Chapter Planispheric to Plasmatic of P by Webster's Dictionary (1913 Edition)

Plant bug

(Zoöl.), any one of numerous hemipterous insects which injure the foliage of plants, as Lygus lineolaris, which damages wheat and trees. — Plant cutter (Zoöl.), a South American passerine bird of the genus Phytotoma, family Phytotomidæ. It has a serrated bill with which it cuts off the young shoots and buds of plants, often doing much injury. — Plant louse (Zoöl.), any small hemipterous insect which infests plants, especially those of the families Aphidæ and Psyllidæ; an aphid.

Plant
(Plant) v. t. [imp. & p. p. Planted; p. pr. & vb. n. Planting.] [AS. plantian, L. plantare. See Plant, n.]

1. To put in the ground and cover, as seed for growth; as, to plant maize.

2. To set in the ground for growth, as a young tree, or a vegetable with roots.

Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees.

Deut. xvi. 21.

3. To furnish, or fit out, with plants; as, to plant a garden, an orchard, or a forest.

4. To engender; to generate; to set the germ of.

It engenders choler, planteth anger.

Shak.

5. To furnish with a fixed and organized population; to settle; to establish; as, to plant a colony.

Planting of countries like planting of woods.

Bacon.

6. To introduce and establish the principles or seeds of; as, to plant Christianity among the heathen.

7. To set firmly; to fix; to set and direct, or point; as, to plant cannon against a fort; to plant a standard in any place; to plant one's feet on solid ground; to plant one's fist in another's face.

8. To set up; to install; to instate.

We will plant some other in the throne.

Shak.

Plant
(Plant), v. i. To perform the act of planting.

I have planted; Apollos watered.

1 Cor. iii. 6.

Plantable
(Plant"a*ble) a. Capable of being planted; fit to be planted. B. Edwards.

Plantage
(Plant"age) n. A word used once by Shakespeare to designate plants in general, or anything that is planted.

As true as steel, as plantage to the moon.

Shak.

Plantain
(Plan"tain) n. [Cf. F. plantain- arbre, plantanier, Sp. plántano, plátano; prob. same word as plane tree.]

1. (Bot.) A treelike perennial herb (Musa paradisiaca) of tropical regions, bearing immense leaves and large clusters of the fruits called plantains. See Musa.

2. The fruit of this plant. It is long and somewhat cylindrical, slightly curved, and, when ripe, soft, fleshy, and covered with a thick but tender yellowish skin. The plantain is a staple article of food in most tropical countries, especially when cooked.

Plantain cutter, or Plantain eater (Zoöl.), any one of several large African birds of the genus Musophaga, or family Musophagidæ, especially Musophaga violacea. See Turaco. They are allied to the cuckoos.