Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CUL'TI-VATE, v.t. [Fr. cultiver; Sp. and Port. cultivar; It. coltivare; from L. colo, cultus, to till, to dwell.]

1. To till; to prepare for crops; to manure, plow, dress, sow and reap; to labor or manage and improve in husbandry; as, to cultivate land; to cultivate a farm. – Sinclair.
2. To improve by labor or study; to advance the growth of; to refine and improve by correction of faults, and enlargement of powers or good qualities; as, to cultivate talents; to cultivate a taste for poetry.
3. To study; to labor to improve or advance; as, to cultivate philosophy; to cultivate the mind.
4. To cherish; to foster; to labor to promote and increase; as, to cultivate the love of excellence; to cultivate gracious affections.
5. To improve; to meliorate, or to labor to make better; to correct; to civilize; as, to cultivate the wild savage.
6. To raise or produce by tillage; as, to cultivate corn or grass. – Sinclair.