Definition of: culture

(kul′chər) noun
1. Cultivation of plants or animals, especially with a view to improvement.
2. The training, improvement, and refinement of mind, morals, or taste.
3. Tillage of the soil.
4. Bacteriol. a The development of micro-organisms, as in gelatin, beef tea, etc. b The organisms so developed.
5. Enlightenment or civilization: Greek culture.
6. Anthropol. The sum total of the attainments and activities of any specific period, race, or people, including their implements, handicrafts, agriculture, economics, music, art, religious beliefs, traditions, language, and story.
7. Those physical features of a terrain which are of human origin or construction, as roads, trails, canals, buildings, boundary lines; also, their symbolic representation on a map.
—v.t. ·tured, ·tur·ing
1. To cultivate (plants or animals).
2. Bacteriol. a To develop or grow (microorganisms) in a gelatin or other medium. b To inoculate with a prepared culture.
3. Obs. To educate or refine. [<F <L cultura <colere care for] cul'tur·ist noun