Definition of FALLOW

fallow

Plural: fallows

Noun

  • cultivated land that is not seeded for one or more growing seasons
  • Ground ploughed and harrowed but left unseeded for one year.
  • Uncultivated land.
  • The ploughing or tilling of land, without sowing it for a season.

Adjective Satellite

  • left unplowed and unseeded during a growing season
    • "fallow farmland"
  • undeveloped but potentially useful
    • "a fallow gold market"

Adj

  • Ploughed but left unseeded for more than one planting season.
  • Left unworked and uncropped for some amount of time.
  • Inactive; undeveloped.
  • Of a pale red or yellow, light brown; dun.

Verb

Verb Forms: fallowed, fallowing, fallows

  • To plow land but leave it unseeded for a period.
  • To make land fallow for agricultural purposes.

Examples

  • a fallow deer or greyhound
  • a fallow period in one's career
  • Sometimes, a Words With Friends player must FALLOW their rack, exchanging tiles for better options later.

Origin / 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)).

Scrabble Score: 12

fallow: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
fallow: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
fallow: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 14

fallow: valid Words With Friends Word