plough

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a farm tool used to cut and turn over soil before planting

   The farmer repaired the plough before spring.

2. 2
   verb

   to break and turn over soil with a plough

   They plough the field after the first rain.

3. 3
   verb

   to move through something with steady force

   The ship ploughed through the waves.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Plough is an Old English word, although the spelling plough did not become generally established until the 18th century. Earlier usage normally distinguished the noun plough from the verb plow, and American English retains plow for both.

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, Swedish and Norwegian plog, Icelandic plógur. Replaced Old English sulh (“plough, furrow”); see sullow.

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External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary