fecundate, v.
(ˈfɛkəndeɪt, ˈfiːkəndeɪt)
[f. L. fēcundāt- ppl. stem of fēcundāre, f. fēcundus fruitful.]
trans. To render fruitful or productive.
| a 1631 Donne Serm. xxxi. 304 He..actuates and fecundates our Soules. 1648 W. Mountague Devout Ess. ii. iv. §4 (1653) 77 These meditations..may..fecundate ev'n the best mould they fall upon. 1850 Neale Med. Hymns (1867) 110 Paradise..is fœcundated With the waters irrigated From these rills. 1863 Jrnl. Pract. Med. & Surg. Oct., Fresh researches may possibly fecundate this ingenious application. 1870 Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. i. (1873) 203 Even the Trouvères..could fecundate a great poet like Chaucer. |
| absol. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. vii. vii. 352 It may be thought that Mandrakes may fecundate since Poppy hath obtained the Epithite of fruitfull. |
b. esp. To make the female (individual or organ) fruitful by the introduction of the male element; to impregnate.
| 1721 Bradley Wks. Nature 31 Guarded with Petals or other Membranes; and yet are fecundated by the Dust of Male Flowers. 1781–7 R. Watson Chem. Ess. V. 144 The eastern practice of fœcundating the female palm tree. 1796 De Serra in Phil. Trans. LXXXVI. 503 The germen..is probably fecundated through its receptaculum. 1876 Darwin Cross-fertil. i. 7 Nature has something more in view than that its own proper males should fecundate each blossom. |
Hence
ˈfecundated ppl. a. ˈfecundating vbl. n. ˈfecundating ppl. a.| 1796 De Serra in Phil. Trans. LXXXVI. 502 Which opens itself afterwards to let loose the fecundated seeds. 1800 Med. Jrnl. III. 259 The heart is the first visible object in the punctum saliens of the fecundated egg. 1872 Peaslee Ovar. Tumours 12 The fecundated ovum increases in size while traversing the oviduct. 1677 Hale Prim. Orig. Man. iv. ii. 300 The Fecundating Principle. 1721 Bradley Wks. Nature 101 It must necessarily happen that the fecundating Spirit is dissipated. 1813 W. Taylor in Monthly Rev. XC. 452 This fecundating force, this power of prompting efforts at reproduction is possessed by every writer. 1880 Huxley Crayfish i. 39 The fecundating material itself is a thickish fluid. 1884 Syd. Soc. Lex., Fecundating corpuscles, the spermatozoa. Fecundating dust, the pollen of plants. |