plow under

Idioms  

1. 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]

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Example Sentences

With the onset of the coronavirus, many farmers were forced to plow under crops or dump their milk, even as grocery store shelves emptied out and many American families went hungry.

From New York Times • Mar. 25, 2021

Large scale corporate operations will deny access to hunters and for certain plow under the grassed waterways and seasonally inundated wetland in favor of maximizing production.

From New York Times • Jun. 12, 2016

It is cooking with imperfect vegetables that farmers might otherwise plow under.

From New York Times • Jul. 7, 2015

In the same held another team pulled a heavy plow under the vicious prodding of a gold-laced Spanish matador.

From Time Magazine Archive

It is a good deal better to use a grain, either barley or rye, for the seed is cheap, the growth quick and you can get a good deal of green stuff to plow under.

From One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture Answered by Wickson, Edward J. (Edward James)

Related Words

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