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to pot

to pot

5 2.3
To put a plant into a container for growing
  • verb
  • /pɑt/
translation icon : plantar en maceta
  • To ensure healthy growth, it's important to pot the plant in a larger container when it outgrows its current one.
  • pot a plant
  • potting soil
  • pot bulbs

But you can just pop that in there, shove it down a little bit, pot it up with soil.

Examples

  • After carefully preparing the soil, she decided to pot the young seedlings in individual containers.

  • Each class consists of a lecture on a topic selected by the teacher, a learning activity that reinforces the lecture, and a workshop during which children pot up a plant to take home.

    Academic text (1992)
  • I dig it up and pot it.

    Blog text (18)
  • But you can just pop that in there, shove it down a little bit, pot it up with soil.

  • Oh, there's Douglas, and we are ready to pot up our first two plants.

  • Now that I think of it, you could probably container pot them and just bring them inside when it gets chilly.

    Blog text (18)
  • First, I will be potting up the new bulbs.

    Blog text (34)
  • I've been plucking bulbils off and potting them up for a couple of weeks now.

    Blog text (11)
  • He learned how to pot his favorite herbs during the gardening workshop last weekend.

Idioms

to stir the pot
  • Informal
8 8.0

To cause trouble by saying things to make people argue

to go to pot
  • Informal
3 8.2

To become ruined or not cared for

1 7.2

To make people stay interested and active in a project

To say someone has a fault you also have

1 9.9

Tell someone in a rude way to decide now or stop wasting time

9.3

A person who slowly fails to notice danger until it is too late

Phrasal Verbs

Make a pot of coffee by pouring hot water over ground coffee

Compounds

22 2.4

A large piece of beef slow cooked in liquid in a covered pot with vegetables like carrots and potatoes

melting pot
  • Informal
17 3.5

A place where people from different cultures mix and become one community

7 3.5

An electric pot that cooks food slowly at low heat

pot of gold
  • Informal
5 4.1

A reward that someone hopes to get but finds hard to reach

3 3.5

An amount of money saved or collected for a purpose

pot farm
  • NSFW
1 8.1

A place where people often secretly grow marijuana

1 2.8

A green plant people grow in a pot indoors to make a room look nicer

hot pot
  • UK
1 2.7

A stew of meat and potatoes cooked slowly in a covered pot

1 3.2

An electric pot that cooks food slowly for several hours

1 3.5

A basket placed in the sea to catch lobsters

1 4.6

A container made of strong heatproof material to make metal liquid

1 7.9

Liquid left in a pot after cooking vegetables or meat that is used as a base for soup

1 1.3

A container with a handle and a spout used to sprinkle water on plants

3.4

A dish cooked slowly in a slow cooker

dash-pot
  • Specialized
9.6

A device with a piston that moves through liquid or air to slow sudden movement in machines

3.5

A coffee pot that makes coffee by letting hot water slowly pass through ground coffee

refractory pot
  • Specialized
9.9

A small heatproof bowl made of bone ash to separate metals like gold or silver during testing

1.4

A small container with holes for sprinkling pepper onto food

7.2

A thick spicy soup with vegetables and cow stomach often served with dumplings

A spicy soup with cow tripe, vegetables, and pepper often with dumplings

9.9

A long feeling of being sorry for yourself and thinking only about your problems

7.0

A mild soft white cheese that comes from milk curds, often used as a spread or in cooking

pot furnace
  • Specialized
8.0

A large oven with several pots for melting glass

9.9

A tasty liquid left in a pot after cooking vegetables or meat

A common garden plant with bright yellow or orange flowers

A small aromatic garden herb used to flavor food like tomato sauce

pot metal
  • Specialized
7.9

Cheap mix of metals used to make low-cost items like pots

A French stew of beef and vegetables slowly cooked in water or broth

pot-girl
  • Archaic
9.9

A woman who works in an inn serving customers and cleaning pots

tin-pot business
  • Offensive
7.5

A small, badly run company that seems unimportant

8.5

A small cruel government that controls people and seems foolish

8.4

An unimportant suggestion that people do not take seriously

tin-pot operation
  • Offensive
7.9

A small badly run business or group that seems unimportant

How Big

farm
1.0
field
742 1.0
to pot
5 2.3

Surface Forms

pot infinitive
potted past
potted past participle
potting present participle
pots third person singular

Etymology

The verb pot (to put a plant into a pot) comes directly from the noun pot — you place the plant into a 'pot', so to 'pot' is to put it in that container. That's why gardeners say they 'pot' seedlings when they move them to their pots.