seed corn
Americannoun
noun
-
the good quality ears or kernels of corn that are used as seed
-
assets or investments that are expected to provide profits in the future
Etymology
Origin of seed corn
First recorded in 1585–95
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.
In addition to the nod to America’s birthday, the festival marks the 100th anniversary of the first acre of commercial hybrid seed corn, grown and harvested in Altoona in 1923.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 4, 2023
And when you eat your seed corn, you have nothing left to plant next year.
From Salon ● Jun. 21, 2023
The complaint’s single heartening finding is that AltEn was the only ethanol plant in Nebraska and one of the two plants in the country using treated seed corn as an ethanol feedstock.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 8, 2021
The worry is that academic research — the seed corn of future breakthroughs — is being shortchanged.
From New York Times ● Jun. 30, 2020
On the first occasion they were lucky enough to find and kill a sick owl that had eaten a mouse that had eaten poison-dressed seed corn.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
