Harrow

Part of speech: noun, verb

Pronunciation: /ˈhæɹəʊ/

Definitions

1. A farm implement with spikes or disks used to smooth or break up soil ; to cause deep emotional pain or distress ; to break up or level pieces of land especially after ploughing
2. A tool used in agriculture to loosen and even out dirt ; to inflict severe emotional suffering ; to prepare or smooth a field by dragging a harrow over it
3. An instrument for turning and refining soil in farming ; to torment someone mentally or emotionally ; to make soil level and break clods to create a fine seedbed

Etymology: The farm implement and the cry of distress turn out to share almost nothing beyond their spelling. The tool comes from Middle English "harwe" or "harow", which probably descends from Old English "hearwa", a word that may be linked to "harvest", though the Old Norse "harfr" or "herfi" is another possible source. Related forms appear in Danish "harve" and Dutch "hark", meaning "rake". The verb senses are partly drawn from the tool, and partly from an older form of "harry", which itself came from Old English "hergian", meaning to plunder or lay waste. So the act of dragging spiked frames across a field may have picked up some of its violence from that neighbouring verb. The exclamation is a different word entirely. In Middle English it appeared as "harrow" or "haro", borrowed from Old French "haro", "harou" or "harol", which came from a Frankish form meaning "here" or "hither". It was a call for help or an outcry raised to summon others to a wrong being committed. Its sense of despair and dread is a later development that the two sources do not spell out, so it is best kept separate from the farming term.

Synonyms: cultivator, plow, tiller, drag, rake

Antonyms: plant, sow, grow, nurture, tend