stubble

noun

1. (countable, uncountable, usually)Short, coarse hair, especially on a man’s face.
2. (countable, uncountable, usually)The short stalks left in a field after crops have been harvested.

   “Lord (ſayth he) Put them as a wheele and a ſtoble before the face of the wynde. For as the ſtoble, whyle the wynde bloweth wauereth and flyethe aboue in the ayre, nowe hygh nowe lowe, but anone as the wynde paſſeth it falleth adowne to the erthe and lyeth there ſtylle.”

verb

1. To produce a crop in a field of stubble that remains after a preceding crop is removed, either by sowing a second crop or by allowing shoots to sprout from the roots of the stubble.

   “Here a system ( if it may be called a system ) of stubbling prevails — wheat succeeding wheat for a series of years, and without any material diminution of the yield.”

   “In 1919 the stubbled crop was heavier than either that fallowed or plowed.”

   “Both spring and fall ploughing produced a crop freer from weeds than where the seed was stubbled in.”

   “Because the biggest single expense in producing the crop is planting, good stubbling ability is prized.”