Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Help! hallo! hello! an exclamation of sudden distress, of lamentation, or of indignation or surprise: used by heralds to attract attention.
  • To draw a harrow over; break or tear with a harrow: as, to harrow land or ground.
  • To tear or lacerate as if by a harrow; torment; harass.
  • noun An implement, usually formed of pieces of timber or bars of metal crossing one another and set with iron teeth (also called tines), drawn (usually by one corner) over plowed land to level it and break the clods, and to Cover Seed when sown.
  • noun Disturbance; cry; uproar.
  • noun A barrow-like military formation; also, that assumed by flying flocks of wild geese.
  • To ravage; despoil; vex: same as harry.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun An implement of agriculture, usually formed of pieces of timber or metal crossing each other, and set with iron or wooden teeth. It is drawn over plowed land to level it and break the clods, to stir the soil and make it fine, or to cover seed when sown.
  • noun (Mil.) An obstacle formed by turning an ordinary harrow upside down, the frame being buried.
  • noun a kind of light harrow made of bushes, for harrowing grass lands and covering seeds, or to finish the work of a toothed harrow.
  • noun See under 6th Drill.
  • noun subjected to actual torture with a toothed instrument, or to great affliction or oppression.
  • interjection Help! Halloo! An exclamation of distress; a call for succor; -- the ancient Norman hue and cry.
  • transitive verb To draw a harrow over, as for the purpose of breaking clods and leveling the surface, or for covering seed.
  • transitive verb To break or tear, as with a harrow; to wound; to lacerate; to torment or distress; to vex.
  • transitive verb obsolete To pillage; to harry; to oppress.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • interjection obsolete A call for help, or of distress, alarm etc.
  • noun 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.
  • verb To drag a harrow over; to break up with a harrow.
  • verb To traumatize or disturb; to frighten or torment.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a cultivator that pulverizes or smooths the soil
  • verb draw a harrow over (land)

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French haro, harou, of uncertain origin.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Either representing unattested Old English *hearwe or *hearġe (perhaps ultimately cognate with harvest), or from Old Norse harfr/herfi; compare Danish harve ("harrow"), Dutch hark ("rake"). Akin to Latin carpere.

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Examples

Comments

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  • Verb: to rob of goods by force, especially in time of war

    "Russian soldiers went through the Georgian village and left it utterly destroyed and harrowed."

    August 19, 2008