seed > define

noun

• A small hard fruit.
• A mature fertilized plant ovule consisting of an embryo and its food source and having a protective coat or testa.
• One of the outstanding players in a tournament.
  • synonyms: seeded player
• Anything that provides inspiration for later work.
  • synonyms: source, germ
• The thick white fluid containing spermatozoa that is ejaculated by the male genital tract.
  • synonyms: semen, seminal fluid, ejaculate, cum, come

verb

• Go to seed; shed seeds.
  • usage: "The dandelions went to seed"
• Help (an enterprise) in its early stages of development by providing seed money.
• Bear seeds.
• Place (seeds) in or on the ground for future growth.
  • usage: "She sowed sunflower seeds"
  • synonyms: sow
• Distribute (players or teams) so that outstanding teams or players will not meet in the early rounds.
• Sprinkle with silver iodide particles to disperse and cause rain.
  • usage: "seed clouds"
• Inoculate with microorganisms.
• Remove the seeds from.
  • usage: "seed grapes"

• (n.) Race; generation; birth.
• (v.t.) To cover thinly with something scattered; to ornament with seedlike decorations.
• (n.) That from which anything springs; first principle; original; source; as, the seeds of virtue or vice.
• (n.) The generative fluid of the male; semen; sperm; -- not used in the plural.
• (pl.) of Seed.
• (n.) The principle of production.
• (n.) Progeny; offspring; children; descendants; as, the seed of Abraham; the seed of David.
• (n.) Any small seedlike fruit, though it may consist of a pericarp or even a calyx, as well as the seed proper; as, parsnip seed; thistle seed.
• (v.t.) To sprinkle with seed; to plant seeds in; to sow; as, to seed a field.
• (n.) A ripened ovule, consisting of an embryo with one or more integuments or coverings; as, an apple seed; a currant seed. By germination it produces a new plant.

Seed is the first value used to start a calculation. For example, an exponentially smoothed moving average (EMA) uses the previous day's EMA for the calculation. On the first day's calculation of the EMA, you could use a simple moving average as the seed for the EMA.