harvest

Formsharvests, harvesting, harvested

Pluralharvests

1. 1
   pick cropsverbtransitive

   To gather in a ripe crop from the fields, or to be engaged in this work.

   They harvest the grapes by hand on the steeper slopes.

   Workers harvested the rice paddies row by row through the morning.

   Similargather, reap, pick, collect

   Oppositesow, plant

2. 2
   crop pickingnouncountable or uncountable

   The process of gathering the ripened crop from the field.

   The harvest required every available worker on the estate.

   Mechanization has made the harvest far faster than manual reaping ever was.

   UsageOften used in begin the harvest or finish the harvest.

   Similarreaping, gathering

   Oppositesowing, planting

   Note

   Farming's word for the work itself, the cutting and carrying in, rather than the crop it yields. Because the work depends on ripe fields and kind weather, constant rain can make a harvest a nightmare.

3. 3
   crop yieldnouncountable

   The gathered crops or fruits brought in from the fields.

   The grain harvest exceeded last season's total by a wide margin.

   Farmers stored the harvest in silos before the first frost arrived.

   UsageOften with the crop in front: the grain harvest, the apple harvest; also a good or poor harvest.

   Similarcrop, yield, produce

   Note

   Shakespeare's As You Like It speaks of the man "that the main harvest reaps," leaving gleaners the broken ears. The church's harvest thanksgiving, decked with wheat-ears in Harold Bindloss's The Dust of Conflict (1907), celebrates this sense.

4. 4
   take from natureverbtransitive

   To take wild animals, fish, or plants for food or other resources, often within limits set to manage the population.

   The agency allows hunters to harvest a set number of elk annually.

   Crews harvested timber selectively to protect the surrounding forest.

   UsageA management word that sounds softer than shoot or kill: harvest deer, harvest timber.

   Similartake, cull, log, fell

   Note

   A verb from hunting and resource management for taking living things under a plan: deer, elk, timber. The object is the organism itself, and the word frames the taking as a managed yield, like a crop that returns, rather than as killing or felling.

5. 5
   gathering timenouncountable or uncountable

   The period each year when ripe crops are brought in, especially the weeks when grain is cut and gathered.

   At harvest, the village hired extra hands to bring in the grain.

   The festival marks the end of harvest each year.

   UsageOften with no article: at harvest, during harvest, though the harvest is common too.

6. 6
   outcomenounusually singular

   The product or result of effort or actions: the reward or consequences they bring.

   The scandal was the bitter harvest of years of dishonesty.

   She reaped a harvest of praise for her tireless work.

   UsageUsually a harvest of something, often with rich or bitter: a bitter harvest.

   Similarfruit, product, result, consequence, yield

   Note

   Wordsworth's "the harvest of a quiet eye" (1800) shows how far it travels from the field, since the yield there is what patient looking gathers. Its verb counterpart is harvest meaning to win. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Wordsworth wrote “the harvest of a quiet eye” in A Poet’s Epitaph. cha.artsci.tamu.edu
   • The poem containing the quotation was first published in 1800. gutenberg.org
7. 7
   gainverbtransitive

   To win or achieve a gain.

   With a strong local campaign, the young candidate hoped to harvest votes in towns her party had long ignored.

   The campaign harvested millions in donations within a single week.

   Similargarner, reap, gain, win, net

8. 8
   extractverbtransitive

   To take or draw out something, for instance organs, cells, data or energy, so that it can be put to use in another place.

   Panels on the roof harvest enough solar energy to run the whole building.

   Researchers harvested stem cells from the volunteers' bone marrow.

   Similarcollect, extract, gather, capture

   Note

   The farm verb has moved into hospitals, labs and engineering: surgeons harvest organs, researchers harvest cells, roof panels harvest solar energy, and companies harvest data. The crop image sets its tone. What is harvested is treated as a resource ready for gathering, so the word can sound clinical when used of a donor's body and suggests wholesale collection when used of personal data.

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