cult

[Fr. culte; Lat. cultus =(1) cultivation, (2) worship, from colo = (1) to cultivate, (2) to worship.] 1. Homage, worship. 1221 cultch, s. [Etymol. unknown.) The gravel, stones, ., placed for oysters to spawn on. "The spat cleaves to stones, old oyster-shells. pieces of wood, and such-like things at the bottom of the sea, which they call cultch ."-De Fue: Tour through Great Britain, i. 9. *cul-těl, s. [Lat. cultellus , dim in. of culter =a knife.] A long knife carried by a knight's squire. *cul-ter, s. [Lat.=aknife.] 1. A knife, a dagger. "Set a culter in thi throte." - Wycliffe: Prov . xxiii. 2. 2. A coulter (q. v.). " Culter for a plowe. Cultrum."-Prompt. Parv. †cul-ti-va-ble, a. [Eng. cultivate ); -able .] Capable of being cultivated; fit for cultivation. cul-ti-vat-a-ble, *cul-ti-vat-i-ble, a . [Eng. cultivat(e); -able.] The same as CULTIVABLE (q. v.). cul-ti-vate, v. t . [Low Lat. culti vatus , pa. par. of cultivo to till, to cultivate, from Low Lat. culti- vus cultivated, from Lat. cultus , pa. par. of colo = to cultivate; Fr. cultiver Sp. cultivar ; Ital. culti- vare .] I. Literally : culture extends no farther than the preparation of the ground for the reception of the seed; cultivation includes the whole proce by which the produce of the earth is brought to maturity. Womay till without cultivating ; but we cannot cultivate , as far as respects the soil, without tillage . Husbandry is more extensive in its meaning than tillage , but not so extensive as cultivation . Tillage respects the act only of tilling the ground; husbandry is employed for the office of cultivating for domestic purposes. A cultivator is a general term defined only by the object that is cultivated , as the cultivator of the grape, or the olive; a tiller is a laborer in the soil that performs the office for another; a husband man is a humble species of cultivator , who himself performs the whole office of cultivating the ground for domestic purposes." (Crabb: Eng. Synon.)