Fruit-fly (Drosophila atnfelefhila), 
(Cross shows natural size.) 
fruit-fly 
fruit-fly (frot'fli), n. A dipterous insect of the 
family A/MA'crf<e and genus .Droso^/w/a, the lurvn> 
of which are 
found in de- 
caying fruit, 
preserves, etc. 
The adult flies 
are small yel- 
lowish species 
with transpa- 
rent wings. 
fruitful (frof- 
ful), a. [< ME. 
fruitefull; < 
fruit + -fid.] 
1. Productive 
of, abounding 
in, or favorable 
to the growth 
of fruit, or use- 
ful vegetation 
in general : as, a fruitful country or soil ; a 
fruitful season; fruitful showers. 
Hilles, knolles, . . . tries [trees] fruitefull, and cedres 
alle. Ps. cxlviii. 9 (ME. version). 
This countrey beinge fruitefull and aboundante of all 
thinges was taken by the Scithians. 
J. Brende, tr. of Quintus Curtius, fol. 140. 
Thy promises are like Adonis' gardens 
That one day bloom'd, and fruitful were the next. 
Shale., 1 Hen. VI., i. 6. 
2. Bearing offspring; prolific; not barren. 
God said unto them [Adam and Eve], Be fruitful, and 
multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it. 
Gen. i. 28. 
Hear, nature, hear ; . . . 
Suspend thy purpose, if thou didst intend 
To make this creature fruitful ! Shak., Lear, i. 4. 
Hail, mother of mankind, whose fruitful womb 
Shall fill the world. Milton, P. L., v. 388. 
3. Productive of results; yielding, bringing, 
or favoring production or acquisition in any 
respect : as, a fruitful enterprise or journey ; 
fruitful investigations or thoughts; fruitful in 
expedients or in crimes. 
Add not more misery 
To a man that's fruitful in afflictions. 
Fletcher (and another), Sea Voyage, iv. 2. 
Melancholy is far more fruitful of Thoughts than any 
other Humour. Howell, Letters, ii. 30. 
The closest and most fruitful attention therefore im- 
plies the maximum of concentration. 
J. Sully, Outlines of Psychol., p. 79. 
4f. Plenteous; copious; bountiful. 
One fruitful meal would set me to 't. 
Shak., M. for M., iv. 3. 
'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother, . . . 
No, nor the fruitful river in the eye, . . . 
That can denote me truly. Shak., Hamlet, i. 2. 
Fruitful mark or principle, in logic, a mark or prin- 
ciple from which many consequences can be deduced. 
Fruitful Signs, in astral., Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces : 
so called because supposed to be favorable to marriage. 
=Syn. Rich, Fertile, Fruitful, Prolific, Productive. That 
which is rich or fertile is capable of producing abundantly 
by proper husbandry ; that which is fruitful, prolific, or 
productive does produce abundantly. Rich and fertile 
seem to have a primary reference to soil ; fruitful to trees 
and plants ; prolific to animals, including man ; produc- 
tive has a general application to whatever may be said to 
produce: but all have widely extended figurative uses: as, 
a rich field of investigation ; a fertile brain ; a fruitful 
idea ; a prolific source of mischief. 
I have had a large, a fair, and a pleasant field, so fertile 
that without my cultivating it has given me two harvests 
in a summer, and in both oppressed the reaper. 
Dryden, Account of Annus Mirabilis. 
A large and fruitful mind should not so much labour 
what to speak as to find what to leave unspoken. Rich 
soils are often to be weeded. Bacon, To Coke. 
It [Ireland] has been prolific in statesmen, warriors, and 
poets. S. S. Prentiss, Speech on Sending Belief to Ireland. 
Productive as the sun. Pope, Chorus in Brutus, 1. 24. 
fruitfully (frot'ful-i), adv. In a fruitful man- 
ner; plenteously; abundantly. 
You have many opportunities to cut him off ; if your will 
want not, time and place will be fruitfully offered. 
Shak., Lear, iv. 6. 
fruitfulness (frot'ful-nes), n. The state or 
quality of being fruitful ; productiveness ; fer- 
tility; fecundity; exuberant abundance. 
The remedy of fruitfulness is easy, but no labour will 
help the contrary. B. Jomon, Discoveries. 
The water is more productive than the earth. Nay, the 
earth hath oofiuttfvlneu without showers or dews; for 
all the herbs, and flowers, and fruit are produced and 
thrive by the water. /. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 32. 
fruit-gatherer (frofgaTH^er-er), n. One who 
or that which gathers fruit; specifically, a de- 
vice for gathering fruit from trees, as a pair of 
shears attached to the end of a pole, and oper- 
ated by means of a cord. In this device a bag or 
basket is commonly fastened tn the pole below the shears, 
to catch the fruit as it fulls. Also called fruit-picker. 
2395 
fruit-house (frot'hous), n. A house specially 
devised for storing fruit. 
fruitiness (fro'ti-nes), n. The essential or char- 
acteristic quality of fruit ; in the case of wine, 
the quality of retaining a marked taste of the 
grape. 
fruiting (fro'ting), . [Verbal n. of fruit, v.] 
The production of fruit. 
The year 18GS was highly favourable for the fruiting of 
all the bushes. 
Darwin, Different Forms of Flowers, p. 290. 
fruition (fro-ish'on), n. [< OF. fruition = Pr. 
fruicio = Sp. fruition Pg. fruicSo = It. frui- 
zionc, < L. as if *fruitio(n-), < frui, pp. fruitux, 
commonly fructus, enjoy: see fruit."] A com- 
ing into fruit or fulfilment ; attainment of any- 
thing desired; realization of results: as, the 
fruition of one's labors or hopes. 
The dainties here 
Are least what they appear ; 
Though sweet in hopes, yet in fruition sour. 
Quarles, Emblems, i. 3. 
The fruition of Liberty is not so pleasing as a conceit 
of the want of it is irksome. Howell, Letters, I. vi. 48. 
Let the fruition of things bless the possession of them, 
and think it more satisfaction to live richly than die rich. 
Sir T. Browne, Christ. Mor., i. 7. 
fruitive (fro'i-tiv), a. [< OF. fruitif= Sp. Pg. 
It. fruitivo, < L. frui, pp. fruitux, commonly 
fructus, enjoy: see fruit.'] Pertaining to or 
arising from fruition. [Rare.] 
To whet our longings for fruitive or experimental know- 
ledge, it is reserved among the prerogatives of being in 
heaven to know how happy we shall be when there. 
Boyle. 
Contemplation is & fruitive possession of verities, which 
flowers the minde doth no longer gather or collect but 
rather hold in her hand ready made up in nosegays that 
she is smelling to. 
W. Montague, Devoute Essays, I. xxi. 4. 
fruit-jar (frot'jar), n. A large-mouthed bottle 
or jar, usually fitted with a glass or metal cap 
for excluding air, used for preserving fruit ; a 
preserve-jar. 
fruit-knife (frot'nlf ), n. A knife having a blade 
of some material not affected by the acid juice 
of fruit, generally silver, used for paring and 
cutting fruit. 
fruitless (frot'les), a. [ME. fruytles; < fruit 
+ -less."] 1. Not bearing fruit; destitute of 
fruit or offspring: as, a fruitless plant ; a fruit- 
less marriage. 
Upon my head they plac'd & fruitless crown, 
And put a barren sceptre in my gripe, . . . 
No son of mine succeeding. Shak., Macbeth, iii. 1. 
Therefore, despite of fruitless chastity, . . . 
That on the earth would breed a scarcity 
And barren dearth of daughters and of sons, 
Be prodigal. Shak., Venus and Adonis, 1. 761. 
Revolving seasons, fruitless as they pass, 
See it [Etna] an uuinform'd and idle mass. 
Cowper, Heroism, 1. 25. 
2. Productive of or attended by no advantage 
or good result ; ineffective ; useless ; idle : as, a 
fruitless attempt ; a fruitless controversy. 
Of ilk idel word, spoken in vayne : that es to say, that war 
fruytles. Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 1. 5665. 
They in mutual accusation spent 
The fruitless hours. Milton, P. L., ix. 1188. 
There is never a Town that lieth open to the Sea but 
Acapulco ; and therefore our search was commonly fruit- 
lees, as now. Dampier, Voyages, I. 251. 
It would be fruitless to deny my exultation when I saw 
my little ones about me. Goldsmith, Vicar, i. 
= Syn. 1. Barren, unprofitable, profitless. 2. Ineffectual, 
Unavailing, etc. (see useless) ; vain, idle, abortive, boot- 
less, futile. 
fruitlessly (frot'les-li), adv. In a fruitless man- 
ner; without any valuable effect ; idly; vainly; 
unprofitably. 
Since therefore after this fruit curiosity fruitlessly en- 
quireth, and confidence blindly determiueth, we shall sur- 
cease our inquisition. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., vii. 1. 
Walking they talk'd, anil fruitlessly divin'd 
What friend the Priestess, by those words, design'd. 
Dryden, J'.m'iil. vi. 
fruitlessness (fr8t'les-nes), n. The state or 
quality of being fruitless or unprofitable. 
It is no marvill if those that mocke at goodnesse be 
plagued with contmu&ttfruitlesiinesse. 
Bp. Hall, Mephibosheth and Ziba. 
fruitlet (frot'let), n. [< fruit + -let."] A small 
fruit. 
The pappus, or ring of down, though it still exists as a 
sort of dying rudiment on each/n<t'< of the burrs, is re- 
duced greatly in size. Pop. Set. Mo., XXX. 107. 
fruit-loft (frot'loft), n. An upper floor used 
for the preservation or storage of fruit. 
fruit-picker (frot'pik"er), n. Same as fruit- 
gatherer. 
Bronze Fruit-pigeon (Cafpophagn trnea). 
frumenty 
fruit-piece (friit'pes), n. A pictured or sculp- 
tured representation of fruit. 
fruit-pigeon (frdt'pij"on), n. A general name 
of the very numerous old-world pigeons of the 
genera Cur}M>- 
phaga and Tre- 
ron. Green is 
the prevailing 
color of these 
birds, and fruit 
their principal 
food, whence 
the name. 
fruit-press 
(frot'pres), . 
A domestic ap- 
paratus for ex- 
tracting juices 
from fruit. 
fruit-sugar 
(fr6t'shug"ar), 
n. Same " as 
levulose. 
fruit-tree (frot'tre), n. A tree cultivated for its 
fruit, or a tree whose principal value consists in 
the fruit it produces, as the cherry-tree, apple- 
tree, or pear-tree. 
And they took strong cities, and a fat land, and pos- 
sessed . . . vineyards and oliveyards, and fruit trees in 
abundance. Neh. ix. 25. 
By yonder blessed moon I swear, 
That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops. 
Shak.,R. and J.,ii. 2. 
fruit-trencher 1 (frot'tren^cher), n. A small 
wooden tray, answering the purpose of a des- 
sert-plate, formerly used for fruit and the like. 
It was often richly painted with ornamental de- 
sig_ns and inscriptions, mottoes, etc. 
fruitr-trencher 2 t, n. One who makes trenches 
or digs in an orchard. 
This is a piece of sapience not worth the brain of a 
fruit-trencher. Milton, Apology for Smectymnuus. 
fruit-worm (frot'werm), n. The larva or grub 
of some insect that injures fruit. Gooseberry 
fruit-worm, the larva of Dakruma convolutella, a small 
phycid moth which lays its eggs on young gooseberry- 
bushes. The pale-green and very active larva feeds upon 
the fruit, often fastening several beiries together; it 
transforms to a pupa within a silken cocoon on the ground, 
and hibernates in this condition. There being but one 
annual generation, the best remedies are hand-picking, 
and burning the leaves and rubbish under the bushes in 
winter. See cutander Dakruma. Orange fruit-worm, 
Trypeta ludeiis, the grub of a dipterous fly of Mexico, or 
Ceratitis citriperda, another insect of the same family, 
which attacks oranges in Madeira. 
fruity (fro'ti), a. [< fruit + -yi.] 1. Resem- 
bling fruit; having the taste or flavor of fruit: 
as,/n/%port. 2. Fruitful. [Rare.] 
Frullani's formula. See formula. 
frumentt, n. [= Pg. It. frmnento, < L. f rumen- 
turn, grain, corn (cf. LL. f rumen, a gruel or por- 
ridge made of corn), allied to frux (frtig-) and 
fructus, fruit, < frui, enjoy: see fruit.] 1. 
Grain ; corn ; wheat. 
In Fraunce and Spaine bruers steep their wheat or fru- 
ment in water, and mash it for their drinke of divers sorts. 
Holland, tr. of Pliny, xviii. 7. 
2. Same as frumenty. 
An honourable feest in the great halle of Westmynster 
was kepte, where the kynge, syttynge in his astate, was 
seruyd with iii. coursys, as herevnder ensuyth, f'rument 
with venyson, etc. Fabyan, Chron., II., an. 1530. 
frumentaceous (fro-men-ta'shius), a. [= Sp. 
frumentdceo,frumenticio = Pg. frumentaceo (cf. 
F. frumentace), < LL. frumentaceus, of grain, < 
frumentum, grain, corn: see frument.] Having 
the character of or resembling wheat or other 
cereal. 
Wheat, barley, rye, millet, &., are frumentaceous flunta. 
Jlees's Cyc. 
frumentarious (fro-men-ta'ri-us), a. [= F. 
frumentaire = It. frumentario, < L. frumenta- 
rius, of or belonging to grain or corn, < frumen- 
tum, grain, corn : see frument."] Pertaining to 
wheat or other grain ; frumentaceous. 
frumentation (fro-men-ta'shon), . [= It.fru- 
mentazione, < L. frumentatio(n-), a providing or 
distributing of grain, ( frumentari, fetch or pro- 
vide grain, forage, < frumentum, grain : see fru- 
mentT] Among the ancient Romans, a public 
distribution of corn to the needy or discontent- 
ed populace. 
frumentum (frQ-meu'tum), . [L. : Bee fru- 
ment, frumenty.] Wheat or other grain Spi- 
ritus frumenti, in phar., whisky. 
frumenty (fro'men-ti), n. [Also written frti- 
mety, and, more commonly, furmetity, furmety; 
early mod. E. furmentie, firmcntie, etc. (see/r- 
menty); < ME. frumenty, frumcntee, furmcntt; 
< OF. frumentee, late froumentee (in form repr. 
