fallow

Word family

Related topics: Agriculture, Soil

fal·low /ˈfæləʊ $ -loʊ/ adjectiveadj

1 TAfallow land is dug or ploughed but is not used for growing crops 〔土地〕休耕的，休闲的

They let the land lie fallow for a year.

他们让土地休耕一年。

2 fallow period a time when nothing is done or achieved 空闲期；没有任何成绩的一段时期

The band went through a fallow period in the late 90s.

90年代后期，该乐队销声匿迹了一段时间。

Examples from the Corpus

fallow period• Properly looked after they can produce several crops a year and remain fertile for centuries without needing a fallow period.• There are sudden, dramatic leaps in small children's learning, interspersed with long fallow periods when nothing seems to happen.

Examples from the Corpus

fallow• In many districts cattle were thought essential for rice cultivation, and when there was a shortage fields lay fallow.• It requires field use to be rotated annually, or fields to be left fallow every one or two years.• In April, new life springs forth from fallow land.• Surely we each agree that fallow or underused land is of no help to the economic situation.• They've started producing films again after a two-year fallow period.• Properly looked after they can produce several crops a year and remain fertile for centuries without needing a fallow period.• Nutrient renewal also occurs more rapidly under a managed fallow system than it does under unmanaged fallow for a number of reasons.

lie fallow• On the year of jubilee all slaves are freed, all debts are cancelled and the land lies fallow.• Part of the arable soil still lies fallow.• Pests overwintering in stubble or soil are foiled by clearing stubble after harvest or letting the land lie fallow.• Some of these would therefore lie fallow.• Three of these are allocated to different crops and the fourth lies fallow.• We went here and there, but Kungsleden lay fallow.• After lying fallow for nearly 50 years, conventions deriving from the Universal Declaration were shown to have teeth.• He can not resign himself to seeing the least plot of ground lay fallow or denied the opportunity to produce a crop.

From Longman Business Dictionary

fallowfal·low /ˈfæləʊ-loʊ/ adjectiveadj

1FARMINGfallow land has been dug but is not being used for growing crops, giving the quality of the soil a chance to improve

fallow land

a fallow field

2lie fallowFARMING if land lies fallow, it is not being used to grow crops

The EU introduced incentives for farmers to let land lie fallow in order to reduce grain surpluses.

3COMMERCEa fallow period of time for a person or organization is one when they are not very active, productive, profitable etc

The pharmaceutical division emerged from a relatively fallow period, with increased profits this year.

Origin fallow

Old English fealg

fal·low adjectiveadj