Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To cause the fertilization of (an ovum, for example).
- v. To make (soil, for example) fertile: Compost fertilizes the soil.
- v. To spread fertilizer on: used a mechanical spreader to fertilize the lawn.
- v. To spread fertilizer.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To make fertile; enrich, as soil; make fruitful or productive, in general; fecundate: as, to fertilize land, the imagination, etc.
- In biology, to render capable of development by the introduction of the male germ-element; impregnate.
- Also spelled fertilise.
Wiktionary
- v. To make (the soil) more fertile by adding nutrients to it.
- v. figuratively To make more creative or intellectually productive.
- v. To cause to produce offspring through insemination; to inseminate.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To make fertile or enrich; to supply with nourishment for plants; to make fruitful or productive.
- v. To fecundate.
WordNet 3.0
- v. introduce semen into (a female)
- v. make fertile or productive
- v. provide with fertilizers or add nutrients to
Etymologies
- fertile + -ize (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Starting to prove that insects fertilize the flowers, his carefully observed facts only served to demonstrate in many cases the reverse -- that _insects could not fertilize_ flowers in the manner he had declared.”
“A good way to determine when to fertilize is to wait until you have mowed the lawn twice and that means you actually had to mow because of lawn growth and not weed growth.”
“When we went to Europe after watching one farmer at a B&B we stayed at "fertilize" his farm we throughly not only washed but scrubbed and peeled everything.”
“Please do elaborate on the topic of how this may "fertilize" the conditions for old school gaming, in a future post.”
“I put that figure on my manuscript as it grew (and grew ... and grew), hoping some of the love that came with it would kind of fertilize the work.”
“The grower must always be sure that his varieties will "fertilize"; that is, that he has sufficient pollen-bearing kinds to insure a crop.”
“I have a great idea for a common sense, sober, and reserved approach to climate change -- let's do nothing at all to curb our fossil fuel use, and simply "fertilize" vast areas of the ocean with dissolved iron!!”
“That is, do you "fertilize" stem cells, or "fertilize eggs" with them?”
“The expedition, which has set sail from Cape Town last week, plans to 'fertilize' 300 sq km of the Scotia Sea, close to Antarctica, with 20 tonnes of iron sulphate.”
“On the plus side they will also "fertilize" the grass at the same time.”
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