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plow

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plow

  [plou]
–noun
1. an agricultural implement used for cutting, lifting, turning over, and partly pulverizing soil.
2. any of various implements resembling or suggesting this, as a kind of plane for cutting grooves or a contrivance for clearing away snow from a road or track.
3. Type Founding. (formerly) an instrument for cutting the groove in the foot of type.
4. Bookbinding. a device for trimming the edges of the leaves by hand.
5. (initial capital letter) Astronomy.
a. the constellation Ursa Major.
b. the Big Dipper.
–verb (used with object)
6. to turn up (soil) with a plow.
7. to make (a furrow) with a plow.
8. to tear up, cut into, or make a furrow, groove, etc. in (a surface) with or as if with a plow (often fol. by up): The tractor plowed up an acre of trees.
9. to clear by the use of a plow, esp. a snowplow (sometimes fol. by out): The city's work crews were busily plowing the streets after the blizzard.
10. to invest, as capital (often fol. by into): to plow several hundred million into developing new oil fields.
11. to reinvest or reutilize (usually fol. by back): to plow profits back into new plants and equipment.
12. (of a ship, boat, animal, etc.)
a. to cleave the surface of (the water): beavers plowing the pond.
b. to make (a way) or follow (a course) in this manner: The yacht plowed an easterly course through the choppy Atlantic.
13. Slang: Vulgar. to have sexual intercourse with.
–verb (used without object)
14. to till the soil or work with a plow.
15. to take plowing in a specified way: land that plows easily.
16. to move forcefully through something in the manner of a plow (often fol. by through, into, along, etc.): The cop plowed through the crowd, chasing after the thief. The car plowed into our house.
17. to proceed in a slow, laborious, and steady manner (often fol. by through): The researcher plowed through a pile of reports.
18. to move through water by cleaving the surface: a ship plowing through a turbulent sea.
—Verb phrase
19. plow under,
a. to bury under soil by plowing.
b. to cause to disappear; force out of existence; overwhelm: Many mom-and-pop groceries have been plowed under by the big chain stores.
Use plow in a Sentence
Also, especially British, plough.

Origin:
bef. 1100; ME plouh, plugh(e), plough(e), OE plōh; c. G Pflug plow

Related forms:
plow⋅a⋅ble, adjective
plow⋅a⋅bil⋅i⋅ty, noun
plower, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
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Big Dipper  
n.  A cluster of seven stars in the constellation Ursa Major, four forming the bowl and three the handle of a dipper-shaped configuration. Also called Charles's Wain, Plow.
plow also plough   (plou)   
n.  

  1. A farm implement consisting of a heavy blade at the end of a beam, usually hitched to a draft team or motor vehicle and used for breaking up soil and cutting furrows in preparation for sowing.

  2. An implement of similar function, such as a snowplow.

v.   plowed also ploughed, plow·ing also plough·ing, plows also ploughs

v.   tr.

    1. To break and turn over (earth) with a plow.

    2. To form (a furrow, for example) with a plow.

    3. To form furrows in with or as if with a plow: plow a field.

  2. To make or form with driving force: I plowed my way through the crowd.

  3. To cut through (water): plow the high seas.

v.   intr.

  1. To break and turn up earth with a plow.

  2. To admit of plowing: Rocky earth plows poorly.

  3. To move or progress with driving force: The attackers formed a wedge and plowed through the enemy line.

  4. To proceed laboriously; plod: plowed through the backlog of work.

Phrasal Verb(s):
plow backTo reinvest (earnings or profits) in one's business.
plow into Informal

  1. To strike with force.

  2. To undertake (a task, for example) with eagerness and vigor.

plow under

  1. To cause to vanish under something piled up.

  2. To overwhelm, as with burdens.


[Middle English plough, plouw, from Old English plōh, plōg, plow, plowland.]
plow'a·ble adj., plow'er n.
Plow   (plou)   
n.  See Big Dipper.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

plow  (n.)
O.E. plog, ploh "plow, plowland (a measure of land)," possibly from Scand. (cf. O.N. plogr "plow"), from P.Gmc. *plogo- (cf. O.Fris. ploch, M.L.G. ploch, M.Du. ploech, O.H.G. pfluog). O.C.S. plugu, Lith. plugas "plow" are Germanic loan-words, as is probably L. plovus, plovum "plow," a word said by Pliny to be of Rhaetian origin. Replaced O.E. sulh, cognate with L. sulcus "furrow." As a name for the Big Dipper, it is recorded from 1513. The verb is first recorded c.1420. Plowshare is first recorded c.1380.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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