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Word Study
fallow
CIDE DICTIONARY
fallow, a. [AS. fealu, fealo, pale yellow or red; akin to D. vaal fallow, faded, OHG. falo, G. falb, fahl, Icel. fölr, and prob. to Lith. palvas, OSlav. plav white, L. pallidus pale, pallere to be pale, Gr. polio`s gray, Skr. palita. Cf. Pale, Favel, a. , Favor.].
- Pale red or pale yellow; as, a fallow deer or greyhound. Shak. [1913 Webster]
- Left untilled or unsowed after plowing; uncultivated; as, fallow ground. [1913 Webster]
fallow, 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.].
- Plowed land. [1913 Webster]"Who . . . pricketh his blind horse over the fallows." [1913 Webster]
- Land that has lain a year or more untilled or unseeded; land plowed without being sowed for the season. [1913 Webster]"The plowing of fallows is a benefit to land." [1913 Webster]
- 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. [1913 Webster]"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." [1913 Webster]
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. [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
fallow, adj., n., & v.
--adj.
1 a (of land) ploughed and harrowed but left unsown for a year. b uncultivated.
2 (of an idea etc.) potentially useful but not yet in use.
3 inactive.
4 (of a sow) not pregnant.
--n. fallow or uncultivated land.
--v.tr. break up (land) for sowing or to destroy weeds.
--adj.
1 a (of land) ploughed and harrowed but left unsown for a year. b uncultivated.
2 (of an idea etc.) potentially useful but not yet in use.
3 inactive.
4 (of a sow) not pregnant.
--n. fallow or uncultivated land.
--v.tr. break up (land) for sowing or to destroy weeds.
Derivative
fallowness n.
fallow, adj. of a pale brownish or reddish yellow.
Idiom
fallow deer any small deer of the genus Dama, having a white-spotted reddish-brown coat in the summer.
Etymology
OE falu, fealu f. Gmc
THESAURUS
fallow
acarpous, achromatic, achromic, anemic, arable land, arid, ashen, ashy, at leisure, at liberty, at loose ends, aureate, auric, available, backset, barnyard, barren, barton, beige, bled white, bloodless, buff, buff-yellow, cadaverous, canary, canary-yellow, cattle ranch, celibate, chicken farm, childless, chloranemic, citron, citron-yellow, collective farm, colorless, cotton plantation, cream, creamy, croft, cultivate, culture, cut, dairy farm, dead, deadly pale, deathly pale, delve, demesne, demesne farm, desert, desolate, dig, dim, dimmed, dingy, discolored, disengaged, drained, dress, dried-up, dry, dry farm, dude ranch, dull, ecru, etiolated, exhausted, exsanguinated, exsanguine, exsanguineous, factory farm, faded, faint, farm, farmery, farmhold, farmland, farmplace, farmstead, farmyard, fertilize, flat, flaxen, force, free, fruit farm, fruitless, fur farm, gaunt, gelded, ghastly, gilded, gilt, gold, gold-colored, golden, grain farm, grange, grassland, gray, hacienda, haggard, harrow, hoe, homecroft, homefarm, homestead, hueless, hypochromic, idle, impotent, ineffectual, infecund, infertile, issueless, jejune, jobless, kibbutz, kolkhoz, lackluster, leached, leaden, leisure, leisured, lemon, lemon-yellow, list, livid, location, lumpen, lurid, lusterless, luteolous, lutescent, mains, manor farm, mat, mealy, menopausal, muddy, mulch, neutral, nonfertile, nonproducing, nonproductive, nonprolific, ocherish, ocherous, ochery, ochreous, ochroid, ochrous, ochry, off, off duty, off work, or, orchard, otiose, out of employ, out of harness, out of work, pale, pale as death, pale-faced, pallid, pasture, pasty, pen, plantation, plow, poultry farm, primrose, primrose-colored, primrose-yellow, prune, rake, ranch, rancheria, rancho, saffron, saffron-colored, saffron-yellow, sallow, sand-colored, sandy, sheep farm, sickly, sine prole, spade, station, steading, sterile, stock farm, straw, straw-colored, sucked dry, tallow-faced, teemless, thin, thin out, till, till the soil, toft, toneless, truck farm, uncolored, uncultivated, unemployable, unemployed, unfertile, unfruitful, unoccupied, unplowed, unproductive, unprolific, unsown, untilled, virgin, wan, washed-out, waste, wasted, waxen, weak, weed, weed out, whey-faced, white, without issue, work, xanthic, xanthous, yellow, yellowishROGET THESAURUS
fallow
Nonpreparation
N nonpreparation, non-preparation, absence of preparation, want of preparation, inculture, inconcoction, improvidence, immaturity, crudity, rawness, abortion, disqualification, nature, state of nature, virgin soil, unweeded garden, neglect, rough copy, germ, raw material, improvisation, unprepared (prepare), without preparation, incomplete, rudimental, embryonic, abortive, immature, unripe, kachcha, raw, green, crude, coarse, rough cast, rough hewn, in the rough, unhewn, unformed, unfashioned, unwrought, unlabored, unblown, uncooked, unboiled, unconcocted, unpolished, unhatched, unfledged, unnurtured, unlicked, untaught, uneducated, uncultivated, untrained, untutored, undrilled, unexercised, deckle- edged, precocious, premature, undigested, indigested, unmellowed, unseasoned, unleavened, unrehearsed, unscripted, extemporaneous, improvised, spontaneous, ad lib, ad libitem, fallow, unsown, untilled, natural, in a state of nature, undressed, in dishabille, en deshabille, unqualified, disqualified, unfitted, ill-digested, unbegun, unready, unarranged, unorganized, unfurnished, unprovided, unequipped, untrimmed, out of gear, out of order, dismantled, shiftless, improvident, unthrifty, thriftless, thoughtless, unguarded, happy-go- lucky, caught napping, unpremeditated, extempore.Inaction
N inaction, passiveness, abstinence from action, noninterference, nonintervention, Fabian policy, conservative policy, neglect, inactivity, rest, quiescence, want of occupation, inoccupation, idle hours, time hanging on one's hands, dolce far niente, sinecure, featherbed, featherbedding, cushy job, no-show job, soft snap, soft thing, not doing, not done, undone, passive, unoccupied, unemployed, out of employ, out of work, fallow, desaeuvre, re infecta, at a stand, les bras croisis, with folded arms, with the hands in the pockets, with the hands behind one's back, pour passer le temps, Int, so let it be!, stop!, hands off!, cunctando restituit rem, If it ain't broke don't fix it, stare decisis, let the decision stand.Unproductiveness
N unproductiveness, infertility, sterility, infecundity, masturbation, impotence, unprofitableness, waste, desert, Sahara, wild, wilderness, howling wilderness, unproductive, acarpous, inoperative, barren, addled, infertile, unfertile, unprolific, arid, sterile, unfruitful, infecund, sine prole, fallow, teemless, issueless, fruitless, unprofitable, null and void, of no effect.Yellowness
N yellowness, yellow, or, gamboge, cadmium-yellow, chrome-yellow, Indian-yellow king's-yellow, lemonyellow, orpiment, yellow ocher, Claude tint, aureolin, xanthein, xanthin, zaofulvin, crocus, saffron, topaz, xanthite, yolk, jaundice, London fog, yellowness, icterus, xantho- cyanopia, xanthopsia, yellow, aureate, golden, flavous, citrine, fallow, fulvous, fulvid, sallow, luteous, tawny, creamy, sandy, xanthic, xanthous, jaundiced, auricomous, gold-colored, citron-colored, saffron-colored, lemon-colored, lemon yellow, sulphur-colored, amber-colored, straw-colored, primrose- colored, creamcolored, xanthocarpous, xanthochroid, xanthopous, yellow as a quince, yellow as a guinea, yellow as a crow's foot, warm, advancing.Also see definition of "fallow" in Bible Study Dictionaries
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