harrow

 

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Harrow (tool)

Wikipedia

 

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈhæɹəʊ/
• (US, without the Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /ˈhæɹoʊ/
• (US, Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /ˈhɛɹoʊ/

• Audio (US, without the Mary–marry–merry merger):

  (file)

• Audio (US, Mary–marry–merry merger):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æɹəʊ

From Middle English harwe, harow, from Old English *hearwa (perhaps ultimately cognate with harvest), or from Old Norse harfr/herfi;^[1] compare Danish harve (“harrow”), Dutch hark (“rake”). Akin to Latin carpere. According to the OED, the verb senses are partly derived from the noun sense, partly from a by-form of the verb harry, itself from Old English hergian.^[2]

harrow (plural harrows)

1. A device consisting of a heavy framework having several disks or teeth in a row, which is dragged across ploughed land to smooth or break up the soil, to remove weeds or cover seeds; a harrow plow.
   • 1918, Louise & Aylmer Maude, Anna Karenina, Oxford, translation of original by Leo Tolstoy, published 1998, page 153:

     He sent for the carpenter, who was under contract to be with the threshing-machine, but it turned out that he was mending the harrows, which should have been mended the week before Lent.

   • 1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter X:

     “It may be fun for her,” I said with one of my bitter laughs, “but it isn't so diverting for the unfortunate toads beneath the harrow whom she plunges so ruthlessly in the soup.”

   • 1969, Bessie Head, When Rain Clouds Gather, Heinemann, published 1995, page 28:

     Part of your job would be to learn tractor ploughing and the use of planters, harrows, and cultivators.

2. (military) An obstacle formed by turning an ordinary harrow upside down, the frame being buried.

• spring-tooth harrow

harrow (third-person singular simple present harrows, present participle harrowing, simple past and past participle harrowed)

1. (transitive) To drag a harrow over; to break up with a harrow.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 39:10:

     Will he harrow the valleys after thee?

   • 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC:

     When the corn was sown, I had no harrow, but was forced to go over it myself, and drag a great heavy bough of a tree over it, to scratch it, as it may be called, rather than rake or harrow it.

2. (transitive) To traumatize or disturb; to frighten or torment.

   Synonyms: anguish, distress, trouble; see also Thesaurus:vex

   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

     It harrows me with fear and wonder.

   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v], page 257, column 2:

     I could a Tale vnfold, vvhoſe lighteſt vvord / VVould harrovv vp thy ſoule, freeze thy young blood, / Make thy tvvo eyes like Starres, ſtart from their Spheres, / Thy knotty and combined locks to part, / And each particular haire to ſtand an end, / Like Quilles vpon the fretfull Porpentine: […]

   • 1820, Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow:

     The headless horseman harrowed Ichabod Crane as he tried to reach the bridge.

4. (transitive) To break or tear, as if with a harrow; to wound; to lacerate; to torment or distress; to vex.

   Synonyms: damage, harm, torture; see also Thesaurus:harm, Thesaurus:hurt

   • 1707, Nicholas Rowe, The Royal Convert:

     my aged muscles harrow'd up with whips

• harrowing
• harrowing of hell
• harrow up

From Middle English harrow, harrowe, haro, from Old French haro, harou, harau, harol, from Frankish *harot, *hara (“here; hither”), from *hēr. Akin to Old Saxon herod, Old High German herot, Middle Dutch hare.

harrow

1. (obsolete) A call for help, or of distress, alarm etc.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Harrow, the flames, which me consume (said hee) / Ne can be quencht, within my secret bowels bee.

• Rowrah