I. ˈbəd noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English budde; akin to Old English budda beetle, Dutch bot bud, Middle Low German buddich swollen, Old High German būtil bag, Middle High German butzen to swell, Icelandic budda purse, Sanskrit bhūri abundant — more at boast
1. : a small lateral or terminal protuberance on the stem of a plant consisting of an undeveloped shoot made up of rudimentary foliage leaves or floral leaves or both overarching a growing point and often protected by specialized bud scales or by a coating of resin or hairs or by both — see flower bud , leaf bud , mixed bud
2. : something not yet mature or attained to full growth and development: as
a. : an incompletely opened flower
the buds are getting full of color
— often used in combination
one red rose bud
b. dialect England : a yearling calf
c. : a young girl just entering social life
d. : child , youth — compare bud III
e. : an outgrowth from the body of an organism that differentiates into a new individual : gemma ; also : a primordium having potentialities for growth and development into a definitive structure
an embryonic limb bud
a horn bud
f. : an initial phase of development
raised havoc with the first buds of a contemporary and a functional architecture in Dixie — M.W.Fishwick
3. : state of budding : incipience — used especially in the phrase in the bud
the plot was nipped in the bud
4. : something likened to or suggestive of a bud especially in shape: as
a. : an anatomical structure resembling a bud (as a tactile corpuscle) ; especially : nipple
b. : a small somewhat conical morsel of sweet chocolate
II. verb
( budded ; budded ; budding ; buds )
Etymology: Middle English budden, from budde, n.
intransitive verb
1. of a plant or its parts
a. : to set buds
the plant will not bud well without heavy fertilizing
b. : to commence growth from buds : break dormancy
spring is here, all the trees are budding
— often used with out
the leaves have budded out almost overnight
2.
a. : to be like a bud in youth and freshness or in the unfolding of growth and promise
b. : to develop like a plant part through the unfolding of a bud
new antlers bud during the summer
c. : to arise like a bud from some precursor — often used with off
a number of sects have budded off from the early churches of the Reformation
3. : to reproduce asexually ; specifically : to produce a new cell (as in yeasts) by pinching off a small part of the parent cell
4. : to perform the operation of budding a plant
5. of a bird : to feed on buds
transitive verb
1. : to produce or develop (as leaves) from buds
some honeysuckles bud their leaves very early in the spring
— often used with off or out
some zoophytes bud off young at regular intervals
2. : to cause (as a plant) to bud — often used with out
warm weather will bud out trees
3. : to insert a bud from a plant of one kind into an opening in the bark of (a plant of another kind) usually in order to propagate a desired variety — compare graft vt 1
4. : to produce (as young) by gemmation — often used with out
III. noun
Etymology: short for buddy (II)
: brother , buddy — often used in informal address
say bud , have you got the right time