fallow
1 Americanadjective
-
(of land) plowed and left unseeded for a season or more; uncultivated.
-
not in use; inactive.
My creative energies have lain fallow this year.
noun
verb (used with object)
adjective
adjective
-
(of land) left unseeded after being ploughed and harrowed to regain fertility for a crop
-
(of an idea, state of mind, etc) undeveloped or inactive, but potentially useful
noun
verb
adjective
Other Word Forms
- fallowness noun
- unfallowed adjective
Etymology
Origin of fallow1
1275–1325; Middle English falwe; compare Old English fealga, plural of *fealh, as gloss of Medieval Latin occas harrows
Origin of fallow2
before 1000; Middle English fal ( o ) we, Old English fealu; cognate with German falb
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
There is a fallow week now before Townsend's side host France and face the trip to Dublin.
From BBC
There are currently six deer species in Britain – red, sika, fallow, roe, muntjac and Chinese water - but only red and roe are "truly indigenous", according to the British Deer Society.
From BBC
“Ida B,” Daddy said, “we’ve been thinking about the south field that’s been lying fallow for a while and that it might be a good place to plant some more apple trees.”
From Literature
That middle weekend - with fallow weeks either side - always felt a little imperfect.
From BBC
In recent decades—since the 1970s—the Broadway musical has waxed and waned in terms of both quality and popularity, with fertile and fallow periods.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
