Wallow vs Fallow - What's the difference?
wallow | fallow |
To roll oneself about, as in mire; to tumble and roll about; to move lazily or heavily in any medium; to flounder; as, swine wallow in the mire.
* Shakespeare
To immerse oneself in, to occupy oneself with, metaphorically.
* The Simpsons (TV series)
To roll; especially, to roll in anything defiling or unclean, as a hog might do to dust its body to relieve the distress of insect biting or cool its body with mud.
To live in filth or gross vice; to behave in a beastly and unworthy manner.
* South
(intransitive, UK, Scotland, dialect) To wither; to fade.
An instance of wallowing.
A pool of water or mud in which animals wallow.
A kind of rolling walk.
(agriculture, uncountable) Ground ploughed and harrowed but left unseeded for one year.
(agriculture, uncountable) Uncultivated land.
(agriculture, obsolete, countable) An area of fallow land.
The ploughing or tilling of land, without sowing it for a season.
* Sinclair
(of agricultural land) Ploughed but left unseeded for more than one planting season.
Inactive; undeveloped.
Of a pale red or yellow, light brown; dun.
In lang=en terms the difference between wallow and fallow
is that wallow is to live in filth or gross vice; to behave in a beastly and unworthy manner while fallow is to make land fallow for agricultural purposes.As verbs the difference between wallow and fallow
is that wallow is to roll oneself about, as in mire; to tumble and roll about; to move lazily or heavily in any medium; to flounder; as, swine wallow in the mire while fallow is to make land fallow for agricultural purposes.As nouns the difference between wallow and fallow
is that wallow is an instance of wallowing while fallow is (agriculture|uncountable) ground ploughed and harrowed but left unseeded for one year.As adjectives the difference between wallow and fallow
is that wallow is tasteless, flat while fallow is (of agricultural land) ploughed but left unseeded for more than one planting season or fallow can be of a pale red or yellow, light brown; dun.wallow
English
Alternative forms
* waller (eye dialect)Etymology 1
(etyl) wealwian, from (etyl) .Verb
(en verb)- Pigs wallow in the mud.
- I may wallow in the lily beds.
- She wallowed in her misery.
- With Smithers out of the picture I was free to wallow in my own crapulence.
- God sees a man wallowing in his native impurity.
Usage notes
In the sense of “to immerse oneself in, to occupy oneself with”, it is almost exclusively used for self-indulgent negative emotions, particularly self-pity. See synonyms for general or positive alternatives, such as (revel).Synonyms
* (to immerse oneself in) bask, delight, indulge, luxuriate, revel, rollickNoun
(en noun)Etymology 2
(From inflected forms of) (etyl) . Compare (waugh).fallow
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) falow, from (etyl) ).Noun
- By a complete summer fallow', land is rendered tender and mellow. The ' fallow gives it a better tilth than can be given by a fallow crop.
Derived terms
* bastard fallow * cropped fallow * dead-fallow * ecofallow * fallow-break * fallow chat * fallow crop * fallow-field * fallow finch * fallow ground * fallowist * fallow land * green fallow * pin-fallow * rag-fallow * summer fallow * winter fallowAdjective
(head)Derived terms
* apple-fallow * fallow chat * fallow finch * fallowness * lay fallow * lie fallowDerived terms
* fallowed * fallowing * re-fallow * thry-fallow * trifallow * twifallow, twyfallowEtymology 2
From (etyl) falwe, from (etyl) fealu, from (etyl) 'pale'.Adjective
(en adjective)- a fallow deer or greyhound
- (Shakespeare)