Căp'ri-fi-cā'tion, n.

n. [Lat. caprificatio, from caprificare, to ripen figs by the stinging of the gall-insect, from caprificus, the wild fig, from caper, capra, goat, and ficus, fig.] A process of promoting the production, or accelerating the ripening, of fruit, practiced in the Levant, particularly with the fig. It consists in suspending on the cultivated fig, branches of the wild variety that bring with them a small insect, which penetrates the female flowers carrying the pollen of the male flower on its body; or punctures the fruit in order to lay its eggs, which hastens the ripening, and may be the only effect. The Egyptians pretend to obtain the same result by puncturing the eye of the fruit with a needle dipped in oil. Dana.