> as lemmas

1377 in Somerset & Dorset Notes & Queries (1913) 13 274 (MED) Thus schuld the comyn be kept among the tenants..they of Lye Rielonde schuld lye falwe and be comyn.

a1500 (a1460) Towneley Plays (1994) I. xiii. 127 The tylthe of oure landys Lyys falow as the floore.

1553 T. Wilson Arte of Rhetorique f. 33^v Al groundes though they be very frutefull, are not therefore turned into tillage for mans vse and commoditie, but parte lyeth fallowe, and is neuer mannered.

1577 B. Googe tr. C. Heresbach Foure Bks. Husbandry ii. f. 52 The grounde..whiche we meane to sowe in the Spring, we must after the ende of Sommer let lye fallowe, to be seasoned with the frost and the colde.

1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Nouvellis, fallowes; ground that lies fallow euerie other yeare.

a1640 W. Fenner Christs Alarm (1646) 293 He considers how long it was since it [sc. the ground] was fallow, how long it will beare, till it be laid fallow againe.

1704 tr. D. Fernández Navarrete Acct. Empire China ii. i. §ii, in A. Churchill & J. Churchill Coll. Voy. I. 57/1 The Land in China never lies Fallow.

1716 J. Addison Freeholder No. 40. ⁋4 The soil must lie fallow.

1851 Standard 30 Apr. 7/1 Let the foreigner..plough those millions of acres which now lie fallow in Russia.

1875 C. Lyell & L. Lyell Princ. Geol. (ed. 12) II. iii. xlii. 457 We are..compelled to let it lie fallow the next [year].

1980 M. Thelwell Harder they Come (1996) i. 15 The mountain valleys with the strong life-giving sun, heavy rains, and rich deep earth had been there fallow and waiting, it seemed, for them.

1992 Economist 30 May 11/2 Land can no longer be left fallow between crops; cultivation extends up fragile hillsides, so the rain floods down and the soil erodes.

2005 Heritage Mar. 55/3 Three-field rotation was also practised, with fields lying fallow only one year in three, which led to increased productivity.