| 释义 |
fertility|fəˈtɪlɪtɪ|
Forms: 5 fertylyte, 6–8 fertilitie, -illity(e, (fortylite), 6– fertility.
[a. Fr. fertilité, ad. L. fertilitāt-em, f. fertilis fertile.]
The quality of being fertile; fecundity, fruitfulness, productiveness. a. lit. of the soil, a region, etc.; also of plants and animals.
1490Caxton Eneydos xxv. 92 The troienne folke multyplied..in grete quantite..for the fertylyte of the grounde. 1538Starkey England i. i. 12 Maruelous culture and Fortylite. c1610–15Women Saints (1886) 189 The first fruite of our mothers fertilitie. 1818Byron Ch. Har. iv. xxvi, Thy waste More rich than other climes' fertility. 1859Darwin Orig. Spec. iv. (1873) 75 The fertility of this clover absolutely depends on bees visiting the flowers.
b. transf. and fig.
1615G. Sandys Trav. 103 Such iarres proceeded from their fertility of Gods, differing in each seuerall iurisdiction. 1666Dryden Ann. Mirab. Let. to Sir R. Howard, The quickness of the Imagination is seen in the invention; the fertility in the Fancy. 1750Johnson Rambler No. 75 ⁋4, I found some..fertility of fancy. 1802Playfair Illustr. Hutton. Th. 495 All the fertility of his invention. 1848Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 637 Halifax..in fertility of thought..had no rival. 1878R. B. Smith Carthage 136 Himilco..was a man..of fertility of resource.
c. pl. Productive powers.
1626–7Ld. Falkland in Abp. Ussher's Lett. (1686) 379 A general..valluation of the different Fertilities. 1708Swift Sacram. Test. Wks. (1778) IV. 219 The fertilities of the soil. 1868Rogers Pol. Econ. xii. (1876) 164 Ground-rent..is a payment made for a particular site because it has certain conveniences, productive powers, or..fertilities, which another site..would not possess.
d. Distinguished from fecundity (see fecund, fecundity).
1866–1936 [see fecundity]. 1938E. Charles in L. Hogben Political Arith. xi. 73 (heading) The effect of present trends in fertility and mortality upon the future population of Great Britain and upon its age composition. 1964[see fecundity].
e. attrib. and Comb.
1913E. N. Fallaize in J. Hastings Encycl. Relig. & Ethics VI. 523 (heading) Fertility charms. 1932R. Knox Broadcast Minds vi. 141 Presenting..the Resurrection as one among a series of fertility-legends. 1933E. K. Chambers Eng. Folk-Play 223 He [sc. Dionysus] remains primarily a fertility-god, with the bull, and perhaps the goat, and the phallus as his attributes. 1933R. Tuve Seasons & Months i. 40 Whatever remnants of fertility cult lie behind such English folk customs as..‘Rogation Day’. 1942Burlington Mag. Apr. 98/2 Being used to ecstatic fertility-rites, the more dogmatic and controlled calendar-rites could not catch their emotions. 1952Gerth & Martindale tr. Weber's Anc. Judaism xi. 279 The prophets declaimed against the rural orgiasticism of the fertility cults. 1952P. Hughes Witchcraft x. 128 The crescendo of the fertility dance. 1956D. H. Willson King James VI. & I, vii. 104 The witch cult in Scotland was derived in part from ancient heathen practice..in which the ritual consisted largely of fertility rites. 1962[see amoral a.]. 1964Punch 11 Mar. 394/3 Most large hospitals are now equipped with fertility clinics. 1965Ibid. 25 Aug. 270/2 First the pill, now fertility drugs—what's that but a return to stop go? 1968Daily Tel. 12 Nov. 1/6 Mrs. Pennington..has been taking the fertility drug gonadotrophin, the same drug taken by Mrs. Sheila Thorns who gave birth to sextuplets. |