plough

American  

[plou] / plaʊ /

noun

Chiefly British.

1. plow.

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plough ¹ British  

/ plaʊ /

noun

1. an agricultural implement with sharp blades, attached to a horse, tractor, etc, for cutting or turning over the earth

2. any of various similar implements, such as a device for clearing snow

3. a plane with a narrow blade for cutting grooves in wood

4. (in agriculture) ploughed land

5. to begin or undertake a task

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verb

1. to till (the soil) with a plough

2. to make (furrows or grooves) in (something) with or as if with a plough

3. to move (through something) in the manner of a plough

   the ship ploughed the water

4. to work at slowly or perseveringly

5. (intr; foll by into or through) (of a vehicle) to run uncontrollably into something in its path

   the plane ploughed into the cottage roof

6. (tr; foll by in, up, under, etc) to turn over (a growing crop, manure, etc) into the earth with a plough

7. slang  (intr) to fail an examination

Plough ² British  

/ plaʊ /

noun

1. Usual US name: the Big Dipper.  Also known as: Charles's Wain.  the group of the seven brightest stars in the constellation Ursa Major

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Other Word Forms

• plougher noun
• unploughed adjective

Etymology

Origin of plough

Old English plōg plough land; related to Old Norse plogr, Old High German pfluoc

Example Sentences

Foxconn has seen profits soar as it shifts focus from low-margin iPhone assembly to artificial intelligence servers that are now in huge demand as firms plough hundreds of billions of dollars into the technology.

From Barron's

The world's biggest tech companies are ploughing head-spinningly huge sums into building the hardware that powers artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT.

From Barron's

It soon rendered fields impossible to plough, as lines of the goblet-shaped bushes, many of them three feet across, formed impenetrable natural fences in the paths of tractors.

From The Wall Street Journal

Nine people have been injured, with one in critical condition, after a car ploughed into a crowd at a racing event in southeastern Australia, police said.

From Barron's

With more than 1,200 pages to plough through, it's often regarded as the Everest of literature with prose as insurmountable as the famed peak.

From BBC