mustard seed

Noun

mustard seed (countable and uncountable, plural mustard seeds)

1. A small, round seed of the mustard plant.

   Synonyms:

   eye of newt

2. (figuratively) A small amount.
   • Start with a mustard seed of irrelevant fact. Rutherford Hayes’s wife, Lucy, was the first American president’s wife to be referred to as the first lady.2013 February 7, Joy Williams, “The New Uncanny”, in The New York Times
   • It was obvious to anybody with eyes and ears and a mustard seed of sense that Thomas had been chosen as a blunt instrument of Black oppression.2022 August 8, Mitchell S. Jackson, “Looking for Clarence Thomas”, in Esquire

   Synonyms:

   bit, crumb, ace, atom, thought, atomy, aught, bissel, continental, glimpse

3. (also, attributive) Small lead shot, usually of size No. 12, used for shooting birds and other animals at close range.
   • Being myself much given to the collection of birds for scientific purposes, a line of operation, requiring, in most cases, the finest shot that can be procured, I use mustard seed habitually, and have learned, incidentally as it were, its efficacy when directed against birds which, it might be...1873 November 22, Dr. Elliott Coues, U. S. A., “Use of Small Shot”, in The American Sportsman, volume 3, number 8, West Meriden, Conn., page 117
   • “ […] Much as I hated to do it, while that sow was chasing after him, I let him have it in the stern with a light load of mustard-seed shot. That combination worked!” […] The mustard-seed shot he mentions are No. 12's and the load was extremely light.1972 May, Robert Halverson, “Punishment …Or Reward?”, in Field & Stream, volume 77, number 1, page 223

   Synonyms:

   dust shot, rat shot, snake shot