impregnate

present singular third person impregnates · participle present impregnating · participle past impregnated · past impregnated

1. transitiveTo cause to become pregnant.

   A speech impregnated with references to the Constitution.

   2 more examples

   I was impregnated at a clinic but don't know who the sperm donor is.

   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 [1901], Maurice Maeterlinck, translated by Alfred Sutro, The Life of the Bee, New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company, page 264

   Synonyms: knock up, inseminate, cover

2. transitiveTo fertilize.
3. transitiveTo saturate, or infuse.

   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, →OCLC, page 498

   1 more example

   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. transitiveTo fill pores or spaces with a substance.

   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. datedintransitiveTo become pregnant.

   Were they, like Spanish Jennets, to impregnate by the Wind, they could not have thought on a more proper Invention.

   1711–1714, [Joseph Addison], The Spectator, number (please specify the issue number); republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume (please either specify the issue number or |volume=I to VI), New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC

comparative more impregnate · superlative most impregnate

1. obsoleterareImpregnated (all senses).
2. obsoleterarePregnant, with child.
3. figurativelyobsoleterareRendered fruitful, prolific.
4. obsoleterareImbued, saturated, permeated or filled with.

   There Juno stopped, and, her fair steeds unloosed, Of air condensed a vapour circumfused: For these, impregnate with celestial dew, On Simoïs' brink ambrosial herbage grew.

   1715-20, Alexander Pope, The Iliad of Homer, book V. v.968

5. obsoleteraremistakenlyImpregnable.