PLOW


Meaning of PLOW in English

I. noun

or plough ˈplau̇

( -s )

Etymology: Middle English, plow, plowland, from Old English plōh plowland; akin to Middle Dutch ploech plow, Old High German pfluog

1.

a. archaic : plowland 1

b. chiefly Britain : plowed land : arable country

eight acres of plow — Farmers Weekly (London)

was on plow with the clay clinging to my shoes — Ralph Hammond-Innes

trotting across the plow — Anthony Powell

2. : an implement that is used to cut, lift, turn over, and partly pulverize the soil especially in the preparation of a seedbed and that consists typically of a share for cutting, a moldboard for lifting and turning the soil usually over a landside, a frog to which share, moldboard, and landside are attached, and a beam by which the implement is drawn — see disc plow

3. : any of various devices operating like a plow: as

a. : snowplow

b. : a ballast spreader

c. : an implement for unloading cars of earth or ballast

d. : a machine mounted on the side of a car body for ditching or grading at the side of the roadway

e. : a carpenter's plane for cutting a groove or rabbet

f. : a device for trimming the edges of books that consists of a knife resembling a chisel which is mounted on wood and slides between the runners of a lying press

g. : a device for making contact with the live wire or rail in a conduit

4. plough , chiefly Britain : flunk II

II. verb

or plough “

( -ed/-ing/-s )

Etymology: Middle English plowen, ploughen, from plow, plough, n.

transitive verb

1.

a. : to turn up, break up, or trench (the soil) with a plow : till with or as with a plow

plow a field

b. : to make (as a furrow) with a plow

a brown furrow had been plowed — Atlantic

2.

a. : to cut into, tear up, or make furrows or ridges in (a surface) with or as if with a plow

gophers that plow and loosen the prairie soil — E.W.Teale

plow the roads after a snowstorm

— often used with up

tanks … had plowed up muddy roads — N.Y.Times

b. : to furrow (the face) deeply with wrinkles

face … plowed with labor and sorrow — Thomas Carlyle

c. chiefly Midland : cultivate — used especially of corn

plowing corn all day … with his team and cultivator — Burl Ives

d. : impregnate 1

plow a woman

he plowed her, and she cropp'd — Shakespeare

3. : to cleave the surface of or move through (water)

ships plowing the seven seas

4. : to cut a groove or rabbet in (a piece of wood) with a carpenter's plow

risers are cut to size but not plowed — Building, Estimating & Contracting

5. : to trim (as a book or paper) with a plow

6. : to turn over (grain) so as to expose fresh surfaces to the air and equalize temperature in malting

7. plough , chiefly Britain : flunk I

intransitive verb

1.

a. : to use a plow : till with a plow

the farmer plowed all day

b. : to bear or admit of plowing

the land plows well now — Adrian Bell

2.

a. : to move in a way resembling that of a plow cutting into or going through the soil

the ship plowed southward

— used often with through, along, into

we plowed through the snow

he plowed through the crowds — S.H.Holbrook

plows along at a ten-knot rate — William Beebe

a truck plowed into her parked car — New York Times

b. : to proceed steadily and laboriously : plod

kept plowing ahead in spite of the difficulties

— used often with through

forced to plow through a summer reading list — Jane Cobb

3. : to operate a carpenter's plow

Webster's New International English Dictionary.      Новый международный словарь английского языка Webster.