| 释义 |
fruitful, a.|ˈfruːtfʊl|
Forms: α. (see fruit n.). β. 4–7 fructfull, (5 fructufulle), 6 fruictfull.
[f. fruit n. + -ful.]
1. Productive of fruit. Of trees, etc.: Bearing plenty of fruit. Of soils, etc.: Fertile. Of rain, etc.: Causing fertility.
a1300E.E. Psalter cxlviii. 9 Tries fruitefulle and cedres alle. c1400Mandeville (Roxb.) xiv. 61 Þir hilles er riȝt fruytfull. 1535Coverdale Neh. ix. 25 Vynyardes, oyl⁓garden, and many frutefull trees. 1563W. Fulke Meteors (1640) 63 Clay..is not so fruitfull as marle. 1594Shakes. Rich. III, v. ii. 8 The..Boare (That spoyl'd your Summer Fields, and fruitfull Vines). 1601Holland Pliny xix. vii, Such seeds..must be all throughly dried before they be..fruitfull. 1649Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. iii. xiv. 49 The fruitfull Nilus..filling all the trenches to make a plenty of corn and fruits. 1697W. Dampier Voy. I. x. 293 The Tree hath usually 3 fruitfull Branches. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 236 Heav'n invok'd with Vows for fruitful Rain. 1739Lady Pomfret Let. I. xxii. 84 A very steep but fruitful hill..the vineyards.. crown the very summit. 1859Thackeray Virgin. xxiv, His estate..was as large as Kent; and..infinitely more fruitful.
2. Productive of offspring; not barren; producing offspring in abundance, prolific.
c1520L. Andrewe Noble Lyfe in Babees Bk. 229 A Bremon is a fruteful fisshe that hathe moche sede. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 153 b, Lya was the more fruytfull, and had more chyldren than Rachel. 1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. iv. (1586) 162 Some [hens] are so fruitfull, as they kill them selves with laying. 1611Bible Gen. i. 22 God blessed them, saying, Be fruitfull, and multiply. 1667Duchess of Newcastle Life Dk. Newcastle (1886) 87 A young woman that might prove fruitful to him. a1715Burnet Own Time (1766) II. 225 The fruitfullest marriage that has been known in our age. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VIII. 43 Nature..has rendered some animals surprizingly fruitful. 1841–71T. R. Jones Anim. Kingd. (ed. 4) 367 The queen bee, when deprived of her wings before any communication with the male has taken place, will nevertheless lay fruitful eggs. 1869Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) III. xii. 111 That marriage proved happy and fruitful.
b. Astrol. Favourable to fecundity.
1721Bailey, Fruitful Signs, [in Astrology] are the Signs Gemini, Cancer and Pisces.
†3. Of a harvest, a crop, hence of a reward, a meal, etc.: Abundant, copious. Chiefly in Shakes.
1602Shakes. Ham. i. ii. 80 The fruitfull Riuer in the Eye. 1603― Meas. for M. iv. iii. 161 One fruitful Meale would set mee too't. 1607― Timon v. i. 153 With a recompence more fruitfull Than their offence can weigh downe. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 197 Harvests heavy with their fruitful weight, Adorn our fields.
4. transf. and fig.
†a. Productive of (material things), abounding in. Obs.
1629S'hertogenbosh 1 This Boscage was..fruitfull of wild Deere. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 328 The whole Region is very fruitful of Barren Mountains.
b. With reference to immaterial things: Prolific; abundantly productive. Const. in, of.
1535Coverdale Col. i. 10 To be frutefull in all good workes. 1667Milton P.L. iii. 337 Golden days, fruitful of golden deeds. 1674Wood Life (O.H.S.) II. 284 Martock in com. Somerset, ever fruitfull in good wits. 1774Armstrong Preserv. Health ii. 457 We curse not wine: The vile excess we blame; More fruitful than th' accumulated board Of pain and misery. 1826T. I. Wharton in Pa. Hist. Soc. Mem. I. 134 His travels are fruitful of information. 1843Prescott Mexico vi. i. (1864) 335 His fruitful genius suggested an expedient. 1844H. H. Wilson Brit. India II. 406 A fruitful subject of contention. 1876Trevelyan Macaulay I. v. 289 The main incidents of that Session, so fruitful in great measures. 1885Public Opinion 9 Jan. 37/2 Prince Albert Victor..has probably a long and fruitful career before him.
5. Productive of good results; beneficial, profitable, remunerative. Now only of actions, qualities, or the like; formerly also of concrete things.
c1386Chaucer Pars. T. ⁋36 And this is fruitful penance ayenst tho three thinges, in which we wrathen our Lord Jesu Christ. c1440Jacob's Well (E.E.T.S.) 228 Ydelnesse & ese wyth-oute fruytfull occupacyoun. 1504W. Atkynson tr. De Imitatione i. xxv. 178 Holye redynge of frutefull doctrine. 1616Surf. & Markh. Country Farme 316 The fruitfullest thing that can be kept about a Countrie-house is Bees. 1640Yorke Union Hon. 4 Robert with his followers obtained a fruitfull possession in those parts. 1712Addison Spect. No. 303 ⁋4 Instances of the same great and fruitful Invention. 1867A. Barry Sir C. Barry ix. 303 It had the opportunities of rapid and fruitful exercise.
β1475Bk. Noblesse 56 The noble and fructufulle examples of the noble cenatours. 1547–8Ordre of Communion 4 His mooste fruictfull and glorious Passion. 1552Lyndesay Monarche 4788 Lat thay yt fructfull fysche [i.e. the Kirk] eschaip thare handis. |