plough

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle), Verb (intransitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

plough, n. & v. 

 See Plow.  [1913 Webster]

plough, n. [OE. plouh, plou, AS. plōh; akin to D. ploeg, G. pflug, OHG. pfluog, pfluoh, Icel. plōgr, Sw. plog, Dan. ploug, plov, Russ. plug', Lith. plugas.].

•  A well-known implement, drawn by horses, mules, oxen, or other power, for turning up the soil to prepare it for bearing crops; also used to furrow or break up the soil for other purposes; as, the subsoil plow; the draining plow.  [1913 Webster]

  "Where fern succeeds ungrateful to the plow."  [1913 Webster]
•  Fig.: Agriculture; husbandry.  Johnson.  [1913 Webster]
•  A carucate of land; a plowland.  [1913 Webster]

  "Johan, mine eldest son, shall have plowes five."  [1913 Webster]
•  A joiner's plane for making grooves; a grooving plane.  [1913 Webster]
•  An implement for trimming or shaving off the edges of books.  [1913 Webster]
•  Same as Charles's Wain.  [1913 Webster]

Ice plow, a plow used for cutting ice on rivers, ponds, etc., into cakes suitable for storing. [U. S.] -- Mackerel plow. See under Mackerel. -- Plow alms, a penny formerly paid by every plowland to the church. Cowell. -- Plow beam, that part of the frame of a plow to which the draught is applied. See Beam, n., 9. -- Plow Monday, the Monday after Twelth Day, or the end of Christmas holidays. -- Plow staff. (a) A kind of long-handled spade or paddle for cleaning the plowshare; a paddle staff. (b) A plow handle. -- Snow plow, a structure, usually

plough, v. t. 

•  To turn up, break up, or trench, with a plow; to till with, or as with, a plow; as, to plow the ground; to plow a field.  [1913 Webster]
•  To furrow; to make furrows, grooves, or ridges in; to run through, as in sailing.  [1913 Webster]

  "Let patient Octavia plow thy visage up
  With her prepared nails."  [1913 Webster]

  "With speed we plow the watery way."  [1913 Webster]
•  To trim, or shave off the edges of, as a book or paper, with a plow. See Plow, n., 5.  [1913 Webster]
•  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.  [1913 Webster]

To plow in, to cover by plowing; as, to plow in wheat.<-- ## = plow under --> -- To plow up, to turn out of the ground by plowing.

plough, v. i. 

 To labor with, or as with, a plow; to till or turn up the soil with a plow; to prepare the soil or bed for anything.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]
"Doth the plowman plow all day to sow ?"  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

plough, n. & v. (esp. US plow)
--n.
1 an implement with a cutting blade fixed in a frame drawn by a tractor or by horses, for cutting furrows in the soil and turning it up.
2 an implement resembling this and having a comparable function (snowplough).
3 ploughed land.
4 (the Plough) the constellation Ursa Major or its seven bright stars.
--v.
1 tr. (also absol.) turn up (the earth) with a plough, esp. before sowing.
2 tr. (foll. by out, up, down, etc.) turn or extract (roots, weeds, etc.) with a plough.
3 tr. furrow or scratch (a surface) as if with a plough.
4 tr. produce (a furrow or line) in this way.
5 intr. (foll. by through) advance laboriously, esp. through work, a book, etc.
6 intr. (foll. by through, into) move like a plough violently.
7 intr. & tr. Brit. colloq. fail in an examination.

Idiom

plough back
1 plough (grass etc.) into the soil to enrich it.
2 reinvest (profits) in the business producing them. Plough Monday the first Monday after the Epiphany. put one's hand to the plough undertake a task (Luke 9:62).

Derivative

ploughable adj. plougher n.

Etymology

OE ploh f. ON pl{oacute}gr f. Gmc

ROGET THESAURUS

plough

Agriculture

VB cultivate, till the soil, farm, garden, sow, plant, reap, mow, cut, manure, dress the ground, dig, delve, dibble, hoe, plough, plow, harrow, rake, weed, lop and top, backset.