Obs. [OE. cíð young shoot, sprout, germ = OS. kîđ, OHG. kîdi (MHG. kîde, Ger. dial. keide):—OTeut. *kîþó-z f. root ki- to split, sprout: see CHINE sb.1, v.1]

1

  1.  A tiny shoot, sprout, or blade of grass or any plant; a glume or awn of chaff, a mote.

2

c. 897.  K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past., xxxiii. vi. Ðu meaht gesion lytelne ciþ on ðines broður eaʓan. Ðæt is se smala ciið.

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c. 1000.  Ælfric, Deut. xxxii. 2. Swa dropan ofer gærsa ciþas. Ibid., Hom. (Thorpe), I. 100. Hwæt eac seo eorðe cyð mid hire ciðum.

4

a. 1100.  in Wr.-Wülcker, 416. Gramina, ciþas.

5

  2.  Applied to the filamentous organs in flowers, esp. to the style or stigma: see CHIVE2, and CHIRE.

6

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. xci. (Br. M. MS. addit. 27944). De Lilio, And þe flour [lilye] haþ wiþ inne, as it were, smal þrede þat conteyneþ þe seed. In þe myddil stondeþ chiþes of saffran [Pliny stantibus in medio crocis; MS. Bodl. chiþes; Harl. 814 chiris, Harl. 4789 schyres; ed. W. de Worde 1495 chiers: see also CHIRE, CHIVE2].

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