v. Also 6 frutyfye. [a. F. fructifier, ad. L. frūctificāre, f. frūctus fruit: see -FY.]
1. intr. To bear fruit, become fruitful.
a. 1325. Prose Psalter, li[i]. 8. Ich am in Godes hous as oliue fructifiand.
1340. Ayenb., 234. Þet zed … fructefide of one half to þe þrittaȝte, of oþer half to zixtiaȝte.
c. 1400. Maundev. (1839), v. 50. Elles it [the Bawm] would not fructify.
c. 1450. Mirour Saluacioun, 1065. Aarons ȝerde fructified without plantacionne.
1538. Bale, Thre Lawes, 141. Hys wyfe shall encreace, hys land shall frutyfye.
1561. Daus, trans. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573), 304. The tree of lyfe, sayth he, doeth fructifie or bring forth fruite twelue tymes in the yeare, so that euery moneth it beareth fruite freshe and newe.
1665. Boyle, Occas. Refl., IV. xv. (1845), 260. Besides that the seeds of Virtue and Knowledge, as well as those of Plants, may long seem to lye dead, even in those Soils wherein they will afterwards Flourish and Fructifie.
1709. Brit. Apollo, II. No. 7. 2/2. A. Saffron being moist in its own Nature, needs no adventitious moisture to make it Fructify.
1794. G. Adams, Nat. & Exp. Philos., III. xxvi. 84. Causing it [the perfect animal] to fructify and renew the species.
1874. M. Cooke, Fungi (1875), i. 13. Species of lichens which in many countries do not fructify.
fig. c. 1393. Chaucer, Scogan, 48. Thenke on Tullius kindenesse, Minne thy frend, ther it may fructifye!
c. 1422. Hoccleve, Learn to Die, 16.
| Y shal teche thee | |
| Thyng þat shal to thy soule fructifie. |
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 422 b/1. So moche grewe and fructefyed the chylde in resplendour or lyghte of alle good vertues.
1502. Ord. Ctysten Men (W. de W., 1506), I. iii. 24. And desyreth not to fructefye neyther to encrease with the goodes of the erthe.
1699. Dampier, Voy., II. I. 96. It seems very improbable that Christianity should fructify there.
1847. C. G. Addison, Contracts, II. iii. § 1 (1883), 591. This description of pledge … was constantly fructifying and paying off the debt.
1875. Hamerton, Intell. Life, XI. iv. 420. Each has caused to fructify the talent which the Master gave.
2. trans. To make fruitful, cause to bear fruit; to fecundate, impregnate.
1583. Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. (1882), 66. To fructifie and increase the earth.
1611. Beaum. & Fl., King & No K., II. i. Let a man … fructify foreign countries with his blood.
c. 1630. Risdon, Surv. Devon (1810), 4. The red marle hath this property to fructify the barrenest ground, and little to benefit the good land.
a. 1711. Ken, Christophil, Poet. Wks. 1721, I. 441.
| He sent his Bless’d Apostles out | |
| To sow Celestial Seed about, | |
| And Pow’r of Miracles bestow’d | |
| To fructify the Seed he sow’d. |
1822–34. Good’s Study Med. (ed. 4), I. 654. On the mucous surface of which … it [exhalation of yellow fever] … fructifies a like harvest of contagious matter.
1865. W. Kay, Crisis Hupfeldiana, 6. Many a plant has been fructified by means of pollen … brought to it unwittingly by an insect.
fig. 1768–74. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1852), I. 204. It fructifies our knowledge by making it practical.
1769. Burke, Late St. Nation, Wks. 1842, I. 85. Floods of treasure would have poured into this kingdom from such a source; and, under proper management, no small part of it would have taken a publick direction, and have fructified an exhausted exchequer.
1860. Smiles, Self-Help, xi. 282. The facility with which young people are made to acquire knowledge … fills, but does not fructify the mind.
Hence Fructified ppl. a., in senses of the vb.; also † Her. = FRUCTED; Fructifying vbl. sb., the action of the vb.; Fructifying ppl. a. Also Fructifier, one who or that which fructifies.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., I. pr. i. 3 (Camb. MS.). Affeccyons whiche þat ne ben nothing fructefiynge nor profytable.
1532. Fructyfyed [see FRUCTIVE].
1594. Plat, The Jewell House of Art and Nature, I. 3. A Philosophicall discourse as well vpon the Common, as upon the vegetatiue and fructifying Salt of Nature.
1638. Wilkins, New World, I. (1684), 128. It is not necessary there should be the same means of Growth and Fructifying in both these Worlds.
1649. Hammond, Serm. Chr. Oblig. Peace, 10. The growths and fructifyings of his Graces.
1681. T. Jordan, London’s Joy, 5. In one hand she beareth an Almond-tree, Leav’d, Blossom’d, and Fructified.
1708. Motteux, Rabelais, v. Prol. (1737), p. lvii. These merry and fructifying … Books.
1816. Scott, Old Mort., viii. An able and fructifying preacher.
1825. Coleridge, Aids Refl. (1848), I. 261. A fructifying of the corrupt seed, of which death is the germination.
1835. Fraser’s Mag., XII. 39. Think you … that one of our great financiers I mean the Thomsonian fructifier … would be scared from his presidency by apprehension of a general bankruptcy?
1879. B. Taylor, Stud. Germ. Lit., 263. His [Herder’s] ideas still retain their fructifying character, because the aspiration which underlies them is always lofty and sincere.
