harry
- to harass, annoy, or prove a nuisance to by or as if by repeated attacks; worry: He was harried by constant doubts.
- to ravage, as in war; devastate: The troops harried the countryside.
- to make harassing incursions.
Origin of harry
Synonyms
See more synonyms for harry on Thesaurus.comHarry
Lawes
- HenryHarry, 1596–1662, English composer.
- Lewis E(dward),1883–1947, U.S. penologist.
Examples from the Web for harry
Contemporary Examples
There is, fortunately, not too much telling of the future in Harry Potter.
President Harry Truman kept a sign on his desk that read: “The Buck Stops Here.”
“A guy drives up in a 2008 Mercedes, brand new,” Harry S. Connelly Jr. says in the video, according to the Times.
In 1951, Harry Truman fired Gen. Douglas MacArthur during the Korean War.
The biggest misfire here, though, was the notion that anyone would believe that this dude looked at all like Prince Harry.
The Biggest Bombs of 2014: ‘Sex Tape,’ Mariah Carey’s Vocals, ‘How I Met Your Mother’ and MoreKevin Fallon
December 19, 2014
Historical Examples
Birkenholt, sir,” answered Ambrose, “but our uncle is Harry Randall.
The Armourer's PrenticesCharlotte M. Yonge
Kate and Harry, meanwhile, awaited their opportunity to go in and visit Aunt Jane.
MalboneThomas Wentworth Higginson
She saw with amazement, and walked on quickly that Harry might not also see.
MalboneThomas Wentworth Higginson
"And have left her no other resource," said Harry, coloring still more.
MalboneThomas Wentworth Higginson
Passing the Jewish cemetery, Kate and Harry paused a moment.
MalboneThomas Wentworth Higginson
harry
- (tr) to harass; worry
- to ravage (a town, etc), esp in war
Word Origin
Lawes
- Henry. 1596–1662, English composer, noted for his music for Milton's masque Comus (1634) and for his settings of some of Robert Herrick's poems
- his brother, William . 1602–45, English composer, noted for his harmonically experimental instrumental music
Word Origin and History for harry
v.
Old English hergian "make war, lay waste, ravage, plunder," the word used in the "Anglo-Saxon Chronicle" for what the Vikings did to England, from Proto-Germanic verb *harohan (cf. Old Frisian urheria "lay waste, ravage, plunder," Old Norse herja "to make a raid, to plunder," Old Saxon and Old High German herion, German verheeren "to destroy, lay waste, devastate"), from *harjaz "an armed force" (cf. Old English here, Old Norse herr "crowd, great number; army, troop," Old Saxon and Old Frisian heri, Dutch heir, Old High German har, German Heer "host, army," Gothic harjis), from PIE root *koro- "war" (cf. Lithuanian karas "war, quarrel," karias "host, army;" Old Church Slavonic kara "strife;" Middle Irish cuire "troop;" Old Persian kara "host, people, army;" Greek koiranos "ruler, leader, commander"). Weakened sense of "worry, goad, harass" is from c.1400. Related: Harried; harrying.
Harry
masc. proper name, a familiar form of Henry. Weekley takes the overwhelming number of Harris and Harrison surnames as evidence that "Harry," not "Henry," was the Middle English pronunciation of Henry. Also cf. Harriet, English equivalent of French Henriette, fem. diminutive of Henri. Nautical slang Harriet Lane "preserved meat" (1896) refers to a famous murder victim whose killer allegedly chopped up her body.