fallow

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Pronunciation 1.2 Etymology 1 1.2.1 Noun 1.2.1.1 Derived terms 1.2.1.2 Translations 1.2.2 Adjective 1.2.2.1 Derived terms 1.2.2.2 Translations 1.2.3 Verb 1.2.3.1 Derived terms 1.2.3.2 Translations 1.3 Etymology 2 1.3.1 Adjective 1.3.1.1 Related terms 1.3.1.2 Translations 1.4 References

[edit] English

[edit] Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈfæləʊ/, SAMPA: /"f{l@U/
• (US) enPR: fălʹō, IPA: /ˈfæloʊ/, SAMPA: /"f{loU/

  Rhymes: -æləʊ

[edit] Etymology 1

From Old English fealh (“‘fallow land’”), from the Proto-Germanic *falgo, perhaps a derivation of Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“‘to turn’”), assimilated in English to the adjective fallow because of the color of plowed earth. Originally "plowed land", then "land plowed but not planted"

[edit] Noun

fallow (countable and uncountable; plural fallows)

1. (agriculture, uncountable) Ground ploughed and harrowed but left unseeded for one year.
2. (agriculture, uncountable) Uncultivated land.
3. (agriculture, obsolete, countable) An area of fallow land.

[edit] Derived terms

bastard fallow cropped fallow dead-fallow ecofallow fallow-break fallow crop fallow-field fallow ground

fallowist fallow land green fallow pin-fallow rag-fallow summer fallow winter fallow

[edit] Translations

[edit] Adjective

fallow

1. (of agricultural land) Ploughed but left unseeded for more than one planting season.
2. Inactive; undeveloped.

[edit] Derived terms

• apple-fallow
• fallow chat
• fallow deer
• fallow finch
• fallowness
• lay fallow
• lie fallow

[edit] Translations

[edit] Verb

to fallow (third-person singular simple present fallows, present participle fallowing, simple past and past participle fallowed)

1. (transitive) To make land fallow for agricultural purposes.

[edit] Derived terms

• fallowed
• fallowing
• re-fallow
• thry-fallow
• trifallow
• twifallow, twyfallow

[edit] Translations

[edit] Etymology 2

From Middle English falow from Old English fealu; akin to Old High German falo (“‘pale, fallow’”), Latin palleo (“‘to be pale’”), Ancient Greek πολιός (polios), “‘gray’”), Armenian ալիք (alik'), “‘wave, gray hair’”) (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2006). Compare German falb.

[edit] Adjective

fallow (comparative more fallow, superlative most fallow)

1. A pale red or yellow, light brown; dun.

[edit] Related terms

• fallow deer

[edit] Translations

[edit] References

• “fallow” in the Online Etymology Dictionary, Douglas Harper, 2001