stubble

Etymology

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.

noun

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

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.
   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. 1851, United States. Department of Agriculture, Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture for the Year: 1850, page 371
   In 1919 the stubbled crop was heavier than either that fallowed or plowed. 1922, John Selden Cole, Alanson Lola Hallsted, Methods of Winter-wheat Production at the Fort Hays Branch Station, page 22
   Both spring and fall ploughing produced a crop freer from weeds than where the seed was stubbled in. 1922, Canada. Dept. of Agriculture. Research Station, Lacombe, Alta, Interim Report of the Superintendent, page 65
   Because the biggest single expense in producing the crop is planting, good stubbling ability is prized. 1983, W. H. Smith, Symposium on Potential Productivity of Field Crops Under Different Environments, page 377