FALLOW
fallow
(adjective) undeveloped but potentially useful; “a fallow gold market”
fallow
(adjective) left unplowed and unseeded during a growing season; “fallow farmland”
fallow
(noun) cultivated land that is not seeded for one or more growing seasons
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology 1
Noun
fallow (countable and uncountable, plural fallows)
(agriculture, uncountable) Ground ploughed and harrowed but left unseeded for one year.
(agriculture, uncountable) Uncultivated land.
The ploughing or tilling of land, without sowing it for a season.
Adjective
fallow (comparative more fallow, superlative most fallow)
(of agricultural land) Ploughed but left unseeded for more than one planting season.
(of agricultural land) Left unworked and uncropped for some amount of time.
(figurative) Inactive; undeveloped.
Synonyms
• (figuratively inactive): abeyant, dormant, latent; see also inactive
Etymology 2
Verb
fallow (third-person singular simple present fallows, present participle fallowing, simple past and past participle fallowed)
(transitive) To make land fallow for agricultural purposes.
Etymology 3
Adjective
fallow (comparative more fallow, superlative most fallow)
(color) Of a pale red or yellow, light brown; dun.
Source: Wiktionary
Fal"low, a. Etym: [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.]
1. Pale red or pale yellow; as, a fallow deer or greyhound. Shak.
2. Etym: [Cf. Fallow, n.]
Definition: 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.
Fal"low, n. Etym: [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.]
1. Plowed land. [Obs.]
Who . . . pricketh his blind horse over the fallows. Chaucer.
2. Land that has lain a year or more untilled or unseeded; land
plowed without being sowed for the season.
The plowing of fallows is a benefit to land. Mortimer.
3. 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.
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.
Sinclair.
Fallow crop, the crop taken from a green fallow. [Eng.] -- Green
fallow, fallow whereby land is rendered mellow and clean from weeds,
by cultivating some green crop, as turnips, potatoes, etc. [Eng.]
Fal"low, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Fallowed; p. pr. & vb. n. Fallowing.]
Etym: [From Fallow, n.]
Definition: 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.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition