Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Sterile

Sterile , adjective

[French stérile, Latin sterilis, akin to Greek stereo`s stiff, solid, stei^ros barren, stei^ra a cow that has not calved, Gothic stairō, fem., barren. See Stare to gaze.]

1.
Producing little or no crop; barren; unfruitful; unproductive; not fertile; as, sterile land; a sterile desert; a sterile year.
2.
(a) (Biology) Incapable of reproduction; unfitted for reproduction of offspring; not able to germinate or bear fruit; unfruitful; as, a sterile flower, which bears only stamens.
(b)
(Biology) Free from reproductive spores or germs; as, a sterile fluid.
3.
Figuratively: Barren of ideas; destitute of sentiment; as, a sterile production or author.