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plowability

 - 2 dictionary results

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.
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.
Also, especially British, plough.


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


plow⋅a⋅ble, adjective
plow⋅a⋅bil⋅i⋅ty, noun
plower, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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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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