Definition of "impregnate"

impregnate

/ɪmˈpɹɛɡneɪt/

verb
third-person singular simple present impregnates, present participle impregnating, simple past and past participle impregnated
1. (transitive) To cause to become pregnant.
  Quotations
  The queen at their head, the representative of the future, has not yet been impregnated. Their entire destiny depends on the ensuing nuptial flight.
  1903 , Maurice Maeterlinck, translated by Alfred Sutro, The Life of the Bee, New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company, page 264
2. (transitive) To fertilize.
3. (transitive) To saturate, or infuse.
  Quotations
  To Tartarize, ta²r'ta⁴r-i¹ze, v. a. To impregnate with tartar.
  1791, John Walker, A Critical Pronouncing Dictionary […] ‎, London: Sold by G. G. J. and J. Robinſon, Paternoſter Row; and T. Cadell, in the Strand, page 498
  We find those charæ which secrete the largest quantity of calcareous matter in their stems to abound near springs impregnated with carbonate of lime.
  1835, Charles Lyell, Principles of Geology […] , 4th edition, volume III, London: John Murray, Book IV, page 322
4. (transitive) To fill pores or spaces with a substance.
  Quotations
  It takes a little time for the personal fatty acids to impregnate new shoes or boots, but from the scent point of view leather is a sponge, and the personal scent is left.
  1937, Hugh Bertie Campbell Pollard, The mystery of scent, page 121
5. (intransitive, dated) To become pregnant.
  Quotations
  Were they, like Spanish Jennets, to impregnate by the Wind, they could not have thought on a more proper Invention.
  2023 December 24 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “SUNDAY, December 13, 2023”, in The Spectator, number (please specify the issue number); republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volumes (please either specify the issue number or |volume=I to VI), New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853

Definition of "impregnate"

impregnate

verb

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations

Quotations