germinate

verb

Etymology: From oblique stem of Latin germen, germinis (“shoot, sprout, bud”) + -ate, from germinātus (“sprouted, budded, grown”), past participle of germinō (“to sprout, bud, grow”), from germen, germinis (“shoot, sprout, bud”).

1. Of a seed, to begin to grow, to sprout roots and leaves.

   “the Chalcites, which hath a Spirit that will put forth and germinate”

   “It would suffice to keep up the full number of a tree, which lived on an average for a thousand years, if a single seed were produced once in a thousand years, supposing that this seed were never destroyed, and could be ensured to germinate in a fitting place. So that in all cases, the average number of any animal or plant depends only indirectly on the number of its eggs or seeds.”

2. To cause to grow; to produce.

   “These were business hours, and a feeling of loneliness crept over him, perhaps germinated by his sight of the illustrated papers, and accentuated by an attempted perusal of them.”