Part 110

Fers (?), a. Fierce. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Ferthe (?), a. Fourth. [Obs.] Chaucer.

Fer"tile (? or ?; 277), a. [L. fertilis, fr. ferre to bear, produce: cf. F. fertile. See Bear to support.] 1. Producing fruit or vegetation in abundance; fruitful; able to produce abundantly; prolific; fecund; productive; rich; inventive; as, fertile land or fields; a fertile mind or imagination.

Though he in a fertile climate dwell.

Shak.

2. (Bot.) (a) Capable of producing fruit; fruit-bearing; as, fertile flowers. (b) Containing pollen; -- said of anthers.

3. produced in abundance; plenteous; ample.

Henceforth, my early care . . . Shall tend thee, and the fertile burden ease Of thy full branches.

Milton.

Syn. -- Fertile, Fruitful. Fertile implies the inherent power of production; fruitful, the act. The prairies of the West are fertile by nature, and are turned by cultivation into fruitful fields. The same distinction prevails when these words are used figuratively. A man of fertile genius has by nature great readiness of invention; one whose mind is fruitful has resources of thought and a readiness of application which enable him to think and act effectively.

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Fer"tile*ly (? or ?; 277), adv. In a fertile or fruitful manner.

fer"tile*ness, n. Fertility. Sir P. Sidney.

Fer*til"i*tate (?), v. t. To fertilize; to fecundate. Sir T. Browne.

Fer*til"i*ty (?), n. [L. fertilitas: cf. F. fertilitÈ.] The state or quality of being fertile or fruitful; fruitfulness; productiveness; fecundity; richness; abundance of resources; fertile invention; quickness; readiness; as, the fertility of soil, or of imagination. "fertility of resource." E. Everett.

And all her husbandry doth lie on heaps Corrupting in its own fertility.

Shak.

Thy very weeds are beautiful; thy waste More rich than other climes' fertility.

Byron.

Fer`ti*li*za"tion (?), n. 1. The act or process of rendering fertile.

2. (Biol.) The act of fecundating or impregnating animal or vegetable germs; esp., the process by which in flowers the pollen renders the ovule fertile, or an analogous process in flowerless plants; fecundation; impregnation.

Close fertilization (Bot.), the fertilization of pistils by pollen derived from the stamens of the same blossom. -- Cross fertilization, fertilization by pollen from some other blossom. See under Cross, a.

Fer"ti*lize (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Fertilized (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Fertilizing (?).] [Cf. F. fertiliser.] 1. To make fertile or enrich; to supply with nourishment for plants; to make fruitful or productive; as, to fertilize land, soil, ground, and meadows.

And fertilize the field that each pretends to gain.

Byron.

2. To fecundate; as, to fertilize flower. A. R. Wallace.

Fer"ti*lizer (?), n. 1. One who fertilizes; the agent that carries the fertilizing principle, as a moth to an orchid. A. R. Wallace.

2. That which renders fertile; a general name for commercial manures, as guano, phosphate of lime, etc.