harrow
/ˈharəʊ
/noun
An implement consisting of a heavy frame set with teeth or tines which is dragged over ploughed land to break up clods, remove weeds, and cover seed.German farmers used spike-tooth harrows extensively to control weeds in small grains fields before the coming of herbicides....
- The most common tools used by farmers were metal tipped ploughs for turning over the soil and harrows to cover up the soil when seeds had been planted.
- For this task, the farmer hitched the horse to a harrow which was dragged along the ground to break up the clods.
verb [with object]
1Draw a harrow over (land): they ploughed and harrowed the heavy clay...
- Wheat fields are harrowed before the crop emerges to get the first flush of weeds.
- The nearby dairy farmer plowed and harrowed the garden, and we planted cover crops of annual ryegrass and winter rye.
- The new site will not be ready for about two weeks after they move off, and whilst it will be ploughed and harrowed it will still need cultivating.
2Cause distress to: Todd could take it, whereas I’m harrowed by it...
- The scenes in the US last week were deeply harrowing and distressing.
- Eerie and harrowing, the film seethes with barely suppressed ferocity.
- The reports he made from the prison visits are harrowing.
Synonyms
distress, trouble, afflict, grieve, torment, torture, crucify, rack, sear, pain, wound, mortify, cause agony to, cause suffering to
informal cut up
distressing, traumatic, upsetting, heartbreaking, heart-rending, shocking, disturbing, painful, affecting, haunting, appalling, tragic, horrifying
informal gut-wrenching
rare distressful
Derivatives
harrower
- The same year Healfden divided the land of the Northumbrians; so that they became afterwards their harrowers and plowers.
- When it rains we usually spend time at the barn working on the disk harrowers and other farming equipment, and when it dries out we are able to put the harrowers and other equipment back to work.
- The equipment chain of it consists of two plate millers, two scale plate ridgers, 1-2 multiharvest harrowers and a multiharvest loader, and 2-3 combination trailers.
Origin
Middle English: from Old Norse herfi; obscurely related to Dutch hark 'rake'.