Reaping

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ˈɹiːpɪŋ/

Definitions

1. The process of harvesting crops, gathering the results of labor, and receiving outcomes from efforts or actions taken in the past
2. The activity of harvesting crops, gathering the consequences of one's actions, and experiencing the outcomes of efforts made earlier is known as this action
3. The act of cutting and collecting mature crops from fields ; the experience of obtaining the effects or results that follow from previous deeds or work

Etymology: "Reaping" is the present participle and gerund of "reap," so its history is really the history of that verb. "Reap" comes from Old English "repan," and the word's earliest sense was simply to cut grain, the physical act of harvesting with a hook or sickle. The Old English verb is a close relative of the modern noun "rip," which once referred to a harvest, and its connection to "rope" and related words is less certain, so it is best to leave those aside. The figurative sense, obtaining the results of what one has done, grew out of the agricultural picture. Ancient harvests were the visible payoff of months of sowing, and the image of gathering what was planted slid naturally into moral and proverbial use. The saying "as you sow, so shall you reap," which draws on Galatians 6:7 in the King James Bible, made the metaphor widely familiar in English. The verb's sense of receiving consequences is therefore a direct extension of the farming image, not a separate development.

Synonyms: harvesting, gathering, collecting, receiving, obtaining

Antonyms: sowing, planting, losing, giving, wasting