im·preg·nate ( m-pr g n t)tr.v. im·preg·nat·ed, im·preg·nat·ing, im·preg·nates 1. To make pregnant; inseminate. 2. To fertilize (an ovum, for example). 3. To fill throughout; saturate: a cotton wad that was impregnated with ether. 4. To permeate or imbue: impregnate a speech with optimism. See Synonyms at charge. adj. also (-nt) Saturated or filled.
[Probably from Late Latin impraegntus, pregnant : Latin in-, in; see in-2 + Latin praegntus, variant of praegns, pregnant; see pregnant1.]
im preg·nation n. im·pregnator n. |
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| And thou, much plumper dame, whom no airy forms nor phantoms of imagination cloathe; whom the well-seasoned beef, and pudding richly stained with plums, delight: thee I call: of whom in a treckschuyte, in some Dutch canal, the fat ufrow gelt, impregnated by a jolly merchant of Amsterdam, was delivered: in Grub-street school didst thou suck in the elements of thy erudition. Towards midnight the sea suddenly resumed its usual colour; but behind us, even to the limits of the horizon, the sky reflected the whitened waves, and for a long time seemed impregnated with the vague glimmerings of an aurora borealis. Sometimes, in the first stages of the manufacture, the substance is impregnated with a vegetable juice, which gives it a permanent colour. |