plow

[plou]

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noun

an agricultural implement used for cutting, lifting, turning over, and partly pulverizing soil.

any of various implements resembling or suggesting this, as a kind of plane for cutting grooves or a contrivance for clearing away snow from a road or track.

Type Founding. (formerly) an instrument for cutting the groove in the foot of type.

Bookbinding. a device for trimming the edges of the leaves by hand.

(initial capital letter) Astronomy.

the constellation Ursa Major.
the Big Dipper.

verb (used with object)

to turn up (soil) with a plow.

to make (a furrow) with a plow.

to tear up, cut into, or make a furrow, groove, etc. in (a surface) with or as if with a plow (often followed by up): The tractor plowed up an acre of trees.

to clear by the use of a plow, especially a snowplow (sometimes followed by out): The city's work crews were busily plowing the streets after the blizzard.

to invest, as capital (often followed by into): to plow several hundred million into developing new oil fields.

to reinvest or reutilize (usually followed by back): to plow profits back into new plants and equipment.

(of a ship, boat, animal, etc.)

to cleave the surface of (the water): beavers plowing the pond.
to make (a way) or follow (a course) in this manner: The yacht plowed an easterly course through the choppy Atlantic.

Slang: Vulgar. to have sexual intercourse with.

verb (used without object)

to till the soil or work with a plow.

to take plowing in a specified way: land that plows easily.

to move forcefully through something in the manner of a plow (often followed by through, into, along, etc.): The cop plowed through the crowd, chasing after the thief. The car plowed into our house.

to proceed in a slow, laborious, and steady manner (often followed by through): The researcher plowed through a pile of reports.

to move through water by cleaving the surface: a ship plowing through a turbulent sea.

Verb Phrases

plow under,

to bury under soil by plowing.
to cause to disappear; force out of existence; overwhelm: Many mom-and-pop groceries have been plowed under by the big chain stores.

Also especially British, plough.

Origin of plow

before 1100; Middle English plouh, plugh(e), plough(e), Old English plōh; cognate with German Pflug plow

Related formsplow·a·ble, adjectiveplow·a·bil·i·ty, nounplow·er, nouno·ver·plow, verbre·plow, verb (used with object), re·plowed, re·plow·ing.sub·plow, nounsub·plow, verbun·plow·a·ble, adjectiveun·plowed, adjectivewell-plowed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for plow

Contemporary Examples of plow

Think the Frogtown settlers rinsed their tonsils with something that was “too wet to plow and too thick to drink”?
Toledo: The Town Too Tough for Toxic Water
P. J. O’Rourke
August 4, 2014
No matter: Christman and her conservative sisters remain unbowed and eager to plow ahead.
The 'RedState Women' Wooing Scheme
Michelle Cottle
April 2, 2014
The horse has always been a tool for man, whether it was tied to a plow or pulling a carriage.
De Blasio Whipped by Horse Lobby
Josh Robin
March 8, 2014
Consider, for example, whether it makes sense to plow ever-greater sums into college educations if wages are stagnant?
Don't Have Enough to Worry About? Here's One More Thing: Low Growth May be Here to Stay.
Megan McArdle
March 4, 2013
The only thing left is to tie her to the bed with plow line, but he wants her father to help him do it.
American Dreams: ‘Tobacco Road’ by Erskine Caldwell
Nathaniel Rich
April 30, 2012

Historical Examples of plow

He said he had got to go up to Joe Charnick's to get his plow.
Samantha Among the Brethren, Part 3.
Josiah Allen's Wife (Marietta Holley)
This was something of which the yokels, or men of the plow, often complained.
Welsh Fairy Tales
William Elliott Griffis
The deep roots of the clover penetrated the soil, that no plow ever touched.
The Enclosures in England
Harriett Bradley
I have put my hand to the plow, and it shall not be withdrawn.
Cy Whittaker's Place
Joseph C. Lincoln
But he had his wakeness same as a common man, and it was the Plow Inn at Ramsey.
Capt'n Davy's Honeymoon
Hall Caine

British Dictionary definitions for plow

plow

noun, verb

the usual US spelling of plough

Derived Formsplower, noun

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

Word Origin and History for plow

late Old English plog, ploh "plow; plowland" (a measure of land equal to what a yoke of oxen could plow in a day), possibly from a Scandinavian source (cf. Old Norse plogr "plow," Swedish and Danish plog), from Proto-Germanic *plogo- (cf. Old Saxon plog, Old Frisian ploch "plow," Middle Low German ploch, Middle Dutch ploech, Dutch ploeg, Old High German pfluog, German Pflug), a late word in Germanic, of uncertain origin. Old Church Slavonic plugu, Lithuanian plugas "plow" are Germanic loan-words, as probably is Latin plovus, plovum "plow," a word said by Pliny to be of Rhaetian origin.

Replaced Old English sulh, cognate with Latin sulcus "furrow." As a name for the star pattern also known as the Big Dipper or Charles's Wain, it is attested by early 15c., perhaps early 14c. The three "handle" stars (in the Dipper configuration) generally are seen as the team of oxen pulling the plow, though sometimes they are the handle.

late 14c., from plow (n.). Transferred sense from 1580s. Related: Plowed; plowing.

plow

noun

verb (used with object)

verb (used without object)

Verb Phrases

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Origin of plow

Examples from the Web for plow

Contemporary Examples of plow

Historical Examples of plow

plow

noun, verb