plants

Noun

plant (plural plants)

1. An organism that is not an animal, especially an organism capable of photosynthesis, and typically a small or herbaceous organism of this kind, rather than a tree.
   • The garden had a couple of trees, and a cluster of colourful plants around the border.
2. An organism of the kingdom Plantae, and now specifically, a living organism of the Embryophyta (land plants) or of the Chlorophyta (green algae), a eukaryote that includes double-membraned chloroplasts in its cells containing chlorophyll a and b, or any organism closely related to such an organism.
3. Now specifically, a multicellular eukaryote that includes chloroplasts in its cells, which have a cell wall.
4. (obsolete) A young tree, vine, shrub, or herb; a sapling.
   • Take, Shepherd, take a Plant of ſtubborn Oak; / And labour him with many a ſturdy ſtroke: / Or with hard Stones, demoliſh from afar / His haughty Creſt, the feat of all the War.1694, “The Third Book of Virgil's Georgicks”, in John Dryden, transl., The Annual Miscellany, for the Year 1694, 2nd edition, London: Jacob Tonson, published 1708, page 185
5. (proscribed) Any creature that grows on soil or similar surfaces, including plants and fungi.
   • Some plants, such as mushrooms found in the wild, are difficult to identify. Some plants are poisonous, and an inexperienced individual may make mistakes in identification of wild plants, with tragic results.2007 November 19, Ping-chung Leung, Harry H S Fong, Alternative Treatment For Cancer, World Scientific, →ISBN, page 205
6. (countable) A factory or other industrial or institutional building or facility.
   • The company has production plants in three countries.

See all 32 meanings of plant