plough

[ plou ]
See synonyms for plough on Thesaurus.com
noun, verb (used with or without object)Chiefly British.

Other words from plough

  • un·ploughed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use plough in a sentence

  • Weeds have “evolved to grow in unsettled earth and damaged landscapes”–ploughed fields, say, and bombsites.

    The Best of Brit Lit | Peter Stothard | December 17, 2010 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • The road was a bullock track, a swamp of mud amid the larger swamp of the ploughed land and jungle.

    The Red Year | Louis Tracy
  • A pheasant got up across a ploughed field where in the mild season the young corn was already green.

    Marriage la mode | Mrs. Humphry Ward
  • Hence the furrows are not ploughed close together, for the roots when crowded impede the sprouting of the plant.

  • He built himself a house; he ploughed the land; and then he made a lime-kiln on the very borders of the fairies' home.

    Our Little Irish Cousin | Mary Hazelton Wade
  • And brains at their best are only a ploughed field teeming always and forever with the worries of incalculable harvests.

    Molly Make-Believe | Eleanor Hallowell Abbott

British Dictionary definitions for plough (1 of 2)

plough

esp US plow

/ (plaʊ) /


noun
  1. an agricultural implement with sharp blades, attached to a horse, tractor, etc, for cutting or turning over the earth

  2. any of various similar implements, such as a device for clearing snow

  1. a plane with a narrow blade for cutting grooves in wood

  2. (in agriculture) ploughed land

  3. put one's hand to the plough to begin or undertake a task

verb
  1. to till (the soil) with a plough

  2. to make (furrows or grooves) in (something) with or as if with a plough

  1. (when intr, usually foll by through) to move (through something) in the manner of a plough: the ship ploughed the water

  2. (intr foll by through) to work at slowly or perseveringly

  3. (intr; foll by into or through) (of a vehicle) to run uncontrollably into something in its path: the plane ploughed into the cottage roof

  4. (tr; foll by in, up, under, etc) to turn over (a growing crop, manure, etc) into the earth with a plough

  5. (intr) British slang to fail an examination

Origin of plough

1
Old English plōg plough land; related to Old Norse plogr, Old High German pfluoc

Derived forms of plough

  • plougher or esp US plower, noun

British Dictionary definitions for Plough (2 of 2)

Plough

/ (plaʊ) /


noun
  1. the Plough the group of the seven brightest stars in the constellation Ursa Major: Also known as: Charles's Wain Usual US name: the Big Dipper

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