overploughoverplowv.
/ˌəʊvəˈplaʊ/, U.S. /ˌoʊvərˈplaʊ/ 1. transitive. To plough over. (In quot. 1596 figurative)Rare before 20th cent.
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the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > destroy [verb (transitive)] > eradicate or extirpate > sin, fear, etc.
updrawc1290
fordo1340
extirp1483
roota1500
dissipate1532
extirpate1538
profligate1542
rout1559
disperse1563
rescind1579
resolve1580
overplough1596
1596 W. Smith Chloris (1877) 19 Content my selfe in silent shade to sit In hope at length my cares to ouerplow.
1974 C. Taylor Fieldwork in Medieval Archaeol. vi. 125 At some time earlier than the sixteenth century it had been necessary to overplough the headland.
1995 Jrnl. Royal Anthropol. Inst. 1 706 The court..passed by-laws..forbidding them to encroach on access tracks by over-ploughing the edge of strips.
2. transitive. To plough (farmland) excessively. Also intransitive. Cf. overploughing n.
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1649 W. Blith Eng. Improver 82 Shewing the best, and most advantagious way of Ploughing, and Husbandring Lands,..not to over-plough, as you tender the losse of your Land.
a1961 R. Lord in Webster's 3rd New Internat. Dict. Eng. Lang. (1961) (at cited word) Grassy fields..were [overplow]ed.
1990 D. Silver & B. Vallely Young Person's Guide to saving Planet 95 Overploughing soil, and continually using the same soil to grow the same crop, uses up all its nutrients.
1994 Sci. Amer. Mar. 18/2 We are feeding ourselves at the expense of our children. By definition farmers can overplow and overpump only in the short run.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2004; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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