go to seed
go to seed (idiom / metaphor)
/ˌɡoʊ tə ˈsiːd/
Meanings
- To decline, deteriorate, or lose quality over time.
- To become shabby, neglected, or run-down.
- To let one’s appearance or health worsen.
- (Literal) When a plant stops blooming and produces seed.
Synonyms: deteriorate; go downhill; go to pot; run down; decline; fall into disrepair.
Variants
- run to seed
Example Sentences
- After the store closed, the whole block started to go to seed, with peeling paint and empty windows.
- He realized he had gone to seed after months of no exercise and poor eating habits.
- If you don’t trim the garden regularly, the plants will go to seed and stop producing fresh leaves.
- The wildflowers went to seed in late summer, scattering tiny seeds across the field.
- The old theater had begun to run to seed, with faded posters and broken lights. (Variant)
Origin and History
Horticultural Basis
The origin of “go to seed” begins in literal gardening language. When a plant “goes to seed,” it stops producing fresh leaves or flowers and shifts its energy into forming and shedding seeds. This natural decline in appearance and usefulness made the phrase familiar in agricultural writing long before it entered everyday speech.
Shift to Figurative Meaning
Writers later borrowed this botanical process as a metaphor for human or structural decline. Just as a plant loses freshness when it “goes to seed,” a person, place, or institution appears neglected, worn-out, or past its prime. This figurative sense became common during the nineteenth century as authors increasingly described social decay through natural imagery.
Country of First Use
The idiom first emerged in the English-speaking world of Britain, where gardening vocabulary frequently shaped everyday expressions. From there it passed naturally into American usage and appeared widely in both British and American writing throughout the nineteenth century.
Earliest Recorded Usage
The earliest collected citation of the figurative expression is dated to the early nineteenth century. Historical language records identify an 1817 example as one of the first known figurative uses, though the original document is preserved in specialized archives not publicly accessible. By the mid-nineteenth century, both literal and figurative uses appeared in print, and by the late nineteenth century writers were clearly applying “go to seed” to people, homes, clothing, and social conditions.
Publicly Accessible Early Print Examples
Nineteenth-century journals and commentary volumes show the idiom in active use. Nature writers referenced plants that had “gone to seed,” while later authors extended the phrase to describe neglected surroundings or personal decline. By the 1880s and 1890s, published works included direct figurative descriptions such as a person who had “let herself and all her surroundings go to seed,” demonstrating the fully developed metaphor.
Supporting Interpretations
Language historians point out that the development of “go to seed” was reinforced by the older adjective “seedy,” meaning shabby or run-down. Both the idiom and the adjective draw on the same agricultural imagery of decline after flowering. The expression’s growth reflects a broader nineteenth-century tendency to describe human character and social conditions through natural and seasonal metaphors.
Summary of Origins
The phrase “go to seed” originated in British horticultural language, gained figurative meaning in the early nineteenth century, and appeared frequently in both British and American writing by the century’s end. The earliest confirmed figurative citation dates to 1817, with multiple accessible examples appearing later in nineteenth-century print. The evolution of the idiom shows a clear progression from literal plant biology to a widely used metaphor for deterioration.
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