cultivate

verb

Etymology: From Medieval Latin cultivātus, perfect passive participle of cultivō (“till, cultivate”) (see -ate (verb-forming suffix) for more), from cultīvus (“tilled”), from Latin cultus, perfect passive participle of colō (“till, cultivate”), which comes from earlier *quelō, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- (“to move; to turn (around)”). Cognates include Ancient Greek πέλω (pélō) and Sanskrit चरति (cárati). The same Proto-Indo-European root also gave Latin in-quil-īnus (“inhabitant”) and anculus (“servant”).

1. To grow plants, notably crops.

   “Most farmers in this region cultivate maize.”

   “So unhealthy is this valley, which is the home of large game, that whole kraals full of people who have tried to cultivate the rich land, have died in it of fever, or fled away leaving their crops unreaped.”

2. To nurture; to foster; to tend.

   “They tried to cultivate an interest in learning among their students.”

   “Left also to himself by guardians[…] he cultivated more his imagination than his judgment”

3. To turn or stir soil in preparation for planting or as a method of weed control between growing crop plants.