Find the word definition

Crossword clues for sown

The Collaborative International Dictionary
Sown

Sow \Sow\, v. t. [imp. Sowed; p. p. Sownor Sowed; p. pr. & vb. n. Sowing.] [OE. sowen, sawen, AS. s[=a]wan; akin to OFries. s?a, D. zaaijen, OS. & HG. s[=a]jan, G. s["a]en, Icel. s[=a], Sw. s[*a], Dan. saae, Goth. saian, Lith. s[=e]ti, Russ. sieiate, L. serere, sevi. Cf. Saturday, Season, Seed, Seminary.]

  1. To scatter, as seed, upon the earth; to plant by strewing; as, to sow wheat. Also used figuratively: To spread abroad; to propagate. ``He would sow some difficulty.''
    --Chaucer.

    A sower went forth to sow; and when he sowed, some seeds fell by the wayside.
    --Matt. xiii. 3, 4.

    And sow dissension in the hearts of brothers.
    --Addison.

  2. To scatter seed upon, in, or over; to supply or stock, as land, with seeds. Also used figuratively: To scatter over; to besprinkle.

    The intellectual faculty is a goodly field, . . . and it is the worst husbandry in the world to sow it with trifles.
    --Sir M. Hale.

    [He] sowed with stars the heaven.
    --Milton.

    Now morn . . . sowed the earth with orient pearl.
    --Milton.

Sown

Sown \Sown\, p. p. of Sow.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
sown

past participle of sow (v.).

Wiktionary
sown

vb. (past participle of sow English)

WordNet
sow
  1. v. place (seeds) in or on the ground for future growth; "She sowed sunflower seeds" [syn: sough, seed]

  2. introduce into an environment; "sow suspicion or beliefs" [syn: sough]

  3. place seeds in or on (the ground); "sow the ground with sunflower seeds" [syn: inseminate, sow in]

  4. [also: sown]

sow
  1. n. an adult female hog

  2. [also: sown]

sown

adj. sprinkled with seed; "a seeded lawn" [syn: seeded]

sown

See sow

Usage examples of "sown".

The mechanical condition of the soil immediately after growing these crops also favors the vigorous growth of the young clover plants, more especially when they are sown upon the surface of the land after some form of surface cultivation, rather than upon a surface made by plowing the land after cultivation has been given to it, but to this there may be some exceptions.

When medium red clover is thus grown, it is commonly sown along with one of the small cereal grains, and is buried in the autumn or in the following spring.

Crimson clover is usually sown in the late summer after some crop has been reaped and it is plowed under the following spring.

The first year some small cereal grain is grown and clover is sown along with it or, at least, on the same land.

As crimson clover is usually sown in the late summer and alfalfa is frequently sown in the autumn, it may sometimes be necessary to give much attention to securing sufficient moisture to insure germination in the seed.

When this condition is not present, the seed will usually grow if sown amid the grain and covered with the harrow.

If this can be followed on the sandy soil with some crop to be fed off upon the land, as corn, for instance, and the clover is sown, successful growth is likely to follow.

Northern States and Canada than at any other season and they are usually sown early in the spring, rather than late.

On land producing a winter crop, as rye or wheat, they can be sown in a majority of instances as soon as the snow has melted.

When sown on spring crops, as spring wheat, barley and oats, the seed cannot, of course, be sown until these crops are sown.

The earlier that these crops are sown the more likely are the clovers sown to make a stand, as they have more time to become rooted before the dry weather of summer begins.

In a moist season the seed could be safely sown any time from spring until mid-summer, but since the weather cannot be forecast, it is considered more or less hazardous to sow clovers in these northern areas at any other season than that of early spring.

If sown later, the seed will more certainly make a stand without a nurse crop, since it will get more moisture.

If sown later than August, the young plants are much more liable to perish in the winter.

Atlantic and the 100th meridian west, clover seeds may be sown in one form or another from early spring until the early autumn without incurring much hazard from winter killing in the young plants, but here also early spring sowing will prove the most satisfactory.