empolderv.
/ɪmˈpəʊldə/, /ɛmˈpəʊldə/, U.S. /ᵻmˈpoʊldər/, /ɛmˈpoʊldər/ transitive. To make (an area) into a polder or polders (polder n.1) in order to reclaim it from the sea, a river, etc. Cf. impolder v.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > reclamation > reclaim [verb (transitive)] > reclaim from sea
gain1641
recovera1793
empolder1839
impolder1898
1839 R. Semple et al. Let. 25 Nov. in Accts. & Papers: Colonies (House of Commons) (1840) 34 48 An estate of 1,300 acres, all drained, empoldered, and only requiring labourers to plant the whole in canes.
1897 Louisiana Planter & Sugar Manufacturer 29 May 347/1 The initial cost of this work is so great that no large estate has been empoldered since slavery days.
1922 Blackwood's Mag. July 14/2 A few acres have been cleared and empoldered with mud-dams.
1951 New Biol. 11 77 By 1940 flood-fallowing experiments had been begun. An area of 100 acres..was empoldered (i.e. surrounded by earth walls).
1990 Marxism Today Feb. 31/2 We flew over the Zuider Zee, much of which has been empoldered and drained at vast cost.
Derivatives
emˈpoldered adj.
ΚΠ
1850 D. Blair Some Acct. Yellow Fever Epidemic of Brit. Guiana 1 Behind the empoldered lands extends an almost endless succession of creeks, savannahs, and forests.
1958 Times 10 July 11/5 The stout-hearted people of Belize have no prospect of converting their mud-flats into anything resembling the empoldered fertility of Demerara or Berbice.
2011 S. Kubba Iraqi Marshlands & Marsh Arab iv. 80 The irrigation of the date palms and gardens in empoldered areas of the lower levees.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2014; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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