Fĕr'tile, a.
(fĕr'til), a. [Lat. fertilis, from ferre, to bear, produce; Fr. fertile, Pr., Sp., & Pg. fertil, It. fertile.]
Sense 1. Producing fruit in abundance; fruitful; able to produce abundantly; prolific; productive; rich; inventive; produced in abundance; as, fertile land or fields; a fertile mind or imagination.
Shall tend thee, and the fertile burden ease Of thy full branches. Milton.
Sense 2. (Bot.) Capable of producing fruit; fruit-bearing; as, fertile flowers or anthers.
Synonyms—FERTILE, FRUITFUL. Fertile implies the inherent power of production; fruitful, the act. The prairies of the West are fertile by nature, and will soon be turned by cultivation into fruitful fields. The same distinction prevails when these words are used figuratively. A man of fertile genius has by nature great readiness of invention; one whose mind is fruitful has resources of thought and a readiness of application which enable him to think and act to effect.
Thy very weeds are beautiful, thy waste More rich than other climes’ fertility. Byron.
Adonis’s gardens.
That one day bloomed, and fruitful were the next. Shak.