fertile (fertil)

[Formerly also fertil; Their [martyrs']... blood is like the morning deaw, To make more fertil all the Churches field. Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Triumph of Faith, iii. 24. The earth obey'd, and straight Opening her fertile womb, teem'd at a birth Innumerous living creatures. Milton , P. L., vii. 454. A reforming age is always fertile of impostors. Macaulay, Moore's Byron. 2. Productive mentally; fruitful in intellectual activity; inventive; ingenious: as, a fertile brain or imagination; a mind fertile in re sources. A mind so fertile as his [Warren Hastings's], and so little restrained by conscientious scruples, speedily discovered several modes of relieving the financial embarra ments of the government. Macaulay , Warren Hastings. 3. In bot .: (a) Fruiting, or capable of producing fruit; having a perfect pistil: as, a fertile flower. The common pea is perfectly fertile when its flowers are protected from the visits of insects. Darwin, Cro and Self Fertilisation, p. 160. (b) Capable of fertilizing, as an anther with well-developed pollen.-4. Causing production; fertilizing; promoting fecundity: as, fer tile showers; fertile thoughts; a fertile suggestion. The cold blood he did naturally inherit of his father he hath tilled with. good store of fertile sherris, that he is become very hot and valiant. Shak., 2 Hen. IV., iv. 3. Adversity is far more fertile than Prosperity. Howell , Letters, I. vi. 57. 5. In bee- keeping, in a fertilized state; pregnant. See the extract. Another word which has been changed somewhat in its It is now used by meaning is the word fertile... writers on bee-keeping to signify pregnant. Phin , Dict. Apiculture, Int., p. x. pa engers, vehicles, cattle, etc., acro a river, Syn. 1. Productive, etc. See fruitful. opposite shores. harbor, or other contracted waterway between And there went over a ferry boat to carry over the king's household, and to do what he thought good. 2 Sam. xix. 18. fertilely (fèrtil-li), adv. Fruitfully; abundantly. Who, being grown to man's age, as our own eyes may judge, could not but fertily requite his Father's Fatherly education. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, ii. 155. 1. A ferry-boat or fertilene (fèr'til-nes), n . Same as fertility . According to the fertilene of the Italian wit. ferry-bridge (fer'i-brij), n. scow used for transport over water.-2. The landing-stage or platform of a ferry, hinged at one end to the wharf, the other end being raised or lowered to the level of the incoming boat. [U. S.] ing or splitting. The ferrel of his stick Trying the mortar's temper 'tween the chinks Of some new shop a-building. Browning, How it Strikes a Contemporary. 2. A ring sliding on the shaft of a spear and holding firmly to it the long tangs of the head; also, a ring or socket protecting the butt-end of a spear-shaft. The latter was also used as a weapon, or, when of a chisel form, as a tool. Compare celt2.-3. In steam-boilers, a bushing for expanding the end of a flue.-4. The frame of a slate.-5. Anything like a ferrule (in sense 1) in form or position. A ferule of new bone formation, which is attached, above and below the breach, to the sound bone. IMG:content-1244.png:[blocks in formation] etc. Sir P. Sidney, Defence of Poesy. fertilisable, fertilisation, etc. See fertilizable, -ate2.] To make fertile; fertilize; impregnate. fertilitatet (fer-til'i-tāt), v. t. [ after. A cock will in one day fertilitate the whole racemation or cluster of eggs, which are not excluded for many weeks Sir T. Browne , Vulg. Err., iii. 28. fertility (fer-til'i-ti), n. [F. fertilité = Pr. fertilitat = Sp. fertilidad = Pg. fertilidade = It. fertilità , fertilita ( t- ) s , fruitfulne , fer til is , fruitful: see fertile .] 1. The state of being fertile or fruitful; the quality of producing in abundance; fecundity; productivene : as, the fertility of land, or (more rarely) of a breed of animals, a race of men, or an individual. The fertility , or, as it may perhaps better be called, the productivene , of a plant depends on the number of capsules produced, and on the number of seeds which these contain. Darwin, Cro and Self Fertilisation, p. 313. 2. Prolific invention; abundance of resources; imagination. the weakest point, where the ferrule joins the wood. The pa age at the ferry - master's window was jammed with women asking when the soldiers would be New York Tribune , May 29, 1862. cer . fertility The quickne of the imagination is seen in the invention, the fertility in the fancy, and the accuracy in the exDryden, To Sir R. Howard. pre ion. We cannot regard without admiration the amplitude and fertility of his intellect, his rare talents for command, for administration, and for controversy. Macaulay, Warren Hastings.