multiferous

From Latin multifer, from multus (“much, many”) + ferre (“to bear”).

• Rhymes: -ɪfəɹəs

multiferous (comparative more multiferous, superlative most multiferous)

1. Bearing or producing much or many; fruitful.
   • 1791, Ralph Griffiths, George Edward Griffiths, The Monthly Review, page 465:

     Thus, in the present digressive and droll performance, [for Peter is ever digressive as well as diverting,] every thing finds a place that seems, in random succession, to have occureed to the multiferous mind of the playful poet, when he sat down to write .

   • 1958, “The Editor's Guest Book”, in Harper's Bazaar, volume 92, page 67:

     Since Michael O'Donovan of Cork, Ireland took the pen name of Frank O'Connor in 1925, he has been a multiferous writer of short stories as well as of novels, poems, translations from the Irish, biographies, criticisms, travel books and plays.

   • 1977, Shyam Singh Shashi, The Shepherds of India, page 58:

     On the basis of our multiferous study of the Gaddi tribe, it is considered that the following suggestions for its uplift, welfare and progress may prove helpful.

2. Many and varied; multifarious.
   • 1888, José M. Aguirre, An Open Letter to James G. Blaine, page 27:

     There is, notwithstanding, a sort of Manicheism in genius, as there is the antinomy in science, as there are light and shade in art, as there are opposite and similarly appearing movements in life, as there are diverse and simultaneous springs in the human conscience, as there are attraction and repulsion in the sidereal worlds, as there are multiferous and heterogeneous forces that resolve themselves into astonishing antithetic duality .

   • 1999, O. P. Shukla, Omkaro, A. K. Kulshretha, Pesticides, Man and Biosphere, page 92:

     The growing of neem because of its multiferous uses and insecticidal value seems to be a profitable preposition, as production of azadirachtin alone can give remunerative dividend (Martin, 1993).

   • 2003, P.C. Trivedi, Advances in Microbiology, page 69:

     In recernt years, the significant of use of artifically produced inoculum of mycorrhizal fung has increased due to its multiferous role in plant growth and yield and resistance against climatic stresses and pests.