I. ˈha(ˌ)rō, -_rə also ˈhe(-, often -_rəw+V transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English harwen, herwen, from Old English hergian to harry — more at harry
1. archaic : to descend into (hell) in order to bring away the souls of the righteous
Christ hath harrowed hell — J.M.Neale
2. archaic : rob , pillage , plunder
long harrowed by oppressor's hand — Sir Walter Scott
II. noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English harwe; perhaps akin to Old Swedish harf harrow, Greek keirein to cut — more at shear
1. : a cultivating implement used primarily for pulverizing or smoothing the soil and sometimes for mulching, covering seed, or removing weeds — compare bog harrow , brush harrow , disc harrow , drag 1d
2.
a. : an implement that resembles a harrow ; specifically : a toothed framework drawn over an oyster bed to clear it of seaweed
b. : a formation that resembles a harrow
•
- under the harrow
III. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English harwen, harowen, from harwe, n.
1.
a. : to cultivate with a harrow
plowed and harrowed and laid his rows — Russell Lord
b. : to cultivate as if with a harrow
harrowed the ground for literature — Van Wyck Brooks
2.
a. : to cut into as if with a harrow
the whole thing looked harrowed in the pigment, rather than painted — F.J.Mather
b. archaic : to wound or tear physically : lacerate
harrowing his cheeks with a few scratches — William Beckford
3. : to cause distress or suffering to : agonize
has not set out to appall the reader with horrors nor to harrow him with miseries — Douglas Stewart
IV. interjection
or haro ˈha(ˌ)rō, həˈrō
Etymology: Middle English harrow, harow, from Middle French haro, harou, from Old French, probably of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German hara hither; akin to Old English hēr here, Old High German hier — more at here
— used to express alarm or distress
V. ˈha(ˌ)rō adjective
Usage: usually capitalized
Etymology: from Harrow on the Hill, urban district, Middlesex, England
: of or from the urban district of Harrow on the Hill, England : of the kind or style prevalent in Harrow on the Hill