[bud] n [ME budde] (14c) 1: a small lateral or terminal protuberance on the stem of a plant that may develop into a flower, leaf, or shoot
2: something not yet mature or at full development: as a: an incompletely opened flower b: child, youth c: an outgrowth of an organism that differentiates into a new individual: gemma; also: primordium -- in the bud : in an early stage of development "nipped the rebellion in the bud"
[2]bud vb bud.ded ; bud.ding vi (14c) 1 of a plant a: to set or put forth buds b: to commence growth from buds
2: to grow or develop as if from a bud
3: to reproduce asexually esp. by the pinching off of a small part of the parent ~ vt 1: to produce or develop from buds
2: to cause (as a plant) to bud
3: to insert a bud from a plant of one kind into an opening in the bark of (a plant of another kind) usu. in order to propagate a desired variety -- bud.der n