fallow
adjective
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L310826 on Wikidata ↗noun
- the agricultural practice of leaving ploughed and harrowed land unsown for one or more growing seasons.
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈfæləʊ/ / /ˈfæloʊ/
adj
Etymology: [Alt: A photograph of a light brown deer.] From Middle English falwe, from Old English fealu, from Proto-West Germanic *falu, from Proto-Germanic *falwaz (compare West Frisian feal, Dutch vaal, German falb, fahl, French fauve), from Proto-Indo-European *polwos (compare Lithuanian pal̃vas (“sallow, wan”), Russian поло́вый (polóvyj, “wan, light yellow”), Serbo-Croatian plâv (“blond, blue”), Ancient Greek πολιός (poliós, “grey”)), from Proto-Indo-European *pelH- (“pale, gray”).
- Of a pale red or yellow, light brown; dun.
“a fallow deer or greyhound”
“How does your fallow greyhound, sir?”
noun
Etymology: [Alt: A photograph of a ploughed field.] From Middle English falwe, from Old English fealh, fealg (“fallow land”), from Proto-West Germanic *falgu (compare Saterland Frisian Falge, West Frisian falig, felling, Dutch valg, German Felge), from Proto-Indo-European *polḱéh₂ (“arable land”) (compare Gaulish olca, Russian полоса́ (polosá)).
- Ground ploughed and harrowed but left unseeded for one year.
“Straight mine eye hath caught new pleasures Whilst the landskip round it measures, Russet lawns, and fallows gray, Where the nibbling flocks do stray; Mountains on whose barren breast The labouring clouds do often rest; Meadows trim with daisies pied, Shallow brooks, and rivers wide.”
- Uncultivated land.
- The ploughing or tilling of land, without sowing it for a season.
“By 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.”
verb
Etymology: From Middle English falowen, falwen, from Old English fealgian (“to fallow; break up land”), from Proto-West Germanic *falgōn (“to fallow”). Cognate with Dutch valgen (“to plow lightly; fallow”), German Low German falgen (“to till; dig a hole”).
- To make land fallow for agricultural purposes.