plow under

Idioms and Phrases

Cause to vanish, overwhelm, as in The independent bookstores are being plowed under by the large chains . This term alludes to the farmer's burying vegetation by turning it into the soil with a plow. [Second half of 1900s]

Example Sentences

Green crops, to plow under, are in many places largely raised, and are always beneficial.

From Project Gutenberg

It makes a good growth during the fall and early winter and is in blossom and ready to cut or plow under in April or May.

From Project Gutenberg

The cotton is grown for market, the corn partly to sell, partly to feed, the oats to feed and the cowpeas to plow under.

From Project Gutenberg

In the spring plow it under, and you plow under all the nitrogen that the plants had collected the previous year.

From Project Gutenberg

You don't get quite the same benefit from the green manure when you pasture as when you plow under.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• beat
• clobber
• drub
• edge
• knock out
• outplay
• overpower
• take
• thrash
• trounce
• win