. Source of propagation. – Harvey.
5. A place of education; any school, academy, college or university, in which young persons are instructed in the several branches of learning which may qualify them for their future employments. [This is the only signification of the word in the United States, at least as far as my knowledge extends.]
6. Romish priest educated in a seminary; a seminarist. – B. Jonson.