fallow

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈfæləʊ/

• Audio (Southern England)

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• (US) enPR: fălʹō, IPA^(key): /ˈfæloʊ/
• Rhymes: -æləʊ

A fallow field.

From Middle English falwe, from Old English fealh (“fallow land”), from Proto-West Germanic *falgu (compare Saterland Frisian falge, Dutch valg, German Felge), from Proto-Indo-European *polḱéh₂ (“arable land”) (compare Gaulish olca, Russian полоса́ (polosá)).

fallow (countable and uncountable, plural fallows)

1. (agriculture, uncountable) Ground ploughed and harrowed but left unseeded for one year.
2. (agriculture, uncountable) Uncultivated land.
3. The ploughing or tilling of land, without sowing it for a season.
   • 1832, Sir John Sinclair, The Code of Agriculture

     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.

fallow (comparative more fallow, superlative most fallow)

1. (of agricultural land) Ploughed but left unseeded for more than one planting season.
2. (of agricultural land) Left unworked and uncropped for some amount of time.
3. (figuratively) Inactive; undeveloped.

   a fallow period in one's career

• (figuratively inactive): abeyant, dormant, latent; see also Thesaurus:inactive

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”).

fallow (third-person singular simple present fallows, present participle fallowing, simple past and past participle fallowed)

1. (transitive) To make land fallow for agricultural purposes.

A fallow deer.

From Middle English falwe, from Old English fealu, from Proto-Germanic *falwaz (compare West Frisian feal, Dutch vaal, German falb, fahl), from Proto-Indo-European *polwos (compare Lithuanian pal̃vas (“sallow, wan”), Russian половый (polovyj, “wan, light yellow”), Serbo-Croatian plâv (“blond, blue”), Ancient Greek πολιός (poliós, “grey”)), from Proto-Indo-European *pelH- (“pale, gray”).

fallow (comparative more fallow, superlative most fallow)

1. (color) Of a pale red or yellow, light brown; dun.

   a fallow deer or greyhound

   fallow:  

   • a. 1597, Shakespeare, William, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 1, Scene 1:

     How does your fallow greyhound, sir?

• fallow deer

• Douglas Harper (2001–2023), “fallow”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.