stubble

Etymology

From Middle English stuble, from Anglo-Norman stuble, estuble, from Old French estoble, esteule (whence Modern French éteule), from Latin stipula (“stalk, straw”). Cognate with Dutch stoppel, Central German Stoppel, Upper German Stupfel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈstʌb.əl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌbəl

Noun

stubble (usually uncountable, plural stubbles)

1. (countable and uncountable) Short, coarse hair, especially on a man’s face.
2. (countable and uncountable) The short stalks left in a field after crops have been harvested.

Verb

stubble (third-person singular simple present stubbles, present participle stubbling, simple past and past participle stubbled)

1. (agriculture) To produce a crop in a field of stubble that remains after a preceding crop is removed, either by sowing a second crop or by allowing shoots to sprout from the roots of the stubble.
   • 1851, United States. Department of Agriculture, Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture for the Year: 1850, page 371:

     Here a system ( if it may be called a system ) of stubbling prevails — wheat succeeding wheat for a series of years, and without any material diminution of the yield.

   • 1922, John Selden Cole, Alanson Lola Hallsted, Methods of Winter-wheat Production at the Fort Hays Branch Station, page 22:

     In 1919 the stubbled crop was heavier than either that fallowed or plowed.

   • 1922, Canada. Dept. of Agriculture. Research Station, Lacombe, Alta, Interim Report of the Superintendent, page 65:

     Both spring and fall ploughing produced a crop freer from weeds than where the seed was stubbled in.

   • 1983, W. H. Smith, Symposium on Potential Productivity of Field Crops Under Different Environments, page 377:

     Because the biggest single expense in producing the crop is planting, good stubbling ability is prized.