Forms: 3–4 falwe, 5 falghe, (valwe), 5–6 falow(e, 6–7 fallowe, 6– fallow. See also FAUCH sb. [The relation between this and the cognate FALLOW a.2 and v. is not quite clear. The OE. fælʓing, glossed novalia (‘fallows’) and occas (‘harrows’) in Corpus Glossary, seems to imply a vb. *fealʓian (= FALLOW v.), F. *fealh, recorded in pl. fealʓa harrows, implements for breaking clods (occas Epinal Gl). The sb. and adj., which have not been found in OE, were either f. fealh or f. the vb. Cf. OHG. felga harrow, mod.Ger. (Sanders and East Fris. falge fallow (sb.), falgen to break up ground, plow. As FALLOW a.1 was used to denote the color of exposed soil, it is probable that some confusion may have arisen at an early date between the two words.]
† 1. A piece of plowed land; also collect. plowed land in general, arable land. Obs.
c. 1300. Havelok, 2508.
| Thei … drowen him unto the galwes, | |
| Nouth bi the gate, but ouer the falwes. |
c. 1386. Chaucer, Wife’s Prol., 656.
| Who so that bildeth his hous all of salwes, | |
| And pricketh his blind hors over the falwes. |
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 148. Falow, lond eryd, novale.
c. 1450. Lat. & Eng. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 618. Varratum, i. novale, valwe.
1483. Cath. Angl., 121. Falghe (Falowe A.), terra sacionalis.
a. 1535. Fisher, Wks. (1876), I. 365. He [a hunter] must treade vppon the fallowes, runne ouer the hedges, & créepe thorowe the thicke bushes, and crye all the long day vppon his dogges.
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., V. ii. 54.
| And all our Vineyards, Fallowes, Meades, and Hedges, | |
| Defectiue in their natures, grow to wildnesse. |
1713. Rowe, Jane Shore, II. i. Around it Fallows, Meads, and Pastures fair.
2. Ground that is well plowed and harrowed, but left uncropped for a whole year or more; called also Summer fallow, as that season is chosen for the sake of killing the weeds. Green, cropped, or bastard fallow: one from which a green crop is taken.
1523. Fitzherbert, The Boke of Husbandry, § 13. Every good housbande hath his barleye-falowe well dounged, and lyenge rygged all the depe and colde of wynter.
1552. Huloet, Fallowe or tylthe of land, called the somer fallowe or tylth, vernactum.
c. 1611. Chapman, Iliad, XIII. 628.
| All heads couch’d so close to earth, they plow | |
| The fallow with their horns, till our the sweat begins to flow. |
1707. Mortimer, Husb., ii. 39. They are the best Ploughs to plow up Layes, or Summer Fallows with.
1784. Cowper, Task, IV. 315.
| I saw far off the weedy fallows smile | |
| With verdure not unprofitable. |
1805. R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric., I. x. 369. Green fallows, or what are termed fallow crops; such as beans, peas, cabbages, [etc.].
1810. Scott, Lady of L., I. xxxi.
| Yet the lark’s shrill fife may come | |
| At the daybreak from the fallow, | |
| And the bittern sound his drum, | |
| Booming from the sedgy shallow. |
1813. Sir H. Davy, Agric. Chem. (1814), 353. A summer fallow, or a clean fallow, may be sometimes necessary in lands overgrown with weeds, particularly if they are sands which cannot be pared and burnt with advantage; but is certainly unprofitable as part of a general system in husbandry.
1889. Wrightson, Fallow & Fodder Crops, 5. The superiority of cropped over naked fallows.
3. The state of being fallow; an interval during which land is allowed to lie fallow.
1523. Fitzherbert, The Boke of Husbandry, § 17. So shal he mucke all his landes ouer at euerye seconde falowe. Ibid., § 34. That is vsed, where they make falowe in a fyelde euery fourthe yere.
1797. Billingsley, Agric. Somerset, 177. Ten or twelve successive crops of wheat, without an intervening fallow.
1858. J. B. Norton, Topics, 211. To withhold the land from cultivation … with the view of making it, by a fallow, doubly profitable the next year.
1866. Geo. Eliot, F. Holt, 5. They resisted the rotation of crops and stood by their fallows.
fig. 1772. Burke, Corr. (1844), I. 356. You do not write on the subject like one who has not been used for some time to consider it; at least, your fallow adds to your fertility. Ibid. (1796), Regic. Peace, i. Wks. VIII. 140. Unless the fallow of a peace comes to recruit her [France’s] fertility.
4. attrib. Of or pertaining to a fallow; esp. grown on a fallow, as in fallow-crop, -hay; and in local names for the Wheatear (Saxicola œnanthe), as fallow-chat, -finch, -lunch, -smich, -smiter, from its frequenting fallows. Also fallow-break: see BREAK sb. 12; fallow-field; see quot. 1851.
1678. Ray, Willughby’s Ornith., 233. The Fallow-Smich, in Sussex the Wheat-ear, because the time of Wheat-harvest they wax very fat.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Oenanthe, the Wheat-ear … In Warwickshire it is call’d a Fallow-smiter.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., Fallow-finch.
1787. Winter, Syst. Husb., 153. Beans are a good fallow crop.
1821. Clare, The Village Minstrel, and Other Poems, I. 182. To Health.
| With thee I wander where the sheep | |
| In groups display a checquer’d train, | |
| Where weedy waters winding creep; | |
| Nor wilt thou fallow-clods disdain. |
1834. D. Low, Pract. Agric., v. 161. The culture of fallow-crops.
1843. Yarrell, Brit. Birds, I. 254. The Wheatear, or Fallowchat, as it is sometimes called, is another summer visiter allied to the Stonechat and Whinchat.
1851. Gloucestersh. Gloss., Fallow-field, a common.
1885. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 9), I. 338. A large portion of the fallow-break can thus be dressed with homemade manure.
1885. Swainson, Prov. Names Brit. Birds (E.D.S.), 9. Wheatear … Fallow-finch; Fallow-smich; or Fallow-lunch.
