Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Caprification

Cap′ri·fi·ca′tion (kăp′rĭ·fĭ·kā′shŭn), n. [L. caprificatio, fr. caprificare to ripen figs by caprification, fr. caprificus the wild fig; caper goat + ficus fig.] The practice of hanging, upon the cultivated fig tree, branches of the wild fig infested with minute hymenopterous insects.

☞ It is supposed that the little insects insure fertilization by carrying the pollen from the male flowers near the opening of the fig down to the female flowers, and also accelerate ripening the fruit by puncturing it. The practice has existed since ancient times, but its benefit has been disputed.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.