A meadow periodically overflowed by a stream. Also attrib.
1733. Tull, Horse-Hoeing Husb., xiv. 187. This Thrash’d Hay … has been found more nourishing to Horses, than course Water-Meadow Hay.
a. 1789. Wimpey, in T. Wright, Meth. Watering Meadows (1790), 25. A water-meadow is laid out in arched lands similar to the segment of a circle.
1801. Farmer’s Mag., Aug., 254. Water-meadows also, should never be ploughed.
1834. Brit. Husb., I. 529. The advantages arising from water-meadows are too well known to require elucidation.
1853. Dickens, Bleak Ho., xlviii. On the river where the water-meadows are fresh and green.
1868. Morris, Earthly Par., Man born to be King, 1511. Fair with golden sheaves,… Gay with the water-meadows green.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., I. 19/2. As a preparatory step in the formation of water-meadows, it is often considered advisable to under-drain the field.
