populate Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb inhabit or live in; be an inhabitant of
    dwell; live; inhabit.
    • People lived in Africa millions of years ago
    • The people inhabited the islands that are now deserted
    • this kind of fish dwells near the bottom of the ocean
    • deer are populating the woods
  2. verb fill with inhabitants
    • populate the forest with deer and wild boar for hunting

WordNet

Pop"u*late adjective
Etymology
L. populus people. See People.
Definitions
  1. Populous. Obs. Bacon.
Pop"u*late transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Populated ; present participle & verbal noun Populating
Definitions
  1. To furnish with inhabitants, either by natural increase or by immigration or colonization; to cause to be inhabited; to people.
Pop"u*late intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To propagate. Obs.
    Great shoals of people which go on to populate. Bacon.

Webster 1913