harvest

American  

[hahr-vist] / ˈhɑr vɪst /

noun

• harvests
  plural

1. the gathering of crops.

   Drought has delayed the harvest of corn, peanuts, potatoes, and other vegetables.

2. the season when ripened crops are gathered.

   All through springtime, summer, and harvest, she waited for him.

3. a crop or yield of one growing season.

   Our blackberries are on track to meet or exceed last year's harvest of 30 lbs.

4. a supply of anything gathered at maturity and stored.

   The silos held an abundant harvest of wheat.

5. the taking or removal of animals to be killed for food or other uses.

   Some have called the harvest of nautilus shells for jewelry and ornaments a “horrendous slaughter.”

6. the collection of any resource for future use.

   Rules were established to limit the harvest of forest resources for fuel and building materials.

7. the extraction of an organ or tissue from a body for the purpose of transplant or scientific research.

   The new method could improve the harvest of stem cells from umbilical cord blood.

8. the result or consequence of any act, process, or event.

   The journey yielded a harvest of wonderful memories.

   Synonyms:

   return, product, collection, accumulation

---

verb (used with object)

• harvests,
  present (3rd person singular)
• harvested,
  past participle,  past
• harvesting
  present participle

1. to gather (a crop or the like); reap.

   It’s time to harvest the corn.

2. to gather the crop from.

   The farmer hired a few day laborers to help harvest his fields.

3. to gain, win, or use (a prize, product, or result of any past act, process, etc.).

   The country hopes to harvest dividends from staging a problem-free Olympics next year.

4. to catch, take, or remove (animals), especially for food.

   Fishermen harvested hundreds of salmon from the river.

5. to collect (any resource) for future use.

   to harvest solar energy;

   spammers who harvest email addresses.

6. to extract (an organ or tissue) from a living or dead body, as for transplantation or research.

   to harvest a kidney;

   to harvest embryos.

verb (used without object)

• harvests,
  present (3rd person singular)
• harvested,
  past participle,  past
• harvesting
  present participle

1. to gather a crop; reap.

   We saw whole families out in the fields, harvesting.

harvest British  

/ ˈhɑːvɪst /

noun

1. the gathering of a ripened crop

2. the crop itself or the yield from it in a single growing season

3. the season for gathering crops

4. the product of an effort, action, etc

   a harvest of love

---

verb

1. to gather or reap (a ripened crop) from (the place where it has been growing)

2. (tr) to receive or reap (benefits, consequences, etc)

3. (tr) to remove (an organ) from the body for transplantation

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• harvestability
  noun
• harvesting
  noun
• preharvest
  noun
• reharvest
  verb
• half-harvested
  adjective
• harvestable
  adjective
• harvestless
  adjective
• postharvest
  adjective
• unharvested
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• harvests
  plural

Participles

• harvesting
  present
• harvested
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• harvest
  simple
• harvests
  simple
• have harvested
  perfect
• has harvested
  perfect
• am harvesting
  progressive
• are harvesting
  progressive
• is harvesting
  progressive
• have been harvesting
  perfect progressive
• has been harvesting
  perfect progressive

Past

• harvested
  simple
• had harvested
  perfect
• was harvesting
  progressive
• were harvesting
  progressive
• had been harvesting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will harvest
  simple
• will have harvested
  perfect
• will be harvesting
  progressive
• will have been harvesting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of harvest

First recorded before 950; Middle English; Old English hærfest; cognate with German Herbst “autumn”; akin to Greek karpós “fruit,” Latin carpere “to pluck” ( see carpe diem, carpel)

Explanation

The harvest is the time when you reap what you sow. As a verb, to harvest something means that you pick or gather it. You might harvest your sweet corn late in the summer. As a noun, harvest means the time of year when crops are ripe and ready to be gathered. The picked crop is also called a harvest: a bumper crop is a plentiful harvest, and a poor harvest is when things didn’t grow as well as expected. As a verb, to harvest something is to gather, trap, or cull it. You can harvest a soybean crop, you can harvest beaver pelts, or you can harvest tissues or organs for transplants.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

harvest harvests harvested harvesting

The garden has boosted its capacity to harvest rainwater, but its stocks ran out several months ago.

From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026

This is at least three weeks' early for harvest, but they are not picking up the fruit to make cider.

From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026

A trucking company can’t quickly replace its fleet, and a farmer cannot stop using diesel during harvest.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

Companies may judge it more important to harvest more AI computational work from new chips than to boost profits by running old, less efficient ones.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

There was a harvest festival there every year at the end of the summer, and Mama sold a lot of onions.

From Anya and the Dragon by Sofiya Pasternack

The heat is threatening harvests across the Continent, raising the spectre of soaring food prices.

From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026

The drought conditions have led to significant impacts, including low river flow and early harvests.

From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026

Strong events can disrupt harvests, reduce crop yields and lift global food prices.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026

Overprescribing antibiotics leads to deadly resistant bacteria, while industrial fishing, which harvests the largest adults, ultimately selects for ever-smaller fish.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

Winter came on and they were prepared against it There had been such harvests as never were before, and the small, three-roomed house was bursting.

From "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck

“Meta harvested kids data. That’s how Meta makes money,” O’Neill said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

Apples are by far the most widely harvested tree fruit in Germany, and the agency said the decline was due to "recurring heatwaves and persistent dry weather during the spring and summer of 2026".

From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026

The pristine farms, forests, ocean and rivers serve as the country’s pantry, where Māori food is regional, and ingredients are harvested based on seasonality and availability.

From Salon ● Jul. 26, 2026

"They harvested a nerve from his leg to replace part of the nerve that was missing in his left arm," his parents said on the fundraising page, which has so far raised over £67,000.

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

We harvested a lot of what I grew.

From "Counting by 7s" by Holly Goldberg Sloan

"Cytology brushes can be used when dry and do an excellent job of harvesting cellular material without damaging the integrity of the artifact being sampled," says Breen.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 11, 2026

A short distance away from Al-Louh, a group of farmers was harvesting eggplants even though they were still unripe, knowing they probably wouldn’t get another chance.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2026

Lucie Demirdjian, another winemaker in the neighbouring village of Ponteves, was among those waiting for results from the laboratory before harvesting.

From Barron's ● Aug. 6, 2026

A group of 10 islanders, known as the Men of Ness, would spend about 10 days in August harvesting chicks, which are known as guga.

From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026

Sugar work in Hawaii brought the same scene as took place in the Caribbean —the foreman on his horse, the gangs of workers harvesting the cane.

From "Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science" by Marc Aronson

Related Words

• accumulate
• amass
• collect
• gather
• hoard
• mow
• pick
• pluck
• reap
• take in