fallow
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fallow¹
- /ˈfæləʊ/ UK
- /ˈfæloʊ/ US
Rhymes with -æləʊ
Where it comes from
[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)).
noun fallows
- 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.
fallow²
- /ˈfæləʊ/ UK
- /ˈfæloʊ/ US
Rhymes with -æləʊ
Where it comes from
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”).
verb fallows · fallowing · fallowed
- To make land fallow for agricultural purposes.
fallow³
- /ˈfæləʊ/ UK
- /ˈfæloʊ/ US
Rhymes with -æləʊ
Where it comes from
[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”).
adjective more fallow · most fallow
- Of a pale red or yellow, light brown; dun. a fallow deer or greyhound
