harrow

SayHA-roh/ˈhæɹoʊ/UK/ˈhæɹəʊ/

Verbharrows, harrowing, harrowed

Noun pluralharrows

6 meanings of harrow

Practice

1
deeply upsetverbtransitive
To distress, torment, or deeply disturb someone.
Accounts of the famine harrow even readers who think they have seen everything.
The testimony harrowed the jurors, several of whom left the courtroom in tears.
UsageMuch more common as the adjective harrowing: a harrowing experience.
Similardistress, torment, trouble, plague, afflict
Oppositecomfort, soothe, console
Note
In Hamlet the verb works on the mind: Horatio says the Ghost harrows him "with fear and wonder", and the Ghost warns that its tale would "harrow up thy soul".
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
In Hamlet, Horatio says the Ghost harrows him "with fear and wonder". folger.edu
The Ghost says its tale would "harrow up thy soul". folger.edu
2
farm toolnouncountable
A farm implement with a heavy frame carrying a row of disks or teeth, dragged over plowed land to break up or smooth the soil, remove weeds, or cover seeds.
After plowing, they ran a disk harrow over the field to break up the clods.
The auction included two tractors, a hay rake and several spike-tooth harrows.
Note
The tool also lives on in a stock phrase: a toad beneath the harrow is anyone ground down by forces too big to escape, as in P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves in the Offing (1960).
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts
The expression "toad beneath the harrow" occurs in Jeeves in the Offing. en.wiktionary.org
P. G. Wodehouse wrote Jeeves in the Offing. en.wikipedia.org
The book was first published in 1960. openlibrary.org
3
break up soilverbtransitive
To drag a harrow over land, or to break up soil with a harrow.
Farmers harrow the seedbed lightly so the seed is covered without being buried too deep.
Last spring she harrowed the whole east field with an old tractor.
Note
The literal farm verb is the root of the figurative ones: tearing flesh and tormenting the mind both picture these teeth dragged over something. Harrowing is not raking: in Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1719), Crusoe has no harrow and drags a heavy bough over his sown corn instead, to scratch it rather than rake or harrow it.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts
The agricultural sense underlies the bodily and mental figurative senses, which evoke tearing with a harrow. gutenberg.org
Daniel Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe, first published in 1719. open.edu
Crusoe lacks a harrow and drags a heavy tree bough over the ground after sowing corn. gutenberg.org
Crusoe describes the improvised operation as scratching rather than raking or harrowing. gutenberg.org

Less common meanings

4
interjectionobsolete
Used as a cry for help, or to express distress or alarm.
Harrow, the flames, which me consume (said hee) / Ne can be quencht, within my secret bowels bee.
1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene
Note
Spenser uses it in The Faerie Queene (1590), "Harrow, the flames, which me consume"; outside such old verse it has gone out of use.
Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
Spenser wrote the quoted words in The Faerie Queene. en.wikisource.org
The relevant part of The Faerie Queene was first published in 1590. en.wikisource.org
5
verbarchaic
To tear or break something as a harrow would; to wound or lacerate.
my aged muscles harrow'd up with whips
1707, Nicholas Rowe, The Royal Convert
6
noun
An obstacle made by turning an ordinary harrow upside down and burying its frame, so that the teeth point upward.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of harrow apart? Answer 4 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 1–3

From Middle English harwe, harow, from Old English *hearwa (perhaps ultimately related to harvest), or from Old Norse harfr, herfi; compare Danish harve (“harrow”) and Dutch hark (“rake”), and it is akin to Latin carpere. According to the OED, the verb senses come partly from the noun and partly from a by-form of the verb harry, from Old English hergian.

Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 8 facts

Harrow derives from Middle English harwe, harow. en.wiktionary.org
The Middle English noun may derive from reconstructed Old English *hearwa or from Old Norse harfr, herfi. en.wiktionary.org
The word may ultimately be related to harvest. en.wiktionary.org
Danish harve means harrow and is an etymological comparison. en.wiktionary.org
Dutch hark means rake. en.wiktionary.org
Harrow is related to Latin carpere. en.wiktionary.org
The OED explanation, as reported by Wiktionary, derives the verb senses partly from the noun and partly from a variant of harry. en.wiktionary.org
Harry derives from Old English hergian. en.wiktionary.org

Meaning 4

Frankish *harot, *hara, meaning "here" or "hither" and formed from *hēr, gave Old French haro, harou or harau, which became Middle English harrow, harrowe or haro. Old Saxon herod, Old High German herot and Middle Dutch hare are related.