fallow
UK /ˈfæləʊ/ · US /ˈfæloʊ/ noun, adjective, verb
Forms fallows fallowing fallowed
- noun (agriculture, uncountable) Ground ploughed and harrowed but left unseeded for one year.
- noun (agriculture, uncountable) Uncultivated land.
- noun The ploughing or tilling of land, without sowing it for a season.
- adjective (of agricultural land) Ploughed but left unseeded for more than one planting season.
- adjective (of agricultural land) Left unworked and uncropped for some amount of time.
- adjective (figurative) Inactive; undeveloped. “a fallow period in one's career”
- verb (transitive) To make land fallow for agricultural purposes.
- adjective Of a pale red or yellow, light brown; dun. “a fallow deer or greyhound”
Synonyms
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)).
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”).
[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”).
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Pale red or pale yellow; as, a fallow deer or greyhound. Shak.
- adjective Left untilled or unsowed after plowing; uncultivated; as, fallow ground. Fallow chat, Fallow finch (Zoöl.), a small European bird, the wheatear (Saxicola ænanthe). See Wheatear.
- noun Plowed land. [Obs.]
- noun Land that has lain a year or more untilled or unseeded; land plowed without being sowed for the season.
Etymology [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. plavpallidus pale, pallere to be pale, Gr. palita. Cf. Pale, Favel, a., Favor.]
Etymology [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.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “fallow”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details