v.
- prepare and use (land) for crops or gardening.
▸grow (plants), especially on a large scale for commercial purposes.
- Biology grow or maintain (living cells or tissue) in culture.
- try to acquire or develop (a quality or skill).
▸try to win the friendship or favour of.
-
[as adj. cultivated]
refined and well educated.
Derivative
- cultivable adj.
- cultivatable adj.
- cultivator n.
Etymology
C17: from med. L. cultivat-, cultivare, from cultiva (terra) ‘arable (land)’, from colere ‘cultivate, inhabit’.