INOC'ULATE, v.t. [L. inoculo; in and occulus, the eye.] 1. To bud; to insert the bud of a tree or plant in another tree or plant, for the purpose of growth on the new stock. All sorts of stone fruit, apples,pears, &c. may be inoculated. We inoculate the stock with a foreign bud.2. To communicate a disease to a person by inserting infectious matter in his skin or flesh; as, to inoculate a person with the matter of small pox or cow pox. When the latter disease is communicated, it is called vaccination.INOC'ULATE, v.i. To propagate by budding; to practice inoculation. The time to inoculate is when the buds are formed at the extremities of the same year's shoot, indicating that the spring growth for that season is complete.
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