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
I am in the dairy business and will have by winter enough manure to top-dress the field.
From One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture Answered by Wickson, Edward J. (Edward James)
After this I top-dress heavy with manure, leaving it lie on the land until spring.
From Asparagus, its culture for home use and for market: a practical treatise on the planting, cultivation, harvesting, marketing, and preserving of asparagus, with notes on its history by Hexamer, F. M.
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 Bailey, L. H. (Liberty Hyde)
If the soil is heavy, top-dress with grit in the fall.
From Making A Rock Garden by Adams, H. S. (Henry Sherman)
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 Falconer, William
Before winter sets in see that the lawn is freely top-dressed.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 7 "Horticulture" to "Hudson Bay" by Various
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 Keane, William
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.
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
I told the carters yesterday when I was top-dressing a field with marl, that I wished them to drive their carts in regular order.
From An Old Story of My Farming Days Vol. I (of III). (Ut Mine Stromtid) by Reuter, Fritz
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.
