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Webster 1913 Edition

Harrow

Har′row

(hăr′rō̍)
,
Noun.
[OE.
harowe
,
harwe
, AS.
hearge
; cf. D.
hark
rake, G.
harke
, Icel.
herfi
harrow, Dan.
harve
, Sw.
harf
. √16.]
1.
An implement of agriculture, usually formed of pieces of timber or metal crossing each other, and set with iron or wooden teeth. It is drawn over plowed land to level it and break the clods, to stir the soil and make it fine, or to cover seed when sown.
2.
(Mil.)
An obstacle formed by turning an ordinary harrow upside down, the frame being buried.
Bush harrow
,
a kind of light harrow made of bushes, for harrowing grass lands and covering seeds, or to finish the work of a toothed harrow.
–
Drill harrow
.
See under 6th
Drill
.
–
Under the harrow
,
subjected to actual torture with a toothed instrument, or to great affliction or oppression.

Har′row

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Harrowed
(hăr′rō̍d)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Harrowing
.]
[OE.
harowen
,
harwen
; cf. Dan.
harve
. See
Harrow
,
Noun.
]
1.
To draw a harrow over, as for the purpose of breaking clods and leveling the surface, or for covering seed;
as, to
harrow
land
.
Will he
harrow
the valleys after thee?
Job xxxix. 10.
2.
To break or tear, as with a harrow; to wound; to lacerate; to torment or distress; to vex.
My aged muscles
harrowed
up with whips.
Rowe.
I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word
Would
harrow
up thy soul.
Shakespeare

Har′row

,
int
erj.
[OF.
harau
,
haro
; fr. OHG.
hara
,
hera
,
herot
, or fr. OS.
herod
hither, akin to E.
here
.]
Help! Halloo! An exclamation of distress; a call for succor; – the ancient Norman hue and cry.
“Harrow and well away!”
Spenser.
Harrow
! alas! here lies my fellow slain.
Chaucer.

Har′row

,
Verb.
T.
[See
Harry
.]
To pillage; to harry; to oppress.
[Obs.]
Spenser.
Meaning thereby to
harrow
his people.
Bacon

Webster 1828 Edition

Harrow

HAR'ROW

,
Noun.
An instrument of agriculture, formed of pieces of timber sometimes crossing each other, and set with iron teeth. It is drawn over plowed land to level it and break the clods, and to cover seed when sown.

HAR'ROW

,
Verb.
T.
To draw a harrow over, for the purpose of breaking clods and leveling the surface, or for covering seed sown; as, to harrow land or ground.
1.
To break or tear with a harrow.
Will he harrow the valleys after thee? Job.39.
2.
To tear; to lacerate; to torment.
I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul--
3.
To pillage; to strip; to lay waste by violence. [Not used.]
4.
To disturb; to agitate.

Definition 2024

Harrow

Harrow

See also: harrow

English

Proper noun

Harrow

  1. a town in north-west London, England.
  2. a London Borough within Greater London.
  3. A prestigious public school for boys in the town of Harrow.
  4. A surname​.

harrow

harrow

See also: Harrow

English

Harrow

Noun

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, trans. Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina, Oxford 1998, p. 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 1995, p. 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.
Translations
See also

Verb

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

  1. To drag a harrow over; to break up with a harrow.
    • Bible, Job xxxix. 10
      Will he harrow the valleys after thee?
    • 1719 Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
      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. To traumatize or disturb; to frighten or torment.
    The headless horseman harrowed Ichabod Crane as he tried to reach the bridge.
  3. To break or tear, as with a harrow; to wound; to lacerate; to torment or distress; to vex.
    • Rowe
      my aged muscles harrowed up with whips
    • Shakespeare
      I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word / Would harrow up thy soul.
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

From Old French haro, harou, of uncertain origin.

Interjection

harrow

  1. (obsolete) A call for help, or of distress, alarm etc.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, II.vi:
      Harrow, the flames, which me consume (said hee) / Ne can be quencht, within my secret bowels bee.

References

  1. ↑ According to ODS eng. harrow maaske laant fra nordisk, Eng. harrow probably loaned from Norse

Etymology

From Middle English harow, harowe, haru, harwe, from Old English *hearwe or *hearġe (perhaps ultimately cognate with harvest), or from Old Norse harfr/herfi[1]; compare Danish harve ‎(“harrow”), Dutch hark ‎(“rake”). Akin to Latin carpere.

Pronunciation

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