harness

American  

[hahr-nis] / ˈhɑr nɪs /

noun

• harnesses
  plural

1. the combination of straps, bands, and other parts forming the working gear of a draft animal.

2. (on a loom) the frame containing heddles through which the warp is drawn and which, in combination with another such frame or other frames, forms the shed and determines the woven pattern.

3. the equipment, as straps, bolts, or gears, by which a large bell is mounted and rung.

4. Electricity. wiring harness.

5. armor for persons or horses.

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verb (used with object)

• harnesses,
  present (3rd person singular)
• harnessed,
  past participle,  past
• harnessing
  present participle

1. to put a harness on (a horse, donkey, dog, etc.); attach by a harness, as to a vehicle.

2. to bring under conditions for effective use; gain control over for a particular end.

   to harness water power; to harness the energy of the sun.

   Synonyms:

   exploit, utilize, manage, control

3. Archaic. to array in armor or equipments of war.

idioms

1. in double harness. double harness.

2. in harness,

   1. engaged in one's usual routine of work.

      After his illness he longed to get back in harness.

   2. together as cooperating partners or equals.

      Joe and I worked in harness on our last job.

harness British  

/ ˈhɑːnɪs /

noun

1. an arrangement of leather straps buckled or looped together, fitted to a draught animal in order that the animal can be attached to and pull a cart

2. something resembling this, esp for attaching something to the body

   a parachute harness

3. mountaineering an arrangement of webbing straps that enables a climber to attach himself to the rope so that the impact of a fall is minimized

4. the total system of electrical leads for a vehicle or aircraft

5. weaving the part of a loom that raises and lowers the warp threads, creating the shed

6. archaic armour collectively

7. at one's routine work

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verb

1. to put harness on (a horse)

2. (usually foll by to) to attach (a draught animal) by means of harness to (a cart, etc)

3. to control so as to employ the energy or potential power of

   to harness the atom

4. to equip or clothe with armour

harness More Idioms  

1. see die with one's boots on (in harness) in harness.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• harnesser
  noun
• reharness
  verb (used with object)
• harness-like
  adjective
• harnessless
  adjective
• harnesslike
  adjective
• well-harnessed
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• harnesses
  plural

Participles

• harnessing
  present
• harnessed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• harness
  simple
• harnesses
  simple
• have harnessed
  perfect
• has harnessed
  perfect
• am harnessing
  progressive
• are harnessing
  progressive
• is harnessing
  progressive
• have been harnessing
  perfect progressive
• has been harnessing
  perfect progressive

Past

• harnessed
  simple
• had harnessed
  perfect
• was harnessing
  progressive
• were harnessing
  progressive
• had been harnessing
  perfect progressive

Future

• will harness
  simple
• will have harnessed
  perfect
• will be harnessing
  progressive
• will have been harnessing
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of harness

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English harneis, herneis, from Old French herneis “baggage, equipment,” from Old Norse hernest (unrecorded) “provisions for an armed force,” equivalent to herr “army” ( cf. harbor, herald) + nest “provisions for a journey”

Explanation

A harness is a set of straps that are put on a horse so it can be hitched to a wagon or a carriage. The harness distributes the effort across larger sections of the horse's body. Other animals and people can also wear harnesses. Your dog might have a harness for walking, with the leash attaching to the harness and not the collar, keeping the dog from choking itself when it pulls. People wear harnesses for safety, when climbing trees or bungee jumping, for example. As a verb, harness means to control or direct as if with a harness for a specific purpose, the way solar power harnesses the power of the sun.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

harness harnesses harnessed harnessing

The panels, which power the TPUs, are expected to harness up to eight times as much energy as a solar panel on Earth.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026

Bennett says you can harness the power of being different.

From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026

The Pleiadians would then harness spiritual energy from subatomic tachyon particles in order to heal me, performing what Tourtsakis referred to as “surgeries.”

From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2026

Police are also racing to harness the technology, putting on training courses and stocking up on the machines and counter-drone devices such as handheld jammers.

From Barron's ● Sep. 9, 2026

When I lost the hat it was a hot day and I had taken the hat off while I worked on a dog’s harness.

From "Woodsong" by Gary Paulsen

That harnesses a network of roughly 200 task forces comprising over 4,000 personnel from federal, state and local agencies.

From Salon ● Jul. 23, 2026

He’s long advocated for lap belts or safety harnesses on theme park rides.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026

The three men were wearing harnesses that appear to be attached to a security rope.

From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2026

This limits event risk and harnesses time decay, the term for how options lose value each day closer to expiration.

From Barron's ● Apr. 8, 2026

Back in the shillelagh days, there were no fancy polymer harnesses, no auto thrusters, and certainly no external monitors.

From "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer

A mechanism that allows healthy tissue to recover from devastating damage could potentially be harnessed to improve healing.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 18, 2026

From its early days, the store, called JapanLA, harnessed the internet to promote its products, using MySpace to connect with what was at the time a niche community: Los Angeles fans of kawaii culture.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026

Winston Churchill harnessed the power of radio, but thought television a vulgar diversion.

From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026

It is a position the iPhone-maker hasn’t found itself in since Cook harnessed the company’s purchasing power to squeeze rock-bottom costs from suppliers and shift expensive assets from Apple’s balance sheet to theirs.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026

It was while we were looking for a safe place to settle down that we saw it: A lame donkey harnessed to a dilapidated old wagon was making its way down the road toward us.

From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall

"The first impression was, well, I thought it was completely irrelevant," says Diamos, a pioneer in harnessing Nvidia's powerful GPU chips for AI.

From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026

But since Aug. 9, when they began harnessing the power of Ryonex, every single one of their meme carousels has racked up tens of thousands of likes.

From Slate ● Aug. 28, 2026

For those developing AI tools which are designed to take actions on a person's behalf, there is a careful balance to be struck between harnessing their benefits and exposing their risks.

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026

His truck, selling hot dogs, empanadas and fried shrimp, runs on rechargeable batteries as part of a city pilot aimed at cutting harmful noise and air pollution by harnessing electric energy.

From Barron's ● Jul. 25, 2026

That glossy team, Firebright and Daybright, the Dawn’s horses that draw her heavenward for men—Athena stayed their harnessing.

From "The Odyssey" by Homer

Related Words

• curb
• exploit
• mobilize
• tackle
• tame
• utilize