impregnate
English
Etymology
Earlier impregn, from Middle French imprégner, from Old French enpreignier.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɪmˈpɹɛɡneɪt/
Audio (RP) (file)
Verb
impregnate (third-person singular simple present impregnates, present participle impregnating, simple past and past participle impregnated)
- (transitive) To cause to become pregnant.
- Synonyms: knock up, inseminate, (of animals) cover
- I was impregnated at a clinic but don't know who the sperm donor is.
- 1903 [1901], Maurice Maeterlinck, Alfred Sutro, transl., The Life of the Bee, New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company, page 264:
- The queen at their head, the representative of the future, has not yet been impregnated. Their entire destiny depends on the ensuing nuptial flight.
- (transitive) To fertilize.
- (transitive) To saturate, or infuse.
- 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 37805775, page 498:
- To Tartarize, ta²r'ta⁴r-i¹ze, v. a.
To impregnate with tartar.
- 1835, Charles Lyell, Principles of Geology […] , volume III, 4th edition, London: John Murray, Book IV, page 322:
- We find those charæ which secrete the largest quantity of calcareous matter in their stems to abound near springs impregnated with carbonate of lime.
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- (transitive) To fill pores or spaces with a substance.
- 1937, Hugh Bertie Campbell Pollard, The mystery of scent (page 121)
- 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)
- (intransitive, dated) To become pregnant.
- 2023 March 2 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison, “THURSDAY, February 19, 2022–2023”, in 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 191120697:
- Were they, like Spanish Jennets, to impregnate by the Wind, they could not have thought on a more proper Invention.
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Translations
to cause to become pregnant
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to add nutrients — see fertilize
to saturate, to infuse
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to fill pores or spaces with a substance
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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See also
- conceive
- sire
- father
Anagrams
- permeating, rimegepant
Italian
Verb
impregnate
- inflection of impregnare:
- second-person plural present indicative
- second-person plural imperative
Participle
impregnate f pl
- feminine plural of impregnato
Anagrams
- pigmentare, pigmenterà, pigramente