Definition

Verb: * To plant seeds, seedlings, or crops in a pattern of intersecting straight lines, forming a grid of squares or rectangles. This method allows for cultivation in two directions (cross-cultivation).

Usage

This is a specific agricultural term. It describes the action of planting in a precise, grid-like arrangement. * The farmer used a special planter to checkrow the cornfield. * To maximize yield, they decided to checkrow the soybean crop this season.

Examples

• "Before modern drilling equipment, many farmers would checkrow their fields by hand, using marked strings as guides."
• "The agricultural extension agent recommended they checkrow the pumpkins to make weeding and harvesting easier."

Advanced Usage

• The term is often used in the passive voice or as a past participle to describe a field's state.
  • The field was checkrowed for more efficient mechanical cultivation.
• It can be used figuratively to describe arranging objects or people in a very orderly, grid-like pattern, though this is less common.
  • The general checkrowed the troops on the parade ground.

Variants and Related Words

• Checkrow (noun): A row of plants arranged so that plants in adjacent rows are aligned opposite the spaces in the neighboring rows, forming the grid pattern.
  • The corn grew tall in neat checkrows.
• Checkrow planter (noun): A type of planting machine designed specifically to sow seeds in a checkrow pattern.

Synonyms

• Plant in a grid
• Plant in squares
• Cross-plant (less common)

Antonyms

• Drill (to plant in continuous, closely spaced rows)
• Broadcast (to scatter seeds evenly over an area)

Notes

"Checkrow" is a compound word formed from "check" (meaning a pattern of squares, like a checkerboard) and "row." As a verb, it is a closed compound. Its usage is primarily technical and historical, relating to traditional and precision farming techniques.

Verb

1. plant in checkrows