fruitive (froʻitiv)

[ Hear, nature, hear; Gen. i. 28. Suspend thy purpose, if thou didst intend To make this creature fruitful ! Shak ., Lear, i. 4. Hail, mother of mankind, whose fruitful womb Shall fill the world. Milton, P. L., v. 388. IMG:content-1908.png:[blocks in formation] 'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,... No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,.. That can denote me truly. Shak., Hamlet, i. 2. Fruitful mark or principle, in logic, a mark or principle from which many consequences can be deduced.Fruitful signs, in astrol., Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces: so called because supposed to be favorable to marriage. =Syn. Rich, Fertile, Fruitful, Prolific, Productive. That which is rich or fertile is capable of producing abundantly by proper husbandry; that which is fruitful, prolific, or productive does produce abundantly. Rich and fertile seem to have a primary reference to soil; fruitful to trees and plants; prolific to animals, including man; produc tive has a general application to whatever may be said to produce: but all have widely extended figurative uses: as, a rich field of investigation; a fertile brain; a fruitful idea; a prolific source of mischief. I have had a large, a fair, and a pleasant field, so fertile that without my cultivating it has given me two harvests in a summer, and in both oppre ed the reaper. Dryden, Account of Annus Mirabilis. A large and fruitful mind should not so much labour what to speak as to find what to leave unspoken, Rich soils are often to be weeded. Bacon, To Coke. It [Ireland] has been prolific in statesmen, warriors, poets. S. S. Prenti , Speech on Sending Relief to Ireland. Productive as the sun. Pope , Chorus in Brutus, 1. 24. fruitfully (fröt'ful-i), adv . In a fruitful manner; plenteously; abundantly. You have many opportunities to cut him off; if your will want not, time and place will be fruitfully offered. Shak ., Lear, iv. 6. fruitfulne (fröt'ful-nes), n. The state or quality of being fruitful; productivene ; fertility; fecundity; exuberant abundance. The remedy of fruitfulne is easy, but no labour will help the contrary. B. Jonson, Discoveries. The water is more productive than the earth. Nay, the earth hath no fruitfulne without showers or dews; for all the herbs, and flowers, and fruit are produced and thrive by the water. I. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 32. fruit-gatherer (fröt'gaTH"er-er), n. One who or that which gathers fruit; specifically, a device for gathering fruit from trees, as a pair of heaven to know how happy we shall be when there. Boyle. Contemplation is a fruitive po e ion of verities, which flowers the minde doth no longer gather or collect but rather hold in her hand ready made up in nosegays that she is smelling to. W. Montague , Devoute E ays, I. xxi. § 4.