fallow
fallow Lexical Profile
fallow Game Scores & Validity
• adjective
(of farmland) Plowed and harrowed but left unsown for a period in order to restore its fertility as part of a crop rotation or to avoid surplus production.
"The farmer left the northern field fallow for a year to allow the depleted soil to recover its nutrients."
Characterized by a period of inactivity, dormancy, or lack of productivity.
"After a fallow period of nearly five years, the novelist finally published a critically acclaimed new book."
Of a pale brownish-yellow or light tan color, especially as applied to certain animals such as deer.
"A small herd of fallow deer grazed quietly at the edge of the ancient woodland."
• noun
A piece of arable land that has been plowed and left unseeded for one or more growing seasons, or the state or period of being left unseeded.
"Rotating crops with a year of fallow helps control weeds and preserve soil moisture in dry climates."
• verb
To plow, till, or break up (agricultural land) without seeding it, so as to destroy weeds and conserve soil fertility for future planting.
"Local growers often fallow a portion of their acreage every third season to prevent soil exhaustion."
• Rhymes for fallow
Word Origin & Etymology
The agricultural sense derives from Old English 'fealg', meaning plowed land left unseeded, from a Germanic root meaning to break up soil. The color sense comes from a separate Old English word, 'fealu', meaning pale brownish-yellow or dun, which is seen in 'fallow deer'.