Emily Dickinson Lexicon

PLANT, n. [Fr. plante; It. pianta; L. Sp. Port. and Sw. planta; Ir. plaunda; D. plant; G. pflanze; Dan. plante; Arm. plantenn; W. plant, issue, offspring, children, from plan, a ray, a shoot, a plantation or planting, a plane; planed, a shooting body, a planet; pleiniaw, to radiate; plenig, radiant, splendid; plent, that is rayed; plentyn, a child; planta, to beget or to bear children. In It. Sp. and Port. planta signifies a plant and a plan. Here we find plan, plane, plant, planet, all from one stock, and the Welsh pleiniaw, to radiate, shows that the L. splendeo, splendor, are of the same family. The Celtic clan is probably the Welsh plan, plant, with a different prefix. The radical sense is obvious, to shoot, to extend.]

1. A vegetable; an organic body, destitute of sense and spontaneous motion, adhering to another body in such a manner as to draw from it its nourishment, and having the power of propagating itself by seeds; “whose seed is in itself.” Gen. i. This definition may not be perfectly correct, as it respects all plants, for some aquatic plants grow without being attached to any fixed body. The woody or dicotyledonous plants consist of three parts; the bark or exterior coat which covers the wood; the wood, which is hard and constitutes the principal part; and the pith or center of the stem. In monocotyledonous plants, the ligneous or fibrous parts, and the pithy or parenchymatous, are equally distributed through the whole internal substance; and in the lower plants, funguses, sea-weed, &c. the substance is altogether parenchymatous. By means of proper vessels, the nourishing juices are distributed to every part of the plant. In its most general sense, plant comprehends all vegetables, trees, shrubs, herbs, grasses, &c. In popular language, the word is generally applied to the smaller species of vegetables.
2. A sapling. – Dryden.
3. In Scripture, a child; a descendant; the inhabitant of a country. – Ps. cxliv. Jer. xlviii.
4. The sole of the foot. [Little used.]
5. The fixtures and tools necessary to carry on any trade, or mechanical business. [Local.] Sea-plant, a plant that grows on the sea or in salt water; sea-weed. Sensitive plant, a plant that shrinks on being touched, the Mimosa.