top-dress
Americanverb (used with object)
verb
Etymology
Origin of top-dress
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Return anything too chunky to the bin, and top-dress your plants indoors or out with the good stuff.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 8, 2023
It may be desirable to top-dress with gypsum near the end of the rainy season to stimulate the growth of the plant.
From One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture Answered by Edward J. (Edward James) Wickson
If the soil is heavy, top-dress with grit in the fall.
From Making A Rock Garden by H. S. (Henry Sherman) Adams
It is a great nuisance for a public man who is liable to come home late at night to have to top-dress his head before he can retire.
From A Guest at the Ludlow and Other Stories by Edgar Wilson
A deep moist loam suits them best; and as the plants grow and bloom, add bone meal and top-dress with manure.
From Manual of Gardening (Second Edition) by L. H. (Liberty Hyde) Bailey
We've top-dressed both several times, so balls should roll onto the greens.
From Golf Digest ● Aug. 2, 2012
After the bed has borne a little while it is top-dressed all over with a half-inch layer of fine soil.
From Mushrooms: how to grow them a practical treatise on mushroom culture for profit and pleasure by William Falconer
When a piece of land is to be planted in sweet potatoes, it should be top-dressed with some manure, to be dug or ploughed under a week or two before it is to be planted.
To insure an extra yield of this valuable grain, the soil must be highly manured, deeply ploughed, thorough cultivated and hoed, and top-dressed with lime, house ashes, and plaster.
Trees in pots to be shifted, or top-dressed, as may be necessary.
From In-Door Gardening for Every Week in the Year Showing the Most Successful Treatment for all Plants Cultivated in the Greenhouse, Conservatory, Stove, Pit, Orchid, and Forcing-house by William Keane
I prefer to use compost as a top-dressing mulch since that doubles as a fertilizer and soil-health enhancer, but you could also use a 5-10-5 fertilizer sparingly.
From Salon ● May 18, 2022
A thin top-dressing is all that is needed, assuming you mulched this spring.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 13, 2021
When it’s rotted down and mature, you’ll have a material perfect for use as a potting mix or as a top-dressing for the garden.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 20, 2015
Ammonium nitrate fertilizer is also popular for top-dressing pastures at midsummer since it evaporates more slowly than some competitors.
From Slate ● Apr. 18, 2013
At Athabasca Landing they use the water as a top-dressing for the land.
From Seeds of Pine by Janey Canuck
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
