| 释义 |
fertilize, v.|ˈfɜːtɪlaɪz|
[f. fertile + -ize.]
1. trans. To make fertile; to enrich (the soil).
1648W. Mountague Devout Ess. i. xi. §1. 128 Our earth needs no rain to fall upon it..to fertilize it. 1760Derrick Lett. (1767) I. 97 He..fertilised bogs, and cultivated barren sands. 1860Motley Netherl. (1868) I. i. 8 Three great rivers which had fertilized happier portions of Europe.
b. gen. To render productive. lit. and fig.
1828Mackintosh Sp. Ho. Comm. 2 May Wks. 1846 III. 487 The members of the Legislature..attempted to exclude all the industry..of other countries from flowing in to enrich and fertilise their shores. 1866Liddon Bampt. Lect. v. (1875) 225 Intense religious conviction fertilizes intellect. 1868Peard Water-Farm. ii. 11 Can nothing be done to fertilise the vast majority of our streams?
2. Biol. To make (an ovum, an oospore, a female individual or organ) fruitful by the introduction of the male element; to fecundate.
Chiefly Bot.; in Zoology common with reference to ova, but otherwise rare.
1859Darwin Orig. Spec. iv. (1873) 79, I have not found a single terrestrial animal which can fertilize itself. 1861Delamer Fl. Gard. 145 If..the Moss Rose..is fertilized with Rosa Gallica, interesting hybrids are the result. 1879Lubbock Sci. Lect. i. 8 It is a great advantage..that the flower should be fertilised by pollen from a different stock.
Hence ˈfertilized ppl. a. ˈfertilizing vbl. n., also attrib. ˈfertilizing ppl. a.
1651R. Child in Hartlib's Legacy (1655) 34 In other places they have a like fertilizing fatnesse. 1655in Hartlib's Legacy 193 A rich earth for Compost worth twenty shillings a load at the least for the fertilizing of land. 1807Crabbe Par. Reg. iii. 275 Fertilizing showers. 1849J. F. W. Johnston Exper. Agric. vii. 118 Gypsum has a remarkably fertilising effect when applied to certain crops on certain soils. 1868Peard Water-Farm. v. 54 A tiny fish creeps from each fertilised egg. 1884Athenæum 12 Jan. 49/3 The author attributes the supply of fertilizing mud in Egypt to the White Nile. |