fallow

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Jump to: navigation, search

Contents

[edit] English

[edit] Pronunciation

[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

Singular
fallow

Plural
countable and uncountable; plural fallows

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
[edit] Translations
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

[edit] Adjective

fallow

  1. (of agricultural land) Ploughed but left unseeded for more than one planting season.
  2. Inactive; undeveloped.
[edit] Derived terms
[edit] Translations

[edit] Verb

Infinitive
to fallow

Third person singular
fallows

Simple past
fallowed

Past participle
fallowed

Present participle
fallowing

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
[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)

Positive
fallow

Comparative
more fallow

Superlative
most fallow

  1. A pale red or yellow, light brown; dun.
[edit] Related terms
[edit] Translations

[edit] References

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