Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary, 11th Edition
BUD
I. noun
Etymology: Middle English budde
Date: 14th century
a small lateral or terminal protuberance on the stem of a plant that may develop into a flower, leaf, or shoot, something not yet mature or at full development: as, an incompletely opened flower, child , youth , c. an outgrowth of an organism that differentiates into a new individual ; gemma , an outgrowth having the potential to differentiate and grow into a definitive organ or part ; primordium , buddy ,
II. verb (budded; budding)
Date: 14th century
intransitive verb
1. of a plant to set or put forth buds, to commence growth from buds, to grow or develop from or as if from a bud, to reproduce asexually especially by the pinching off of a small part of the parent, transitive verb to produce or develop from buds, to cause (as a plant) to bud, to insert a bud from a plant of one kind into an opening in the bark of (a plant of another kind) usually in order to propagate a desired variety, budder noun