tilth

From Middle English tilthe, from Old English tilþ, tilþe, corresponding to till +‎ -th.

• IPA^(key): /tɪlθ/
• Rhymes: -ɪlθ

• Audio (Southern England)

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tilth (countable and uncountable, plural tilths)

1. Agricultural labour; husbandry.
2. The state of being tilled, or prepared for a crop; culture.

   The land is in good tilth and ready to plant.

3. Cultivated land
   • 1945, J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun, HarperCollins, published 2019, →ISBN, page 11:

     Escaped from thicket and from fen at last he saw the tilth of men.

4. Rich cultivated soil.
   • 1954, Doris Lessing, A Proper Marriage, HarperPerennial, published 1995, page 333:

     One morning she was kneeling on an old grain sack on the wet black soil, turning the thick rich tilth over and smoothing it ready for the new lettuces.

• till
• tillage

tilth

1. Alternative form of tilthe