run to seed

Idioms  

1. Also, go to seed. Become devitalized or worn out; deteriorate, as in I went back to visit my old elementary school, and sadly, it has really run to seed, or The gold medalist quickly went to seed after he left competition. This term alludes to plants that, when allowed to set seed after flowering, either taste bitter, as in the case of lettuce, or do not send out new buds, as is true of annual flowers. Its figurative use dates from the first half of the 1800s.

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Example Sentences

If they are disposed to run to seed too early, it may be prevented by pulling up, and setting out again in the shade.

From Soil Culture by Walden, J. H.

He was a man of the highest order of abilities, with a memory that never forgot; but he was ruined and run to seed by the idleness that came of a discursive uncertain temperament.

From Charles Lever, His Life in His Letters, Vol. II by Downey, Edmund

There were long borders of dripping, storm-dashed flowers in front of them, and mignonette run to seed, and dahlias filled with moisture to their brims.

From Peter and Jane or The Missing Heir by Macnaughtan, S. (Sarah)

They run to seed in empire, and so fructify into kingdoms—the staple form of nations.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, Number 385. November, 1847. by Various

The flower it is of that earthly plant, destined hereafter to run to seed, and to beget new groves and thickets, new jungles, of vulgar things.

From Select Conversations with an Uncle (Now Extinct) And Two Other Reminiscences by Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)