Fallow - Definitions from Dictionary.com

11 results for: Fallow

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

fal·low1

Audio Help [fal-oh] Pronunciation Key

–adjective

1.	(of land) plowed and left unseeded for a season or more; uncultivated.

2.	not in use; inactive: My creative energies have lain fallow this year.

–noun

3.	land that has undergone plowing and harrowing and has been left unseeded for one or more growing seasons.

–verb (used with object)

4.	to make (land) fallow for agricultural purposes.

[Origin: 1275–1325; ME falwe; cf. OE fealga, pl. of *fealh, as gloss of ML occas harrows

]

—Related forms

fal·low·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

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Fallow

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

fal·low2

Audio Help [fal-oh] Pronunciation Key

–adjective

pale-yellow; light-brown; dun.

[Origin: bef. 1000; ME fal(o)we, OE fealu; c. G falb

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

fal·low Audio Help (fāl'ō) Pronunciation Key
adj.

Plowed but left unseeded during a growing season: fallow farmland.
Characterized by inactivity: a fallow gold market.

Land left unseeded during a growing season.
The act of plowing land and leaving it unseeded.
The condition or period of being unseeded.

tr.v. fal·lowed, fal·low·ing, fal·lows

To plow (land) without seeding it afterward.
To plow and till (land), especially to eradicate or reduce weeds.

[Middle English falow, from Old English fealh, fallow land.]

fal'low·ness n.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
fallow (n.)

O.E. fealh "fallow land," from P.Gmc. *falgo (cf. O.H.G. felga "harrow," E.Fris. falge "fallow," falgen "to break up ground"), perhaps from a derivation of PIE base *pel- "to turn," assimilated in Eng. to fallow (adj.) because of the color of plowed earth. Originally "plowed land," then "land plowed but not planted" (1523).

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
fallow (adj.)

O.E. fealu "pale, faded, dark, yellowish-brown," from P.Gmc. *falwaz (cf. O.N. fölr, M.Du. valu, Ger. falb), from PIE *polwos "dark-colored, gray" (cf. O.C.S. plavu, Lith. palvas "sallow," Gk. polios, Welsh llwyd "gray," L. pallere "to be pale"). It also forms the root of words for "pigeon" in Gk. (peleia), L. (palumbes), O.Prus. (poalis).

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

fallow
adjective
1.	left unplowed and unseeded during a growing season; "fallow farmland"
2.	undeveloped but potentially useful; "a fallow gold market"
noun
1.	cultivated land that is not seeded for one or more growing seasons

Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
fallow [ˈfӕləu] adjective

(of land) left to its own natural growth and not planted with seeds
Example: We will let this field lie fallow for a year; fallow fields

Arabic:	غَير مَزروعَه
Chinese (Simplified):	休耕的
Chinese (Traditional):	休耕的
Czech:	neobdělaný
Danish:	brak; uopdyrket
Dutch:	braak
Estonian:	kesas
Finnish:	kesantona oleva
French:	en friche
German:	brach (liegend)
Greek:	αγρανάπαυση
Hungarian:	parlagon hagyott
Icelandic:	hvíldar-, sem er ekki ræktaður
Indonesian:	terbengkalai
Italian:	incolto

Japanese:	休閑中の
Korean:	놀고 있는, 휴학중인, 묵히고 있는
Latvian:	atstāt papuvē
Lithuanian:	pūdymas
Norwegian:	brakk(-)
Polish:	leżący odłogiem
Portuguese (Brazil):	sem cultivo, alqueivado
Portuguese (Portugal):	em pousio, *de …? sem cultivo
Romanian:	necultivat
Russian:	необработанный
Slovak:	ležiaci ladom
Slovenian:	neobdelan
Spanish:	en barbecho
Swedish:	träda
Turkish:	nadas

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Fallow

Fal"low\, a. [AS. fealu, fealo, pale yellow or red; akin to D. vaal fallow, faded, OHG. falo, G. falb, fahl, Icel. f["o]lr, and prob. to Lith. palvas, OSlav. plav[u^] white, L. pallidus pale, pallere to be pale, Gr. polio`s gray, Skr. palita. Cf. Pale, Favel, a., Favor.]

1. Pale red or pale yellow; as, a fallow deer or greyhound. --Shak.

2. [Cf. Fallow, n.] Left untilled or unsowed after plowing; uncultivated; as, fallow ground.

Fallow chat, Fallow finch (Zo["o]l.), a small European bird, the wheatear (Saxicola [oe]nanthe). See Wheatear.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Fallow

1. Pale red or pale yellow; as, a fallow deer or greyhound. --Shak.

2. [Cf. Fallow, n.] Left untilled or unsowed after plowing; uncultivated; as, fallow ground.

Fallow chat, Fallow finch (Zo["o]l.), a small European bird, the wheatear (Saxicola [oe]nanthe). See Wheatear.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Fallow

Fal"low\, n. [So called from the fallow, or somewhat yellow, color of naked ground; or perh. akin to E. felly, n., cf. MHG. valgen to plow up, OHG. felga felly, harrow.]

1. Plowed land. [Obs.]

Who . . . pricketh his blind horse over the fallows. --Chaucer.

2. Land that has lain a year or more untilled or unseeded; land plowed without being sowed for the season.

The plowing of fallows is a benefit to land. --Mortimer.

3. The plowing or tilling of land, without sowing it for a season; as, summer fallow, properly conducted, has ever been found a sure method of destroying weeds.

Be a complete summer fallow, land is rendered tender and mellow. The fallow gives it a better tilth than can be given by a fallow crop. --Sinclair.

Fallow crop, the crop taken from a green fallow. [Eng.]

Green fallow, fallow whereby land is rendered mellow and clean from weeds, by cultivating some green crop, as turnips, potatoes, etc. [Eng.]

On-line Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

fallow

fallow: in CancerWEB's On-line Medical Dictionary

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