harvest

[ hahr-vist ]

noun

1. the gathering of crops:

   Drought has delayed the harvest of corn, peanuts, potatoes, and other vegetables.

2. the season when ripened crops are gathered:

   All through springtime, summer, and harvest, she waited for him.

3. a crop or yield of one growing season: crop

   Our blackberries are on track to meet or exceed last year's harvest of 30 lbs.

4. a supply of anything gathered at maturity and stored:

   The silos held an abundant harvest of wheat.

5. the taking or removal of animals to be killed for food or other uses:

   Some have called the harvest of nautilus shells for jewelry and ornaments a “horrendous slaughter.”

6. the collection of any resource for future use:

   Rules were established to limit the harvest of forest resources for fuel and building materials.

7. the extraction of an organ or tissue from a body for the purpose of transplant or scientific research:

   The new method could improve the harvest of stem cells from umbilical cord blood.

8. the result or consequence of any act, process, or event:

   The journey yielded a harvest of wonderful memories.

   Synonyms: return, product, collection, accumulation

verb (used with object)

1. to gather (a crop or the like); reap:

   It’s time to harvest the corn.

2. to gather the crop from:

   The farmer hired a few day laborers to help harvest his fields.

3. to gain, win, or use (a prize, product, or result of any past act, process, etc.):

   The country hopes to harvest dividends from staging a problem-free Olympics next year.

4. to catch, take, or remove (animals), especially for food:

   Fishermen harvested hundreds of salmon from the river.

5. to collect (any resource) for future use:

   to harvest solar energy;

   spammers who harvest email addresses.

6. to extract (an organ or tissue) from a living or dead body, as for transplantation or research:

   to harvest a kidney;

   to harvest embryos.

verb (used without object)

1. to gather a crop; reap:

   We saw whole families out in the fields, harvesting.

harvest

/ ˈhɑːvɪst /

noun

1. the gathering of a ripened crop
2. the crop itself or the yield from it in a single growing season
3. the season for gathering crops
4. the product of an effort, action, etc

   a harvest of love

verb

1. to gather or reap (a ripened crop) from (the place where it has been growing)
2. tr to receive or reap (benefits, consequences, etc)
3. tr to remove (an organ) from the body for transplantation

Derived Forms

• ˈharvesting, noun
• ˈharvestless, adjective

Other Words From

• har·vest·a·ble adjective
• har·vest·a·bil·i·ty [hahr-vis-t, uh, -, bil, -i-tee], noun
• har·vest·less adjective
• half-har·vest·ed adjective
• post·har·vest adjective
• pre·har·vest noun
• re·har·vest verb
• un·har·vest·ed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of harvest¹

First recorded before 950; Middle English; Old English hærfest; cognate with German Herbst “autumn”; akin to Greek karpós “fruit,” Latin carpere “to pluck” ( carpe diem, carpel )

Word History and Origins

Origin of harvest¹

Old English hærfest; related to Old Norse harfr harrow, Old High German herbist autumn, Latin carpere to pluck, Greek karpos fruit, Sanskrit krpāna shears

Example Sentences

After 50 years, members of the Huna Tlingit people can finally collect harvest sea gull eggs again in Glacier National Park.

From The Daily Beast

These villages used to harvest rubber, cacao, palm oil, and coffee beans.

From The Daily Beast

Their “livelihoods and harvest,” as Brown describes it, were stripped away from them.

From The Daily Beast

Everything in life, from governance to harvest to warfare, was suffused with sacred meaning until the advent of the Enlightenment.

From The Daily Beast

Roberts estimated that close to 95 percent of all wineries have returned to harvest production.

From The Daily Beast

But the withering mildew was now breathed forth, that was intended to blast this goodly harvest.

From Project Gutenberg

They are religious who reap a great harvest among souls in this newly-christianized land.

From Project Gutenberg

I may be tempted to postpone my retirement, and for a while longer to continue to gather the golden harvest that ripens round me.

From Project Gutenberg

A rich harvest was offered in New France, where the natives lived almost like animals, without any knowledge of God.

From Project Gutenberg

When the harvest time arrives in December, each tenant carries his crop to the mill for grinding.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• accumulate
• amass
• collect
• gather
• hoard
• mow
• pick
• pluck
• reap
• take in