laetation

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   obsolete: manure or other material used to fertilize soil

   The seventeenth-century gardener recommended laetation for exhausted ground.

2. 2
   noun

   obsolete: the act of manuring or fertilizing land

   Repeated laetation enriched the beds before spring planting.

From Late Latin laetatus, the past participle of laetare, 'to fertilize or manure,' plus English -ion. Latin laetare also meant 'to make glad' and derives from laetus, whose senses included both 'glad' and 'fertile.' The agricultural English noun is obsolete and is attested from the seventeenth century.

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