Outplant

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To relocate a plant from a controlled environment to its natural habitat
2. To transfer a plant grown in nursery conditions to an open outdoor area for further growth
3. Moving a plant from a protected or indoor setting to be planted outside where it can continue to develop

Etymology: "Outplant" is a blend: its first half is "out", the second half comes from "implant", and the result is a verb built on the sense of placing something into a living body or setting. Its base is the familiar "plant", which English took from Latin "planta" (a shoot or cutting), and the same Latin root gave us the word for a seedling set in soil and, later, a thing put into a site. The blending is the notable part. Speakers apparently merged "out" with "implant" and "plant" in a way that made sense for moving organisms from one setting to another, so the term reads as "plant placed out" rather than as a clinical procedure. The source also presents "outplant" as a straightforward formation from "out" plus "plant", which is how the meaning in horticulture and conservation work is most clearly understood.

Synonyms: replant, transplant