Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To cause the fertilization of (an ovum, for example).
  • intransitive verb To make (soil, for example) fertile.
  • intransitive verb To spread fertilizer on.
  • intransitive verb To spread fertilizer.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • 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.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To make fertile or enrich; to supply with nourishment for plants; to make fruitful or productive.
  • transitive verb To fecundate.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To make (the soil) more fertile by adding nutrients to it.
  • verb figuratively To make more creative or intellectually productive.
  • verb To cause to produce offspring through insemination; to inseminate.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb introduce semen into (a female)
  • verb make fertile or productive
  • verb provide with fertilizers or add nutrients to

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

fertile +‎ -ize

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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.

    My Studio Neighbors William Hamilton Gibson 1873

  • 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.

    The Daily News - News 2010

  • 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.

    The Daily News - News 2010

  • 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.

    The Daily News - News 2010

  • 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.

    The Daily News - News 2010

  • 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.

    The Daily News - News 2010

  • 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.

    The Daily News - News 2010

  • 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.

    The Daily News - News 2010

  • 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.

    The Daily News - News 2010

  • 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.

    The Daily News - News 2010

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