Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To cover (a road surface) with loose material that is not worked in.
- transitive verb To apply top dressing to (soil or plants).
from The Century Dictionary.
- To manure on the surface, as land.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To apply a surface dressing of manureto,as land.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb To
cover a surface with loose material; especially to cover newly-sownseeds with a light dressing ofsoil orfertilizer
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb scatter manure or fertilizer over (land)
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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‘To tell the truth, my friend, I should not have done very well here unless I had been able to top-dress the English acres with a little Australian gold.’
John Caldigate 2004
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They must plow, and sow, and top-dress, and bottom-dress, and deep-drain, and surface-drain, and all the rest of it.
No Name 2003
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After the plants are well established, they are easily managed, and go many years without repotting; but, of course, we top-dress them annually, previously removing as much of the old soil as will come away easily.
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From its dwarfness this Daffodil is very liable to be soiled; either of three plans may be adopted to prevent this: Plant on grass; top-dress in
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A deep moist loam suits them best; and as the plants grow and bloom, add bone meal and top-dress with manure.
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The real men on the land, what few are left, are dumb and helpless; and these fellows here for one reason or another don't mean business -- they'll talk and tinker and top-dress -- that's all.
Complete Project Gutenberg John Galsworthy Works John Galsworthy 1900
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The real men on the land, what few are left, are dumb and helpless; and these fellows here for one reason or another don't mean business -- they'll talk and tinker and top-dress -- that's all.
The Freelands John Galsworthy 1900
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'First he tells me to top-dress the upper lot, and then right off he wants me to harness up and go to the mill.
A Princess in Calico Edith Ferguson Black 1896
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With a view to renovate the crop and increase the yields, in some sections, as in the Atlantic States, it has been recommended to top-dress alfalfa fields with farmyard manure every autumn.
Clovers and How to Grow Them Thomas Shaw 1880
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The accumulation of the winter is usually applied to the land for the corn crop, except the finer portion, which is used to top-dress meadow land.
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