Etymology From Middle English budde, bodde (“bud, seed pod”), from Old English *budde, from Proto-West Germanic *buʀdā, from Proto-Germanic *buzdǭ (compare archaic German Butte (“rosehip”), Swedish dialect bodd (“head”)), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew-, *bu- (“to swell”). Compare also German Low German Butte, Butt (“bud”), Dutch bot (“bud”), regional German Butz, Butzen (“seed pod; apple core”), German Low German Haagbutt ("rosehip"; Haagbudden (“rosehips”, plural)).
A newly sprouted leaf or blossom that has not yet unfolded.
After a long, cold winter, the trees finally began to produce buds.
Among Turks, pills consisting of hemp buds, muscat nuts, saffron, and honey were a popular aphrodisiac.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 113:
My pretty bud was unfolding and I was not there to see it. She was developing so rapidly, I felt I could not be from her a day without missing some sweetness that could never come again.1874, Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, a Popular Journal of General Literature:
Etymology From Middle English budde, bodde (“bud, seed pod”), from Old English *budde, from Proto-West Germanic *buʀdā, from Proto-Germanic *buzdǭ (compare archaic German Butte (“rosehip”), Swedish dialect bodd (“head”)), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *bʰew-, *bu- (“to swell”). Compare also German Low German Butte, Butt (“bud”), Dutch bot (“bud”), regional German Butz, Butzen (“seed pod; apple core”), German Low German Haagbutt ("rosehip"; Haagbudden (“rosehips”, plural)).
1
To form buds.
The trees are finally starting to bud.
And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Numbers 17:8:
2
To reproduce by splitting off buds.
Yeast reproduces by budding.
3
To begin to grow, or to issue from a stock in the manner of a bud, as a horn.
Seeds of dissent were budding among the recruits.
4
To be like a bud in respect to youth and freshness, or growth and promise.
Young budding virgin, fair and fresh and sweet, / Whither away, or where is thy abode?c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
5
To put forth as a bud.
What appeared the same to us really wasn't. Every day was different, if we looked closely enough. Like the topiary tree that finally budded a rose after Terrence died: […]2013, Julie Brown, The Brownstone, page 263:
Once, he was put on a course of potent hormone pills, coming off them when he woke up one morning to discover he was budding breasts2020 September 1, Tom Lamont, “The butcher's shop that lasted 300 years (give or take)”, in The Guardian:
6
To graft by inserting a bud under the bark of another tree.
I like to hang out with my buds on Saturday night.
Anna's best bud, John (Malcolm Cumming), harbors a secret crush on her, which is indicative of the lazier, more derivative portions of the story that simply repeat tropes rather than comment on them.2018 November 27, April Wolfe, “Anna And The Apocalypse is a Holiday-horror Cocktail of Singing, Maiming, and Clichés”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 04 Nov 2019:
2
Canada, Informal Synonym of guy, term of address for a man or person.
[T]hen he shrugged his shoulders and said, with admirable philosophy: "Well, that's life, ain't it, bud?"1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 87:
So I'm walking along, minding my own business, right, and suddenly I found myself trapped in a nuclear family. Oh, they were all around me, mom, dad, bud, sis.1992, Lea DeLaria, “P-Town”, in Bulldyke in a China Shop (spoken-word comedy album):