Emily Dickinson Lexicon

IN-OC-U-LA'TION, n. [L. inoculatio.]

1. The act or practice of inserting buds of one plant under the bark of another for propagation.
2. The act or practice of communicating a disease to a person in health, by inserting contagious matter in his skin or flesh. This practice is limited chiefly to the communication of the small-pox, and of the cow-pox, which is intended as a substitute for it. [See Vaccination.]