top-dress

[top-dres]

See more synonyms for top-dress on Thesaurus.com

verb (used with object), top-dressed or top-drest, top-dress·ing.

to manure (land) on the surface.

Origin of top-dress

First recorded in 1725–35; top¹ + dress

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for top-dress

impregnate, enrich, mulch, compost, propagate, inseminate, germinate, pollinate, feed, manure, fructify, fecundate, beget, breed, cover, procreate, treat, dress, generate, lime

Examples from the Web for top-dress

Historical Examples of top-dress

In fall, top-dress the Lawn with commercial fertilizer at the rate of 500 pounds to the acre.
The Practical Garden-Book
C. E. Hunn
After this I top-dress heavy with manure, leaving it lie on the land until spring.
Asparagus, its culture for home use and for market:
F. M. Hexamer
You may leave them undisturbed for years, but if you can top-dress them in autumn so much the better.
The Children's Book of Gardening
Mrs. Alfred Sidgwick

British Dictionary definitions for top-dress

top-dress

verb

(tr) to spread manure or fertilizer on the surface of (land) without working it into the soil

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012