plowshare
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of plowshare
First recorded in 1350–1400, plowshare is from the Middle English word plowghschare. See plow, share 2
Explanation
A plowshare is a steel blade that cuts the top layer of soil. It's part of a plow. A plowshare is an important part of a plow: you might call it the business end, because it's the part that does the cutting of grass and soil. There are many types of plows, including mechanical plows, riding plows, and handheld blows, but the blade of all of them can be called a plowshare. This word is part of a famous proverb about "beating swords into plowshares," which means to move from war to peace. Plowshare is often spelled ploughshare.
Vocabulary lists containing plowshare
My Brother Sam is Dead
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Harry Belafonte (1927–2023) Tribute List
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Little House in the Big Woods
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“To beat the sword into a plowshare, you need a hammer,” he told St. Louis magazine in 2010.
From New York Times • Aug. 17, 2022
Leaves remembering, sudden as a name Recalled from nowhere, remembering morning, Fresh wind in high grass, cricket on plowshare, Whisper of stream in the green-shadowed place, Thrush and tanager keeping season.
From New York Times • Mar. 15, 2019
A pair of sword and plowshare earrings — a reference, Thum said in a phone interview Wednesday, to the biblical admonition to beat swords into plowshares — goes for $225.
From Chicago Tribune • Oct. 15, 2014
To cut a girl's birth pains, a granny lays a whetted axe beside a plowshare under the bed.
From Time Magazine Archive
"Peace is sweet, my lady ... but on what terms? It is no good hammering your sword into a plowshare if you must forge it again on the morrow."
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
