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fallow - 8 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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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.

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.]

Fallow

Fal"low\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Fallowed; p. pr. & vb. n. Fallowing.] [From Fallow, n.] To plow, harrow, and break up, as land, without seeding, for the purpose of destroying weeds and insects, and rendering it mellow; as, it is profitable to fallow cold, strong, clayey land.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : fallow
Spanish: en barbecho,
German: brach (liegend),
Japanese: 休閑中の
More Translations »

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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