harrow
noun
- heraldic figure
verb
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L331893 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈhæɹəʊ/ / /ˈhæɹoʊ/ / /ˈhɛɹoʊ/
intj
Etymology: 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.
- A call for help, or of distress, alarm etc.
“Harrow, the flames, which me consume (said hee) / Ne can be quencht, within my secret bowels bee.”
name
Etymology: From harrow.
- A surname originating as an occupation for a harrower.
noun
Etymology: From Middle English harwe, harow, from Old English *hearwa (perhaps ultimately cognate with harvest), or from Old Norse harfr/herfi; 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.
- 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.
“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.”
““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.””
- An obstacle formed by turning an ordinary harrow upside down, the frame being buried.
verb
Etymology: From Middle English harwe, harow, from Old English *hearwa (perhaps ultimately cognate with harvest), or from Old Norse harfr/herfi; 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.
- To drag a harrow over; to break up with a harrow.
“Will he harrow the valleys after thee?”
“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.”
- To traumatize or disturb; to torment, distress or vex.
“It harrows me with fear and wonder.”
“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: […]”
- To break or tear, as if with a harrow; to wound; to lacerate.
“my aged muscles harrow'd up with whips”