Reaps

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ɹiːps/

Definitions

1. Gathers mature crops from the fields ; obtains consequences or benefits from previous actions
2. Cuts and collects agricultural produce at harvest time ; experiences outcomes or effects caused by earlier behavior
3. Takes in fully grown plants for use or sale ; acquires rewards or punishments as a result of what one has done

Etymology: "Reaps" is the third-person singular present of "reap", so its history is that of the verb itself. The root word, Old English "rīpan", meant to gather a harvest, and it was one of the oldest farming words in the language. Its roots reach back to Proto-Germanic "rīpaną", which is also behind the Norwegian "ripa", meaning to score or scratch, showing how closely the idea of cutting was tied to harvesting. Behind that lies a very ancient root, Proto-Indo-European "h₁reyb-", meaning "to snatch". That sense of quickly seizing something suggests the early harvest was less a gentle gathering than a grab at the crop, though the link is one of meaning rather than a documented usage. Middle English shifted the spelling to "repen", and over time the word's sense broadened from the physical act of cutting grain to the figurative idea of receiving what one has earned or sown, as in "you reap what you sow."

Synonyms: harvests, gathers, collects, crops, seizes

Antonyms: loses, misses, forfeits, squanders, wastes