fructify

Borrowed into Middle English from Old French fructefier.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɹʌktɪfaɪ/

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fructify (third-person singular simple present fructifies, present participle fructifying, simple past and past participle fructified)

1. (intransitive) To bear fruit; to generate useful products or ideas.
   • 1959 August, “Talking of Trains: Reappraisal is completed”, in Trains Illustrated, page 345:

     It is good to detect hints of a more aggressive attitude from the B.T.C. in face of constant reminders of accumulated deficits and niggling for economies before modernisation schemes have had a chance fully to fructify [...].

2. (transitive) To make productive or fruitful.
   • 1901 May 10, “Gleanings”, in The Agricultural Journal and Mining Record‎, volume 4, number 5, page 136:

     When fruit trees are to be planted it is good practice to plant alternate rows of different varieties of the same fruit, because the pollen of one variety is often wanted to fructify or fertilise the flowers of another.

• “fructify”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.