lOE Bounds (Sawyer 312) in J. M. Kemble Codex Diplomaticus (1847) V. 105 On ða wæterfurh [c1425 weter furh] innan smalan broc.

Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 213 Gryppe, or a gryppel, where watur rennythe a-way in a londe, or watur forowe, aratiuncula.

?c1475 Catholicon Anglicum (BL Add. 15562) f. 136^v A Watirfure, elix.

a1525 ( Coventry Leet Bk. (1908) II. 510 Strecchyng down be a watir-fforough where some-tyme was a diche & a heye vnto þe watir of Shirburn.

1613 G. Markham Eng. Husbandman: 1st Pt. Former Pt. x. sig. H^v Euery man shall ioyne, and make their water-furrowes one from another, vntill such time as the water be conuayed into some common issue.

1627 H. Mason Cure of Cares iv. 30 As husbandmen, when their ground is overflowed with much water, make ditches and water-furrowes to carie it away.

1710 D. Hilman Tusser Redivivus Mar. 8 Standing Water..must be..drain'd off with Water-Furrows.

1759 R. Brown Compl. Farmer iii. 36 The lambs may be strong before May-day to follow the ewes over the fallows and water-furrows.

1864 Farmer's Mag. Apr. 302/1 The writer was first taught by his father..how to find the level for a waterfurrow across the ridges of a comparatively level low-lying field.

1895 W. J. Malden Workman's Tech. Instructor vii. 105 The objection to water-furrows is that the reaping-machines are liable to be shaken by dropping into them at harvest time.

1939 H. G. Sanders Outl. Brit. Crop Husbandry vii. 232 Water furrows..may form a very efficient system of surface drains, and it is well worth while to lead them into the ditch, even though that has to be done with a spade.

2002 E. N. O’Rourke & L. C. Standifer Gardening Humid South ii. 40 During a heavy rain most of the water will surface drain off the beds, into the water furrows, and out into the grass.

1748 Scots Mag. Dec. 585/2 My water-fur plough is very useful for draining spoutie ground.

1812 J. Sinclair Acct. Syst. Husbandry Scotl. i. 146 The 40 ridges will require 79 turnings of the sower and harrows, and 41 turnings of the water-fur plough.

1851 London Jrnl. Arts, Sci., & Manuf. 39 284 Dr. Sprengel and Co., of Regenwalde, Pomerania, exhibit a model of a water-furrow plough.

1921 Agric. Gaz. 1 July 34/1 Messrs. R. and J. Reeves and Son, Ltd..showed their new water furrow plough.

?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. viii Yf a dry season come before Candelmas... It [sc. the ridged fallow] wolde be cast downe & water forowed betwene the landes.

1557 T. Tusser Hundreth Good Pointes Husbandrie sig. A.iiii^v The sede being sowne, waterforow thy ground.

1560 Bp. J. Pilkington Aggeus the Prophete (new issue) sig. Giv^v Let hym..water, hedge, and waterforow, or what other thyng so euer he can deuise to make the ground fruitfull.

1660 S. Lynch 3 Serm. ii. 56 This is the condition of Gods Holy Land, to be tilled, and harrowed, and tumbled about, and water-furrowed.

1707 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husbandry (Monthly Kalendar, Oct.) Well Water-furrow, and Drain new sown Corn Land.

1743 Sel. Trans. Soc. Improvers Knowl. Agric. Scotl. 41 Plow up the Land and water-fur it.

1808 C. Vancouver Gen. View Agric. Devon vii. 140 The furrows [should be] struck out with a plough,..and the field left gripped and water-furrowed.

1874 C. E. Whitcombe Canad. Farmer's Man. Agric. 243 The land should then be very thoroughly water-furrowed, so that all surface water may be immediately removed.

1955 Agric. Hist. Rev. 3 29 At Caxton it is ordered that all the land sown is to be water-furrowed.

2009 W. T. Vollmann Imperial lxxxii. 513 Imperial's all parallel lines; Imperial is water-furrowed all the way to the horizon.