I. ˈfər.(ˌ)ō, ˈfə.(ˌ)rō, -ər.ə, -ə.rə, often -ər.əw or -ə.rəw+V noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English furgh, forwe, forow, from Old English furh; akin to Old High German furuh furrow, Old Norse for furrow, drainage ditch, Latin porca, and perhaps to Sanskrit parśāna precipice, chasm
1.
a. : a trench in the earth made by a plow
twites nest under furrows and ringed plovers amid rows of potato plants — British Birds in Colour
b. : a plowed field or farm
artists frequently spring from sidewalks and furrows — A.W.Long
c. : something that resembles the track of a plow
plowing a furrow across the Atlantic ocean — New York Times
d. Scotland : the earth turned over in plowing
till crushed beneath the furrow ' s weight shall be thy doom — Robert Burns
2. now chiefly Africa : a natural or artificial watercourse for drainage or irrigation
when leading water in concrete furrows it will run twice as quickly for the same fall as in an earth furrow — Farmer's Weekly (South Africa)
3. : a long and narrow indentation: as
a. : natural depression : groove , channel
tracing a fingernail along a furrow in the corduroy of her housecoat — Douglass Wallop
major tectonic furrows or fault angles — C.A.Cotton
specifically : a groove in the face of a millstone
b. : a deep wrinkle on the face
leathery folds and humorous wrinkles about his eyes deepening into a hundred crevices and furrows — J.C.Powys
c. : a crease in a plant or one of its parts
seed single … marked with a furrow lengthwise — William Withering
d. : an indentation from the top of a dog's skull to the stop dividing the forehead into two lateral halves
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
transitive verb
1.
a. : to make a furrow in (earth) : plow
b. : to till as if with a plow : cultivate
plows literary ground that has been furrowed on innumerable occasions in the past — R.L.Neuberger
2.
a.
(1) : to make a channel in : score
the rocket furrows the dark and falls — C.P.Aiken
(2) : to make streaks in
fair cheeks were furrowed with hot tears — Lord Byron
b. : to shape into alternate ridges and grooves
one of the thousands of canyons that furrow the wide coast range — Frank Cameron
specifically : to make wrinkles in (the brow)
he may sweat and furrow his brow — J.N.Leonard
intransitive verb
1. : to make a furrow : plow
2. : to make a channel : course
without warning the tears began to furrow down his cheeks — Margaret O. R. Cole
3. : to make an indentation or groove : wrinkle
any educator's brow will automatically furrow , contemplating the sober prediction — Newsweek