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run to seed

Idioms  
  1. Also, go to seed. Become devitalized or worn out; deteriorate, as in I went back to visit my old elementary school, and sadly, it has really run to seed, or The gold medalist quickly went to seed after he left competition. This term alludes to plants that, when allowed to set seed after flowering, either taste bitter, as in the case of lettuce, or do not send out new buds, as is true of annual flowers. Its figurative use dates from the first half of the 1800s.


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Intellectually, for various reasons, it had run to seed.

From The "Genius" by Dreiser, Theodore

The doctrine has run to seed, as it were, among this people.

From India, Its Life and Thought by Jones, John P. (John Peter)

He had barely sat down before his clerk a thin, gray-haired man, high-nosed, with a look of breeding run to seed, came in, and closed the door behind him.

From The Great House by Weyman, Stanley John

And these luxuriant fancies need pruning; hers is a fine nature run to seed for want of care and proper nurture.'

From Heriot's Choice A Tale by Carey, Rosa Nouchette

It was covered with high, coarse, prairie grass, and its occasional nodding clusters of prairie flowers run to seed.

From Scenes and Andventures in the Semi-Alpine Region of the Ozark Mountains of Missouri and Arkansas by Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe