top dressingn.
/ˈtɒp ˌdrɛsɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈtɑp ˌdrɛsɪŋ/ 1.
a. The action or practice of applying a thin layer of manure or fertilizer to soil, crops, etc.
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1732 W. Ellis Pract. Farmer 82 Fowl-Dung challenges the Priority of all other,..a Load of which is reckon'd worth ten of others, and is generally laid on Wheat or Barley, after they are sown, which we call Top-Dressing.
1799 J. Robertson Gen. View Agric. Perth 311 When this powerful top-dressing of our whole hills with sheep dung and urine has been completed.
1868 R. O. Pringle & A. J. Murray Pract. Farming II. ii. i. 95 Hoeing and top-dressing should be done, to loosen the soil.
1941 Our Garden Bk. 27 Now about the most important winter work—top dressing of the lawn.
2001 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 11 Feb. This includes watering, feeding, misting and cleaning of foliage as well as pruning, top dressing of the soil and rotation of the plant, if needed.
b. A thin application of manure or fertilizer on top of the soil, allowing a crop or grass to grow through it; the manure or fertilizer applied.
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the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > preparation of land or soil > fertilizing or manuring > [noun]
gooding1473
manuring1577
battling1600
fatting1600
fertilage1610
fertilizing1655
laetation1664
mending1707
top-dressing1744
boning1795
caprification1836
manurance1854
management1877
soil amendment1915
side dressing1950
fertigation1967
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > preparation of land or soil > fertilizing or manuring > [noun] > fertilizer or manure
fatnessc1420
amendment1483
manure1532
manuring1577
battling1600
dressing1600
worth1609
sucken1615
folding1626
fertilizera1661
sumen1662
recuperativec1679
field dressing1743
top-dressing1744
sweetener1765
settera1793
mendment1798
side dressing1819
substratum1822
manurer1829
liquid manure1837
soil amendment1915
side dress1920
Growmore1944
soil conditioner1952
1733 W. Ellis Chiltern & Vale Farming iv. 58 Long Horse Litter therefore in my Opinion must be a good top Dressing on the Stitches of Chalks.
1764 Museum Rusticum (1765) 3 ii. 5 I bestow on it a top-dressing of wood ashes, soot,..or coal ashes.
1892 Garden 27 Aug. 195/2 The top-dressing was put on early in spring before the plants began to grow.
1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 8 Mar. 105/3 The first spring dressing is nitrogen, followed by a complete, with a nitrogen top dressing after nearly every grazing over, and a second application of complete in August.
2006 Grow your Own July 73 Sieved garden compost is probably the best top dressing of all.
2015 BBC Gardeners' World (Special Subscriber ed.) Aug. 96/1 Apply a top dressing of fertiliser to long-season crops like Brussels sprouts, kale and leeks.
2. A top layer of gravel, small stones, etc., on a road or path.
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1826 Rep. Chief Engineer relating to Fortifications, Internal Improvem. & Mil. Acad. (U.S. War Dept. Doc. No. 2) 216 The superstratum, or top dressing of small stone, which was originally of the thickness of six inches, has almost entirely disappeared.
1892 Munic. Reg. City of Waterbury (Connecticut) 1891 130 It is impossible by a top dressing of gravel to keep the streets upon which there is heavy travel in any sort of repair for a desirable length of time.
1954 J. F. Kirkaldy Gen. Princ. Geol. xiii. 188 Limestone..is also used on a considerable scale as a top dressing for roads.
2021 Hexham Courant (Nexis) 7 May The lane at the side of the church has been given a top dressing of gravel.
3. figurative. A merely superficial addition to something; the action of adding a superficial element in this way.
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the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > [noun] > ornamentation or decoration > trimming or decking out
performinga1427
trimmingc1525
tricking1549
finifying1674
top-dressing1846
the mind > emotion > pride > ostentation > [noun] > (an) ostentatious display > more ostentatious display
flourish1598
ornament1600
braverya1627
pageantrya1646
flash1674
overbloom1880
top-dressing1884
1846 J. W. Carlyle Let. 7 Sept. (1993) 45 Helen has been most diligent in my absence, and left nothing for me to do but a little ‘top-dressing’.
1884 J. Payn Some Lit. Recoll. 35 Culture is more common, but very little comes of such ‘top dressing’.
1957 L. Oxenford Playing Period Plays (1958) 188 In the eighteenth century the actors and actresses all wore contemporary costume and wigs with only a top dressing of period detail to show that they were Ancient Gods or Egyptian Royalty.
2009 Australian (Nexis) 16 Sept. (Features section) 28 Though a computer-generated thesaurus may enable the scholar to display the kind of arcane references once controlled only by a Scaliger or a Bentley, these are mere top-dressing and no proof of learning.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2022).
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n.1732