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fallow

 - 5 dictionary results

fal⋅low

1  [fal-oh]
Use fallow in a Sentence
–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

fal⋅low

2  [fal-oh]
–adjective
pale-yellow; light-brown; dun.
Origin:
bef. 1000; ME fal(o)we, OE fealu; c. G falb
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To fallow
fal·low   (fāl'ō)   
adj.  

  1. Plowed but left unseeded during a growing season: fallow farmland.

  2. Characterized by inactivity: a fallow gold market.

n.  

  1. Land left unseeded during a growing season.

  2. The act of plowing land and leaving it unseeded.

  3. The condition or period of being unseeded.

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

  1. To plow (land) without seeding it afterward.

  2. To plow and till (land), especially to eradicate or reduce weeds.


[Middle English falow, from Old English fealh, fallow land.]
fal'low·ness n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

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).

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).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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