scythe

American  

[sahyth] / saɪð /

noun

1. an agricultural implement consisting of a long, curving blade fastened at an angle to a handle, for cutting grass, grain, etc., by hand.

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verb (used with object)

scythed, scything

1. to cut or mow with a scythe.

scythe British  

/ saɪð /

noun

1. a manual implement for cutting grass, etc, having a long handle held with both hands and a curved sharpened blade that moves in a plane parallel to the ground

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verb

1. (tr) to cut (grass, etc) with a scythe

Other Word Forms

• scytheless adjective
• scythelike adjective

Etymology

Origin of scythe

before 900; Middle English sith, Old English sīthe, earlier sigdi; cognate with Old Norse sigthr; spelling sc by pseudoetymological association with Latin scindere to cut or with scissors

Example Sentences

Nothing could have provided a more suitable host than an area of prairie where native grasses had been scythed away and the ground torn up by metal ploughshares and the hooves of a farmer’s horses.

From The Wall Street Journal

But it was his scything down of a then-17-year-old Allen in the 1-0 defeat to West Ham the following year which etched his name in the history of the game.

From BBC

He also cut the hay at the end of summer, initially trying with a scythe - Poldark-style - but ultimately finding a small tractor does the trick in a less backbreaking way.

From BBC

The Vatican foreign minister described the Pope's ability to scythe through difficult subjects with clarity, reminding officials, for example, to remember migrants as human beings and not just "numbers" in their discussions about them.

From BBC

It’s hard to say which is the more appalling: the recklessness or the heartlessness with which Musk and his preternaturally powerful posse of 20-somethings are scything their way through Washington.

From Los Angeles Times

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