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Harrow

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harrow¹

  • /ˈhæɹəʊ/ UK
  • /ˈhæɹoʊ/ US
  • /ˈhɛɹoʊ/
  • /ˈhaɾo/ Scotland
  • /ˈhaɾou/ Wales

Rhymes with -æɹəʊ

Where it comes from

From Middle English harwe, harow, from Old English *hearwa (perhaps ultimately cognate with harvest), or from Old Norse harfr/herfi; compare Danish harve (“harrow”), Dutch hark (“rake”). Akin to Latin carpere. According to the OED, the verb senses are partly derived from the noun sense, partly from a by-form of the verb harry, itself from Old English hergian.

noun harrows

  1. A device consisting of a heavy framework having several disks or teeth in a row, which is dragged across ploughed land to smooth or break up the soil, to remove weeds or cover seeds; a harrow plow. He sent for the carpenter, who was under contract to be with the threshing-machine, but it turned out that he was mending the harrows, which should have been mended the week before Lent.
  2. An obstacle formed by turning an ordinary harrow upside down, the frame being buried.

verb harrows · harrowing · harrowed

  1. transitive To drag a harrow over; to break up with a harrow. Will he harrow the valleys after thee?
  2. transitive To traumatize or disturb; to torment, distress or vex. It harrows me with fear and wonder.
  3. transitive To break or tear, as if with a harrow; to wound; to lacerate. my aged muscles harrow'd up with whips

harrow²

  • /ˈhæɹəʊ/ UK
  • /ˈhæɹoʊ/ US
  • /ˈhɛɹoʊ/
  • /ˈhaɾo/ Scotland
  • /ˈhaɾou/ Wales

Rhymes with -æɹəʊ

Where it comes from

From Middle English harrow, harrowe, haro, from Old French haro, harou, harau, harol, from Frankish *harot, *hara (“here; hither”), from *hēr. Akin to Old Saxon herod, Old High German herot, Middle Dutch hare.

interjection

  1. obsolete A call for help, or of distress, alarm etc. Harrow, the flames, which me consume (said hee) / Ne can be quencht, within my secret bowels bee.

Harrow³

  • /ˈhæɹəʊ/ UK

Sounds like harrow · Rhymes with -æɹəʊ

Where it comes from

From Old English hearg (“altar; grove, temple”), from Proto-Germanic *harugaz.

proper noun

  1. A town in northwestern Greater London, England, historically in the county of Middlesex.
  2. A London borough of Greater London, England.
  3. A locality in the Shire of Southern Grampians and the Shire of West Wimmera, south western Victoria, Australia.
  4. A prestigious public school for boys, in the town of Harrow.

Harrow⁴

  • /ˈhæɹəʊ/ UK

Sounds like harrow · Rhymes with -æɹəʊ

Where it comes from

From harrow.

proper noun

  1. A surname originating as an occupation for a harrower.

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