harvest

[ hahr-vist ]
See synonyms for: harvestharvestedharvesting on Thesaurus.com

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.

  1. a crop or yield of one growing season: Our blackberries are on track to meet or exceed last year's harvest of 30 lbs.: See Synonym Study at crop.

  2. a supply of anything gathered at maturity and stored: The silos held an abundant harvest of wheat.

  3. 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.”

  4. the collection of any resource for future use: Rules were established to limit the harvest of forest resources for fuel and building materials.

  5. 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.

  6. the result or consequence of any act, process, or event: The journey yielded a harvest of wonderful memories.

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.

  1. 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.

  2. to catch, take, or remove (animals), especially for food: Fishermen harvested hundreds of salmon from the river.

  3. to collect (any resource) for future use: to harvest solar energy;spammers who harvest email addresses.

  4. 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.

Origin of harvest

1
First recorded before 950; Middle English; Old English hærfest; cognate with German Herbst “autumn”; akin to Greek karpós “fruit,” Latin carpere “to pluck” (see carpe diem, carpel)

Other words for harvest

Other words from harvest

  • har·vest·a·ble, adjective
  • har·vest·a·bil·i·ty [hahr-vis-tuh-bil-i-tee] /ˌhɑr vɪs təˈbɪl ɪ ti/ 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

Words Nearby harvest

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use harvest in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for harvest

harvest

/ (ˈhɑːvɪst) /


noun
  1. the gathering of a ripened crop

  2. the crop itself or the yield from it in a single growing season

  1. the season for gathering crops

  2. 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)

  1. (tr) mainly US to remove (an organ) from the body for transplantation

Origin of harvest

1
Old English hærfest; related to Old Norse harfr harrow, Old High German herbist autumn, Latin carpere to pluck, Greek karpos fruit, Sanskrit krpāna shears

Derived forms of harvest

  • harvesting, noun
  • harvestless, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012