Fertilization \Fer`ti*li*za"tion\, n.

1. The act or process of rendering fertile.

2. (Biol.) The act of fecundating or impregnating animal or vegetable germs; esp., the process by which in flowers the pollen renders the ovule fertile, or an analogous process in flowerless plants; fecundation; impregnation.

Close fertilization (Bot.), the fertilization of pistils by pollen derived from the stamens of the same blossom.

Cross fertilization, fertilization by pollen from some other blossom. See under Cross, a.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)