What does "seminal" mean?

Seminal: Contained in seed; holding the relation of seed, source, or first principle; holding the first place in a series of developed results or consequents; germinal; radical; primary; original; as, seminal principles of generation; seminal virtue. The idea of God is, beyond all question or comparison, the one great seminal principle. Hare. Seminal leaf (Bot.), a seed leaf, or cotyleden. -- Seminal receptacle. (Zoöl.) Same as Spermatheca.

Additional senses

  1. 2.A seed. [Obs.] Sir T. Browne.

Sources