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From Nordan Symposia
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[[File:lighterstill.jpg]][[File:Meadow_with_buttercups.jpg|right|frame]]
==Origin==
[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._1100-1500_.09THE_MIDDLE_ENGLISH_PERIOD Middle English] medwe, from [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._600-1100.09THE_OLD_ENGLISH.2C_OR_ANGLO-SAXON_PERIOD Old English] ''mǣdwe'', oblique case form of ''mǣd''; akin to Old English ''māwan'' to mow
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12th_century before 12th Century]
==Definition==
*1: [[land]] that is covered or mostly covered with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grass grass]; especially : a tract of moist low-lying usually level grassland
==Description==
A '''meadow''' is a field vegetated primarily by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grass grass] and other non-woody plants (grassland). The term is from Old English ''mædwe''. In [[agriculture]] a meadow is grassland which is not grazed by domestic livestock but rather allowed to grow unchecked in order to make [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hay hay]. It may be naturally occurring or [[artificially]] created from cleared woodland.
Especially in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom United Kingdom] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ireland Ireland], the term meadow is commonly used in its original sense to mean a haymeadow, signifying grassland mown annually in the [[summer]] for making hay. "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasture Pasture]" is the term used in [[contrast]] for land which is grazed throughout the summer, which may include grassland ("grass pasture"), but also includes non-grassland [[habitats]] such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heathland heathland], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moorland moorland] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_pasture wood pasture]. "Grassland" is used to include both meadow and grass pasture.
A transitional meadow occurs when a field, pasture, farmland, or other cleared [[land]] is no longer grazed by livestock and starts to display luxuriant [[growth]] extending to the flowering and seeding of its grass and wild flower species. The condition is however only temporary because the grasses [[eventually]] become shaded out when scrub and woody plants become well-established, being the forerunners of the return to a fully wooded state.
In North America prior to European [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonization colonization], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algonquian_peoples Algonquian], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois Iroquois] and other [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States Native American] people regularly cleared areas of [[forest]] to create transitional meadows where deer could find nutrition and be [[hunted]]. Many places named "Deerfield" are located at sites where Native Americans once practiced this form of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_management land management].[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meadow]
[[Category: Ecology]]
==Origin==
[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._1100-1500_.09THE_MIDDLE_ENGLISH_PERIOD Middle English] medwe, from [http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=English#ca._600-1100.09THE_OLD_ENGLISH.2C_OR_ANGLO-SAXON_PERIOD Old English] ''mǣdwe'', oblique case form of ''mǣd''; akin to Old English ''māwan'' to mow
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12th_century before 12th Century]
==Definition==
*1: [[land]] that is covered or mostly covered with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grass grass]; especially : a tract of moist low-lying usually level grassland
==Description==
A '''meadow''' is a field vegetated primarily by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grass grass] and other non-woody plants (grassland). The term is from Old English ''mædwe''. In [[agriculture]] a meadow is grassland which is not grazed by domestic livestock but rather allowed to grow unchecked in order to make [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hay hay]. It may be naturally occurring or [[artificially]] created from cleared woodland.
Especially in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom United Kingdom] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ireland Ireland], the term meadow is commonly used in its original sense to mean a haymeadow, signifying grassland mown annually in the [[summer]] for making hay. "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasture Pasture]" is the term used in [[contrast]] for land which is grazed throughout the summer, which may include grassland ("grass pasture"), but also includes non-grassland [[habitats]] such as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heathland heathland], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moorland moorland] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_pasture wood pasture]. "Grassland" is used to include both meadow and grass pasture.
A transitional meadow occurs when a field, pasture, farmland, or other cleared [[land]] is no longer grazed by livestock and starts to display luxuriant [[growth]] extending to the flowering and seeding of its grass and wild flower species. The condition is however only temporary because the grasses [[eventually]] become shaded out when scrub and woody plants become well-established, being the forerunners of the return to a fully wooded state.
In North America prior to European [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonization colonization], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algonquian_peoples Algonquian], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iroquois Iroquois] and other [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States Native American] people regularly cleared areas of [[forest]] to create transitional meadows where deer could find nutrition and be [[hunted]]. Many places named "Deerfield" are located at sites where Native Americans once practiced this form of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_management land management].[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meadow]
[[Category: Ecology]]
