online medical dictionary | definition of seminary

Origin: L. Seminarium, fr. Seminarius belonging to seed, fr. Semon, seminis, seed. See Seminal.

1. A piece of ground where seed is sown for producing plants for transplantation; a nursery; a seed plat. "But if you draw them [seedling] only for the thinning of your seminary, prick them into some empty beds." (Evelyn)

2. Hence, the place or original stock whence anything is brought or produced.

3. A place of education, as a scool of a high grade, an academy, college, or university.

4. Seminal state.

5. A seed bed; a source.

6. A Roman Catholic priest educated in a foreign seminary; a seminarist.

Belonging to seed; seminal.

Origin: L. Seminarius.

(01 Mar 1998)