| 释义 |
arable, a.|ˈærəb(ə)l|
[ad. (perh. through F. arable, 15th c. in Littré) L. arābilis, f. arā-re to plough. Preceded in use by a word erable (also in 16th c. errable, earable, aerable), referred to the cogn. Eng. vb. ere, ear, of which arable was perh. at first intended as a correction after L. In 17th c. the two existed side by side (Coke uses both), but in the 18th earable became obs. exc. in dialects.]
Capable of being ploughed, fit for tillage; opposed to pasture- or wood-land.
1577Tusser Jan. Husb. lii, Land arable. 1628Coke On Litt. 53 b, If the tenant conuert arable land into wood. [Ibid. 85 b, Errable land.] 1725Pope Odyss. xx. 356 Unnumber'd acres arable and green. 1866Rogers Agric. & Prices I. ii. 15 Half the arable estate, as a rule, lay in fallow.
b. absol. quasi-n. Arable land.
1576Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 3 Consisting indifferently of arable, pasture, meadow, and woodland. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 321 Tis good for Arable, a Glebe that asks Tough Teams of Oxen. 1883Hardy in Longm. Mag. July 258 A group of these honest fellows in the arable. |