harvest

American  

[hahr-vist] / ˈhɑr vɪst /

noun

• harvests
  plural

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.

   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)

• harvests,
  present (3rd person singular)
• harvested,
  past participle,  past
• harvesting
  present participle

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)

• harvests,
  present (3rd person singular)
• harvested,
  past participle,  past
• harvesting
  present participle

1. to gather a crop; reap.

   We saw whole families out in the fields, harvesting.

harvest British  

/ 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

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• harvestability
  noun
• harvesting
  noun
• preharvest
  noun
• reharvest
  verb
• half-harvested
  adjective
• harvestable
  adjective
• harvestless
  adjective
• postharvest
  adjective
• unharvested
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• harvests
  plural

Participles

• harvesting
  present
• harvested
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• harvest
  simple
• harvests
  simple
• have harvested
  perfect
• has harvested
  perfect
• am harvesting
  progressive
• are harvesting
  progressive
• is harvesting
  progressive
• have been harvesting
  perfect progressive
• has been harvesting
  perfect progressive

Past

• harvested
  simple
• had harvested
  perfect
• was harvesting
  progressive
• were harvesting
  progressive
• had been harvesting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will harvest
  simple
• will have harvested
  perfect
• will be harvesting
  progressive
• will have been harvesting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of harvest

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)

Explanation

The harvest is the time when you reap what you sow. As a verb, to harvest something means that you pick or gather it. You might harvest your sweet corn late in the summer. As a noun, harvest means the time of year when crops are ripe and ready to be gathered. The picked crop is also called a harvest: a bumper crop is a plentiful harvest, and a poor harvest is when things didn’t grow as well as expected. As a verb, to harvest something is to gather, trap, or cull it. You can harvest a soybean crop, you can harvest beaver pelts, or you can harvest tissues or organs for transplants.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

harvest harvests harvested harvesting

Britain’s harvest may be the smallest on record, driving up already high food prices, according to the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, a U.K. nonprofit.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026

Daniel Barbou, an 84-year-old grape picker, joined a small army of laborers in the scramble to harvest.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026

However, here in the UK the extreme heat of the summer has meant the harvest has been earlier this year for many.

From BBC ● Aug. 28, 2026

This is at least three weeks' early for harvest, but they are not picking up the fruit to make cider.

From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026

The town was over a hundred miles away, and since the harvest had been a poor one and Selvam was earning very little we had not the money to go by rail.

From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya

Levels of soil moisture across the Iberian Peninsula, France, Germany, Austria and Hungary were the lowest in a data set going back to 1979, hitting harvests.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026

Three winemakers earlier this month filed suit against the owner of Hundred Acre Wines, Jayson Woodbridge, and his company alleging that smoke from the wildfire ruined their harvests, the Press Democrat reported.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2026

That episode was blamed for chocolate-price inflation after floods followed by dry winds devastated cocoa harvests in key producers Ivory Coast and Ghana.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026

In France, farmers are bracing for their smallest corn crop since 1980, and winegrowers are reporting some of the earliest harvests on record.

From Barron's ● Aug. 26, 2026

Then he mingled with the townspeople and asked them many questions, about their crops, their harvests, the life they led.

From "Crispin: The Cross of Lead" by Avi

More than 200 parameters go into creating the “perfect Pringle,” from the flour’s particle size and the dough’s humidity to the geography where the potatoes were harvested, according to Laenen.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

"This year is historic because the grapes have never been harvested in July before," said Matteo Castellani, head of the Coldiretti farming union for Casteggio, south of Pavia.

From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026

The pristine farms, forests, ocean and rivers serve as the country’s pantry, where Māori food is regional, and ingredients are harvested based on seasonality and availability.

From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2026

Antivenom is manufactured by providing a small dose of the harvested venom into either a sheep or horse, which trigger’s the animal’s immune system into creating antibodies.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026

She harvested all her plants from the little island—leaves, seeds, and roots—leaving nothing to replant in the rainy season.

From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer

The agency intends to rescind a 2001 rule that blocked most development and timber harvesting in certain national forests, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Tuesday.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

"Cytology brushes can be used when dry and do an excellent job of harvesting cellular material without damaging the integrity of the artifact being sampled," says Breen.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 11, 2026

A short distance away from Al-Louh, a group of farmers was harvesting eggplants even though they were still unripe, knowing they probably wouldn’t get another chance.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2026

Lucie Demirdjian, another winemaker in the neighbouring village of Ponteves, was among those waiting for results from the laboratory before harvesting.

From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026

One of the seasonal workers Uncle John hired to help with planting and harvesting was named Mister Phiri, a man of near-heavenly strength.

From "The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind" by William Kamkwamba

Related Words

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