plough
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plough¹
- /plaʊ/ Canada, US, UK
- /plæɔ/ Australia
- /plæʊ/ New Zealand
Rhymes with -aʊ
Where it comes from
From Middle English plouh, plow, plugh(e), plough(e), plouw, from Old English plōh (“hide of land, ploughland”) and Old Norse plógr (“plough (the implement)”), both from Proto-Germanic *plōgaz, *plōguz (“plough”). Cognate with Scots pleuch, plou, North Frisian plog, West Frisian ploech, Low German Ploog, Dutch ploeg, Russian плуг (plug), German Pflug, Danish plov, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish plog, Icelandic plógur. Replaced Old English sulh (“plough, furrow”); see sullow.
noun ploughs · plow
-
A device pulled through the ground in order to break it open into furrows for planting.
Meronyms: ploughshare, plowshare, share, moldboard, mouldboard, coulter, colter, jointer, chisel, ploughbeam, beam, ploughstaff, staff, hake
Similar: sull
- Ellipsis of snowplough It's been three hours since a plough came through here, and now you can hardly even tell that it did! [the snow keeps falling heavily]
- A joiner's plane for making grooves.
- A bookbinder's implement for trimming or shaving off the edges of books.
- The use of a plough; tillage. If you get it early ploughed and it lies all winter possibly, you find it an advantage to give it a second plough; but it does not invariably follow that we plough twice for our green crop.
- Alternative form of Plough (Synonym of Ursa Major) Rising in the north-east fairly high in the sky, Arcturus may be found by following round the curve of the plough.
-
Alternative form of ploughland, an alternative name for a carucate or hide.
c. 1350, Geoffrey Chaucer (attributed), The Tale of Gamelyn
Johan, mine eldest son, shall have plowes five.
Similar: carucate
- A yoga pose resembling a traditional plough, halāsana.
verb ploughs · ploughing · ploughed · plow
- To use a plough on soil to prepare for planting. I've still got to plough that field.
- To use a plough. Some days I have to plough from sunrise to sunset.
- To move with force. Trucks ploughed through the water to ferry flood victims to safety.
- To knock over or run over (someone) without stopping. My brother ploughed me over.
- To furrow; to make furrows, grooves, or ridges in. Let patient Octavia plough thy visage up / With her prepared nails.
- To run through, as in sailing. With speed we plough the watery way.
- To trim, or shave off the edges of, as a book or paper, with a plough.
- To cut a groove in, as in a plank, or the edge of a board; especially, a rectangular groove to receive the end of a shelf or tread, the edge of a panel, a tongue, etc.
- To fail (a student). The good Professor scolded, predicted that they would all be either gulfed or ploughed.
-
To sexually penetrate, typically in a vigorous manner.
I love just getting ploughed face down on my bed.
Similar: get up in, pound, Formal terms, bed, coit, coitize, dight, enjoy, feague, go in unto, go to bed with, have
Plough²
proper noun the Plough
-
The brightest seven stars of the constellation Ursa Major. They are Alkaid, Mizar, Alioth, Megrez, Dubhe, Merak, and Phecda.
Later on, as I walked home / The Plough was showing, and Orion
Similar: Big Dipper, Charles' Wain, Drinking Gourd, Northern Ladle, Northern Waggoner, Wain, triones, septentriones
Plough³
Where it comes from
From plough, a metonymic occupational surname for a plowwright or plowman.
proper noun Ploughs
- A surname.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: plow, dipper, turn, big dipper, furrow, cultivate, ridging, cart, wade, break, oral, grow, reverse, till, invest, harrow
Translations
Every language
noun device pulled through the ground
| Español | arado |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 쟁기 jaenggi |
| 日本語 | 鋤 suki, 鍬 kuwa |
| 中文 | 犁 lí, 犁頭 /犁头 lítou |
| हिन्दी | हल hal, नांगल nāṅgal |
| Kiswahili | plau |
| Português | arado |
| Français | charrue, araire (swing-plough) |
| Deutsch | Pflug |
| Italiano | aratro, aratrice |
| Ελληνικά | αλέτρι alétri, άροτρο árotro |
| Română | plug, arat |
| Русский | плуг plug |
| Tiếng Việt | cày |
| العربية | مِحْرَاث miḥrāṯ |
| עברית | מַחְרֵשָׁה makhreshá |
noun alternative name for Ursa Major
| Español | Carro Mayor |
|---|---|
| Italiano | Grande Carro |
verb use a plough on soil to prepare for planting
| Español | arar, labrar, barbechar, aladrar, jabrir, roturar |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 갈다 galda |
| 日本語 | 耕す tagayasu |
| 中文 | 耕 gēng, 耕地 gēngdì, 耕田 gēngtián |
| हिन्दी | हल चलाना hal calānā |
| Português | arar, lavrar |
| Français | labourer |
| Deutsch | pflügen |
| Italiano | arare |
| Română | ara |
| Русский | паха́ть paxátʹ, вспа́хивать vspáxivatʹ, вспаха́ть vspaxátʹ, ора́ть orátʹ |
| Tiếng Việt | cày |
| العربية | حَرَثَ ḥaraṯa |
| עברית | חָרַשׁ kharásh |
verb use a plough
| Español | arar |
|---|---|
| 한국어 | 쟁기질하다 jaenggijilhada |
| Português | arar, lavrar |
| Français | labourer |
| Deutsch | pflügen |
| Italiano | arare |
| Română | ara |
| Русский | паха́ть paxátʹ |
| עברית | חָרַשׁ kharásh |
verb nautical: run through water
| Italiano | solcare |
|---|
Talk about this word "plough." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/plough. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. plough. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/plough "plough." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/plough.Cite this
@misc{plough_2026,
title = {plough},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/plough},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
