meadow

Definition

A field or pasture; a piece of land covered or cultivated with grass, usually intended to be mown for hay.

Etymology

From Middle English medowe, medewe, medwe (also mede > Modern English mead), from Old English mǣdwe, inflected form of mǣd (see mead), from Proto-Germanic *mēdwō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂met- (“to mow, reap”), enlargement of *h₂meh₁-. See also West Frisian miede, dialectal Dutch made, dialectal German Matte (“mountain pasture”); also Welsh medi, Latin metō, Ancient Greek ἄμητος (ámētos, “reaping”). More at mow.

Example Sentences

• "But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. ¶[…]The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window at the old mare feeding in the meadow below by the brook,[…]."
• "[…]belts of thin white mist streaked the brown plough land in the hollow where Appleby could see the pale shine of a winding river. Across that in turn, meadow and coppice rolled away past the white walls of a village bowered in orchards,[…]"
• "Our part of the veranda did not hang over the gorge, but edged the meadow where half a dozen large and sleek horses had stopped grazing to join us."