cultivationn.
/ˌkʌltᵻˈveɪʃn/, U.S. /ˌkəltəˈveɪʃ(ə)n/ I. Senses relating to growing crops or raising other living things.
1. † b. Improvement of the land without human intervention; increase of fertility. Obsolete. rare.
a. The action or an act of preparing and using the land for growing crops; tillage. Also: the state or condition of being cultivable or cultivated land.shifting, spade cultivation, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > [noun]
earth-tilthOE
earth-tillingOE
tilling?c1225
delving1377
laboura1393
land-tillingc1420
culturec1450
tilthing1495
labouring1523
manurea1547
manuring1550
digging1552
cultivation1553
tilth1565
manurance1572
agriculture1583
nithering1599
culturation1606
gainor1607
delvage1610
agricolation1623
gainage1625
cultivage1632
manurementa1639
groundwork1655
fieldwork1656
proscission1656
field labour1661
manuragea1670
subduing1776
management1799
subjugation1800
geopony1808
clodhopping1847
agriculturism1885
1553 J. Brende tr. Q. Curtius Rufus Hist. viii. f. 169v The ground also brought forthe corne without any cultiuation.
a1633 G. Herbert tr. L. Cornarus Treat. Temperance (1634) 40 The reducing of many rude and untoiled places..to cultivation.
1670 J. Evelyn in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 5 1063 When the wheels will not turn round because of the clay and over-much moisture, it is a signe, that 'tis not fit for cultivation.
1725 D. Defoe New Voy. round World ii. 110 Soil..capable of Cultivations and Improvements.
1746 J. Hervey Refl. Flower-garden 88 in Medit. among Tombs By Industry and Cultivation, this neat Spot is an Image of Eden.
1832 J. Bree St. Herbert's Isle 125 A portion of ground cleared of wood for residence or cultivation.
1868 C. W. Dilke Greater Brit. II. i. xii. 116 The amount of land under cultivation.
1921 Times 6 July 12/4 We have been obliged to rebuild our homes, to restore our fields to cultivation, to reconstruct our industries.
1931 A. D. Hall Soil (ed. 4) p. xi It is essential to consider soils which have not been disturbed by cultivation.
1990 R. Staines Market Gardening v. 54 Subsequent cultivations should be aimed at producing a deeply worked soil with no compaction.
2004 Wildlife News May 11/2 The blackthorn ‘brakes’ that spring up on woodland edges and in field corners when grazing or cultivation is relaxed.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > reclamation > [noun]
amendment1483
improvement1549
improvinga1563
recoverya1632
mendment1644
cultivation1791
reclaim1799
reclamation1810
intaking1812
redemption1812
clearing1821
reclaimment1852
land reclamation1881
breaking-in1891
greening1955
1791 J. Smeaton Narr. Edystone Lighthouse iii. iv. §190 The first shower of rain would turn it all to stone, without affording any sensible cultivation to the land.
2.
a. The action or an act of growing and improving a plant, esp. for commercial purposes. Also: the state or condition of being a plant which is cultivated.rice, tea cultivation, etc.: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > [noun]
governaila1400
husbanding?1440
nursing?1533
culture1580
cultivation1637
elevation1658
growth1663
rearing1693
growing1889
1637 R. Basset Curiosities 205 Withyes, Poplars, Apple-trees, Cherry-trees, and Plumme-trees by cultivation attaine soone their full growth.
1662 H. Stubbe Indian Nectar iii. 56 It is a Tree, that grows every where in the West Indies, without cultivation.
1719 D. Defoe Life Robinson Crusoe 115 I saw several Sugar Canes, but wild, and for want of Cultivation, imperfect.
1767 A. Young Farmer's Lett. 300 The cultivation of the new-discovered vegetables, and all the modes of raising the old ones.
1771 Crit. Rev. Feb. 111 A very valuable species of potatoe, lately brought into cultivation in England.
1813 H. Davy Elements Agric. Chem. v. 224 The seeds of plants exalted by cultivation always furnish large and improved varieties.
1871 R. W. Dale Ten Commandments ix. 231 You cannot change a rose into a pear tree by cultivation.
1900 H. L. Keeler Our Native Trees 494 Thirteen varieties of Juniperus communis are reported in the Check List of the Forest Trees of the United States and several foreign species are also in cultivation.
1946 A. Nelson Princ. Agric. Bot. v. 100 After the set has been planted the earlier cultivations usually practised on the crop are helpful in combating weeds.
1964 F. G. W. Jones & M. G. Jones Pests of Field Crops v. 93 The intensive cultivation of peas in certain areas of Britain.
2000 A. J. Whitten et al. Ecol. Sumatra (new ed.) xi. 363 The cultivation of cash rather than subsistence crops is the major use of cleared land.
b. The raising or improvement of animals, fish, etc., esp. for commercial purposes. Cf. culture n. 2b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > [noun]
rearinga1398
nourishing1615
conservation1646
zoosophy1662
culture1744
cultivation1791
zoogeny1826
zootechny1841
stock-keeping1844
ranching1851
conditioning1861
zootechnics1863
zooculture1873
zootrophy1877
animaliculture1879
mothering1922
stockmanship1959
1791 W. Taplin Gentleman's Stable Directory II. 18 The best bred blood stock, now in the highest and most incredible state of cultivation.
1824 Q. Jrnl. Sci. & Arts July 225 In Germany, it is well known that the cultivation of carp and other fresh-water fish is a regular object of attention.
1859 C. Mackay Life & Liberty in Amer. iii. 23 In City Island, the whole population, consisting of 400 persons, is employed in the cultivation of oysters.
1927 F. Balfour-Browne Insects v. 126 The cultivation of the silkworm, or ‘sericulture’, has been dealt with in a number of works.
1992 Visitors Guide (Prince Edward Island) 100 (advt.) Oyster and mussel cultivation exhibits demonstrate the collection of spat (larvae) and the subsequent cleaning, grading and shipping processes.
2004 F. Lawrence Not on Label vi. 184 The giant Thai chicken and fish-processing company CP..was developing land to clear for prawn cultivation.
c. Biology. The artificial propagation and growing of microorganisms, plant or animal cells or tissues, etc. (= culture n. 3a); (occasionally) an instance of this. Also: the product of such a process (= culture n. 3b). Cf. cultivate v. 2c.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > laboratory analysis > processes > [noun] > culturing
culture1880
cultivation1881
plate culture1885
plate cultivation1886
test-tube culture1886
plating1898
subculturing1899
test-tube cultivation1899
explantation1915
replica plating1952
the world > life > biology > laboratory analysis > material > [noun] > culture or medium
culture1880
blood culture1881
cultivation1881
culture medium1883
pure culture1883
agar1885
broth1885
subculture1885
tube-culture1886
bouillon1887
stab-culture1889
streak culture1892
blood agar1893
microculture1893
shake culture1894
streak plate1895
broth culture1897
slant1899
plating1900
stock culture1903
touch preparation1908
tissue culture1912
plaque1924
slope1925
agar-agar1929
isolate1931
MacConkey1938
auxanogram1949
lawn1951
monolayer1952
replica plate1952
1881 Pop. Sci. Monthly Dec. 251 The next important step in this investigation was the discovery of the modification in the potency of the poison, which can be produced by the ‘cultivation’ of this bacillus.
1885 G. S. Woodhead & A. W. Hare Pathol. Mycol. iv. 107 To carry on cultivations with the sterile broth thus prepared, it is convenient to have it divided into small quantities.
1886 E. M. Crookshank Introd. Pract. Bacteriol. 69 In a glass beaker..place the tube containing the cultivation.
1910 Jrnl. Amer. Med. Assoc. 15 Oct. 1379/2 (heading) Cultivation of adult tissues and organs outside of the body.
1959 Chambers's Encycl. XIII. 653/2 Under certain conditions of cultivation the normal organization of the explanted tissue can be preserved.
1965 P. R. White & A. R. Grove Proc. Internat. Conf. Plant Tissue Culture 20 The initial pH of the nutrient media is important for the cultivation of excised roots.
2006 L. Collier & J. Oxford Human Virol. (ed. 3) xxvi. 193 A major advance in rabies vaccines was cultivation of the virus in human diploid cells (HDC) such as WI-38.
3.
a. Cultivated land; an area of this.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > farm > farmland > land suitable for cultivation > [noun] > cultivated land
till-land1437
till-ridge1549
cultivation1757
wainage1810
khet1878
Dusun1914
1757 Compend. Most Approved Mod. Trav. II. 207 Bezay, though meanly built, has a fine effect upon the eye, presenting gardens and cultivations, in lieu of barren and deserted prospects.
1795 Analyt. Rev. Aug. 134 This view stretched..over the..expanse of Bassenthwayte water, as it lay extended along the base of Skiddaw,..with a long tract of cultivation along its banks.
1831 Anti-slavery Reporter 21 Mar. 200 We passed patches of cultivation near some of the old water courses, but they rather served to shew than to relieve the apparent desolation around us.
1860 T. Buddle Maori King Movement 21 [The Maori] desire [is] to have large tracts of land for pig and cattle runs, over which the herds may range without danger of trespass on the white man's cultivation.
1891 Times 9 Feb. 10/1 There is room for thousands of small cultivations along the Sabaki basin.
1969 E. Roux Grass 43 The sakabula will not breed except in long grass and does not flourish when open fields give place to cultivation, orchards and buildings.
1997 Scotland's Nat. Heritage Sept. 7/2 During the summer months the livestock..were removed from the cultivations to hill sheilings.
2007 Hindustan Times (Nexis) 31 Dec. Barejas are small cultivations measuring just about 3,000 to 7,000 sq feet.
b. Australian. = cultivation paddock n. at Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > farm > farmland > land raising crops > [noun]
seed landa1634
sweet-veld1785
cultivation paddock1837
cultivation1899
1899 A. H. Davis On our Selection xvi. 151 The kangaroo said: ‘Lay down, you useless hound!’ and started across the cultivation, heading for the grass-paddock.
1949 Coast to Coast 1948 113 Our mother would smarten herself up after dinner and take the afternoon smoke-oh over to the cultivation, and we would play among the cornstalks.
2011 Central Tel. (Queensland) (Nexis) 21 Jan. 5 The rain has gouged out still-running streams across the cultivation.
II. Figurative and extended uses.
4.
a. The action of refining or improving a person, the mind, faculties, etc., by education or training.In quot. 1622: the action or process of improving a bad or unsatisfactory state of affairs.See also self-cultivation n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > branch of knowledge > humanistic studies > [noun] > cultivation of the mind
tiltha1250
culture?1510
tillage1555
cultivation1622
culturalization1918
1622 E. Waterhouse Declar. State Colony Virginia 11 The Natiues are bad, whose barbarous Sauagenesse needs more cultiuation then the ground it selfe.
1653 E. Waterhouse Humble Apol. Learning 63 There is no Parent that in generation doth so much to the Childs felicity, as doth the Tutor in his cultivation and nurtriture.
a1716 R. South 12 Serm. (1717) VI. 442 Every Man has an innate Principle of Reason, but it is Use and Cultivation of Reason, that must enable it actually to do that, which Nature gives it only a remote Power of doing.
1790 J. Berington Hist. Reign Henry II ii. 237 His endowments from nature were great, and he had given to them such cultivation, as the state of the times permitted.
1826 B. Disraeli Vivian Grey I. ii. i. 73 An enthusiastic advocate for the cultivation of the mind, he was an equally ardent supporter of the cultivation of the body.
1860 J. A. Wilson Mem. George Wilson i. 28 No doubt their abilities were beyond those of most youths, but they owed the cultivation of them to their mother.
1917 Science 20 Apr. 389/2 Education in engineering should be primarily a systematic cultivation of the natural abilities of the individual student.
1961 World Affairs 124 115/1 Sound health, physical and mental, in the individual citizen can be a springboard for the cultivation of his talents.
2005 J. S. Hendrix Aesthetics & Philos. Spirit ii. 17 The cultivation of the mind has a moral and ethical imperative; a moral and ethical society is the result of the cultivation of the moral and ethical citizen.
b. The condition of being cultivated; culture, refinement.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > branch of knowledge > humanistic studies > [noun] > polite learning, culture
civility1557
furniture1560
politeness1627
ingenuitya1661
culturea1677
improvement1711
cultivation1797
sophistication1850
1662 T. Hackett Sermon 13 The Prophets Disciples had a particular cultivation into which fallow the seed of the Spirit did ordinarily inject it self; their breeding in Universities, Schools, was an ambush as it were, laid to catch this spiritual wind.
1797 Mrs. Carver Elizabeth II. xxiii. 148 A very superior understanding, rendered at once instructive and entertaining, by the highest cultivation and the most refined manners.
1840 Godey's Lady's Bk. Nov. 228/1 Edward was charmed with the intelligence and fine cultivation of Miss Vassal.
1869 W. E. H. Lecky Hist. European Morals I. i. 88 Increased cultivation almost always produces..fastidiousness.
1921 Engin. & Contracting 24 Aug. 181/2 The engineer must be made a man of cultivation as well as of technical excellence.
1974 R. A. Caro Power Broker i. iii. 54 Can it [sc. the state] endow the average individual with..intelligence, acuteness and cultivation?
2008 R. Hansen Exiles (2009) 177 The cultivation and refinement that Oxford sought to instill in its gentlemen.
5. The devotion of special attention or study to (the development of) an activity, branch of knowledge, etc. Also: an instance of this.
ΘΚΠ
society > education > learning > study > [noun]
studyinglOE
studyc1300
poring1340
study?1531
conning1553
revolving1555
peruse1578
cultivation1639
culture1687
industry1875
scholastic1895
studenting1922
the world > action or operation > manner of action > care, carefulness, or attention > [noun] > attention to or cultivation
cultivation1639
nurture1789
1639 F. B. tr. J. L. G. de Balzac Coll. Mod. Epist. IV. 135 He finds the businesse so farre advanced, that there will be no great difficultie to effect the rest, and that his Extraction is so happy, that a litle cultivation [Fr. vne mediocre culture] will produce rare & excellent fruits.
1697 J. Dryden Ded. Georgics in tr. Virgil Wks. sig. ¶3 A foundation of good Sense, and a cultivation of Learning, are requir'd to give a seasoning to Retirement.
1733 tr. B. Morando Rosalinda iv. 130 People of all Nations, who come hither..for the Cultivation of Commerce.
a1780 J. Harris Philol. Inq. (1781) iii. iii. 269 The cultivation of every liberal accomplishment.
1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 412 Minds..happily constituted for the cultivation of science purely experimental.
1930 Mod. Lang. Rev. 25 382 He lays heavy stress on the Elizabethans' cultivation of words for the fun of word-making.
1979 Gourmet Sept. 106/3 The cultivation of the culinary arts goes back centuries.
2008 T. Fleming Socialism ii. 31 The cultivation of arts and sciences was also a source of inequality.
6.
a. The action of developing, or trying to develop, a friendship or relationship.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > love > friendliness > [noun] > action of befriending
cultivation1737
befriending1962
1737 T. Bott Remarks Dr. Butler's Analogy Relig. 31 He sets aside so expressly the good of the world, arising from examples of gratitude, cultivation of friendship, [etc.].
1802 Monthly Visitor Feb. 139 The season of youth is peculiarly favourable for the cultivation of friendship.
1877 J. Tyndall in Daily News 2 Oct. 2/4 The cultivation of right relations with his fellow men.
1929 C. E. Merriam Chicago 275 The good fellow..whose chief reliance is the cultivation of the personal friendship of individuals.
1994 Austral. Jrnl. Chinese Affairs No. 32. 144 The resettlement project entailed the reforging of kinship and neighbourly relationships and the cultivation of communal bonds.
2004 Ambix 51 46 Becoeur saw such a post as a means of..freeing the individual from dependence on patronage, the assiduous cultivation of which had failed in Becoeur's case to bring its reward.
b. The action of paying special attention to a person in order to win friendship or favour, now esp. with implications of flattery.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > approval or sanction > commendation or praise > flattery or flattering > servile flattery or currying favour > [noun]
fawninga1350
adulationc1400
papelardya1425
papelardrya1500
captation1523
clawing1548
insinuation1553
curry-favour1581
man-pleasing1588
courting1607
men-pleasing1615
supparasitation1620
sycophantizing1640
assiduity1641
ingratiating1642
licking1648
man-pleasance1656
sycophancy1657
fawnery1661
sycophantrya1677
nutting1789
tuft-hunting1789
cultivation1793
huggery1804
ingratiation1815
sycophantism1821
lickspittling1839
toadyship1839
toadyism1840
bootlicking1849
toadying1863
arse-licking1912
lickspittle1914
apple-polishing1926
pot-licking1929
brown-nosing1934
ass-kissing1936
arse-kissing1937
ass-licking1946
sucking-up1946
bum-sucking1949
love bomb1975
love-bombing1976
1793 T. Taylor tr. Sallust On the Gods xiv. 70 [The gods] become angry with the guilty, but are rendered propitious by proper cultivation [Gk. ἴλεῳ].
1841 Universalist Union 26 June 508/2 The Queen and her affectionate daughter..introduced her to the Chevalier and his rejoicing family, as an acquaintance worthy their cultivation.
1893 All Year Round 8 July 25 Her eager cultivation of him..convinced him that with a little trouble she could be brought to forget the disadvantage of his comparative poverty.
1922 C. G. Bowers Party Battles of Jackson Period xv. 425 The Whigs had been assiduous in their cultivation of him.
1992 R. C. Newton ‘Nazi Menace’ in Argentina iii. 57 The diplomats would restrict themselves to distributing official announcements and to the cultivation of foreign journalists.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
a. In sense 1a, as cultivation field, cultivation system, etc.
ΚΠ
1869 A. R. Wallace Malay Archipel. II. Index 329/1 Dutch..; the cultivation system.
1872 Madras Monthly Jrnl. Med. Sci. Jan. 15 The ground on which they stood had been used for the purpose about thirty years; before that, it was a cultivation field.
1928 Planter & Sugar Manufacturer 7 Apr. 275/3 A steady improvement in cultivation technique [for sugar beet].
1996 R. Mabey Flora Britannica 49/2 One of the many colourful annuals to have been driven out of arable fields by herbicides and modern cultivation methods.
2003 J. Colding et al. in F. Berkes et al. Navigating Social-ecol. Syst. vii. 175 Many local communities adapt to and even depend on..flooding for the irrigation and fertilization of cultivation fields among the char-dwellers.
b. Biology. In sense 2c.
ΚΠ
1882 Pop. Sci. Monthly Sept. 712/1 ‘Cultivation’ experiments were introduced and conducted on a very exhaustive scale.
1884 E. Klein Micro-org. (1886) 26 Test-tubes which are to receive cultivation-fluids.
1907 R. D. Bailey Brewer's Analyst ix. 371 A stand which will hold several cultivation plates..may be here employed.
1961 Plant Physiol. 36 483/2 Rapid increase in rate of formation of cells in suspension was attributed to the serial cultivation procedure.
2004 Microbial Ecol. 48 272/1 A more recent study..used a novel, environmentally relevant cultivation technique.
C2.
cultivation-bank n. Archaeology (now rare) = cultivation terrace n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > landscape > high land > ledge or terrace > [noun]
shelvea1701
ledge1732
terrace1753
bench1791
lynchet1797
shelf1807
benching1809
offset1856
cultivation terrace1863
terracing1863
mantelshelf1897
cultivation-bank1913
mantelpiece1920
terracette1922
berm1931
the world > food and drink > farming > farm > farmland > land suitable for cultivation > [noun] > cultivated land > terrace
lynchet1796
cultivation terrace1863
cultivation-bank1913
strip-lynchet1929
1913 H. Sumner Anc. Earthworks Cranborne Chase 43 The British settlements, the cultivation banks, and the pastoral enclosures surely suggest long periods when the prehistoric inhabitants of these hill-tops looked forward to reaping where they had sown.
1923 Geogr. Jrnl. May 356 Hitherto I have used this word [sc. lynchet] to describe the cultivation-banks of the Celtic system.
1953 O. G. S. Crawford Archaeol. in Field xix. 198 It is a common misconception to regard medieval cultivation-banks, better known as strip-lynchets, as having been deliberately made.
cultivation mark n. Archaeology an indentation or mark on the soil caused by cultivation in an earlier period.
ΘΚΠ
the world > time > relative time > the past > history or knowledge about the past > [noun] > archaeology > soil mark indicating earlier cultivation, etc.
cultivation mark1885
crop-mark1935
crop-marking1937
soil mark1939
1885 Trans. Cumberland & Westmorland Antiquarian & Archæol. Soc. 8 46 The strongest proof of all that they represent vestiges of an old system of cultivation, is to be found in the remarkably close resemblance of these Rangbeck earthworks to what are called ‘reans’ in north-west Yorkshire, which are admitted on all hands to be nothing more than old cultivation marks.
1924 A. Mawer & F. M. Stenton Introd. Surv. Eng. Place-names viii. 156 Air photographs..reveal..trackways and cultivation-marks which would otherwise be overlooked.
2010 M. Carver Birth of Borough iii. 39/2 The few post-holes, the cultivation marks, the drains and the well strongly suggest a post-medieval garden.
cultivation paddock n. Australian a paddock (paddock n.2 1b) used for cultivating crops.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > farm > farmland > land raising crops > [noun]
seed landa1634
sweet-veld1785
cultivation paddock1837
cultivation1899
1837 Sydney Gaz. 11 May 2/6 Two men..who rented a cultivation paddock on my upper farm.
1853 C. St. Julian & E. K. Silvester Prod. New S. Wales iv. 170 Few stations of any magnitude are without their ‘cultivation paddocks’.
1902 Westm. Gaz. 13 Dec. 2/1 Posy..went over the fence into the cultivation paddock.
2001 W. T. Parsons & E. G. Cuthbertson Noxious Weeds Austral. (ed. 2) 180/1 As a weed, it occurs along roadsides, on wastelands, and in run-down pastures as well as old cultivation paddocks.
cultivation terrace n. Archaeology a level strip of land formed either naturally or artificially on a cultivated hillside; a lynchet; cf. terrace-cultivation n. at terrace n. Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > land > landscape > high land > ledge or terrace > [noun]
shelvea1701
ledge1732
terrace1753
bench1791
lynchet1797
shelf1807
benching1809
offset1856
cultivation terrace1863
terracing1863
mantelshelf1897
cultivation-bank1913
mantelpiece1920
terracette1922
berm1931
the world > food and drink > farming > farm > farmland > land suitable for cultivation > [noun] > cultivated land > terrace
lynchet1796
cultivation terrace1863
cultivation-bank1913
strip-lynchet1929
1863 S. St. John Life in Forests Far East (ed. 2) II. Index 411/1 Chinese, in Borneo..; traces of their former cultivation-terraces.
1951 Field Archæol. (Ordnance Survey) (ed. 3) 62 Each of these strips was separated from its neighbours by a ‘balk’ of untilled land, and if the common field so divided lay on the slope of a hill a cultivation terrace or ‘lynchet’ formed on the lower boundary of each in the course of time.
2001 Quicksilver Mag. Spring 30/2 Keep an eye open for examples of lynchets, Anglo Saxon/medieval cultivation terraces which appear as levelled strips of land, five or six ‘flights’ high.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2013; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1553