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The ploughed earth looked rich and dark and fertile.

People get less fertile as they get older.

She became very depressed during the barren years when she was unable to paint.

We drove through a barren, rocky landscape.

It has been estimated that one in eight couples is infertile.

Poor farmers have little choice but to try to grow food in this infertile soil.

the moon was a slender crescent

the curved sickle shape of the waxing or waning moon.

a three-mile crescent of golden sand

a thing that has has the shape of a single curve, especially one that is broad in the center and tapers to a point at each end.

They live at 15 Park Crescent.

By the late 70s the band's popularity was beginning to wane.

There are signs that support for the group is on the wane.

I cut the log into slabs without removing the outside wane

the tide when it is moving away from the coast: - We'll sail on the ebb.

He could feel his strength ebbing (away).

Consumer confidence is currently at a low ebb. I was recently divorced and feeling at a very low ebb.

You have to accept the ebb and flow of love in a relationship.

a frequently changing situation:

a short-handled farming tool with a semicircular blade, used for cutting grain, lopping, or trimming.

to cut something using a scythe

The racing car left the track at 120 mph and scythed through the crowd of spectators, killing ten.

We’ve got to lop off the lower branches of this tree.; fig. The city council lopped thousands of dollars from the budget.

cut off (a branch, limb, or other protrusion) from the main body of a tree.

He lopped eight seconds off the record.

They can see themselves going out on a limb, voting for a very controversial energy bill.

having an opinion that is different from most people's and is unpopular:

oak/concrete planks a plank of wood We used a plank to cross the ditch.; They walked across the creaky, wooden-plank floor of the old house.

a long, thin, flat piece of timber, used especially in building and flooring.

Educational reform was one of the main planks of their election campaign. The party's policy is based on five central planks.

Planks are very good for strengthening your core.

To be forced to accept the consequences of something.; to suffer punishment at the hand of someone; The expenses scandal gave several ministers no option but to walk the plank.

on the image of pirates making their blindfolded captives die by walking off the end of a plank jutting out over the open sea

The pier juts (out) into the lake. He jutted his chin/jaw (out) defiantly.; He had a large head and jutting jaw.

A few workers have defied the majority decision and gone into work despite the strike. The fact that aircraft don't fall out of the sky always seems to me to defy (= act against) the law of gravity.;

to refuse to obey or to do something in the usual or expected way: He defied the odds (= did what no one expected) and won the race for mayor.; When I said she might fail, she replied defiantly, “No, I won’t!”

The chaos at the airport defies description.

I defy you to tell where I've painted over the scratch on my car.

A forest fire raging in southern California is defying (= is not changed by) all attempts to control it.

adverb - in a way that proudly refuses to obey authority: - A group of prisoners stood on the roof, defiantly waving banners. They defiantly refused to identify themselves in court.

He defiantly denies having done anything wrong. She defiantly declared her innocence and claimed that prosecutors are trying to destroy her.

The door creaked on its hinges. I heard the floorboards creak as he crept closer.

He heard a prison cell door creak open and slam shut.

We had to take the front door off its hinges to get our new sofa into the house.

I opened a hinged tin box used for storing candles.

The enclosure includes a hinged, locking front door.

The case hinges on the evidence of a single eyewitness.

The film's plot hinges on a case of mistaken identity.

an enclosure for the horses

verb - the act of putting fences around land:

You will find two enclosures with this letter – a check and a photograph.

The classroom provides fertile ground for collaborative learning.

Profits are being ploughed back into the company to allow expansion.

They ploughed all their savings into their daughter's business.

The commercial arm of the company last year ploughed £30m into a waterfront office project on the Clyde.