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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

plough.

A device pulled through the ground in order to break it open into furrows for planting.

6 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/plaʊ/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/plæɔ/Australia/plæʊ/New-Zealand
  1. A device pulled through the ground in order to break it open into furrows for planting.

    The horse-drawn plough had a tremendous impact on agriculture.
    The central theme of low-till agriculture is that the plough is not always necessary and that it should be used only when truly appropriate.
  2. Any of several other tools or implements that cut and push material. Ellipsis of snowplough.

    abbreviation · alt-of · ellipsis
    It's been three hours since a plough came through here, and now you can hardly even tell that it did! [the snow keeps falling heavily]
  3. Any of several other tools or implements that cut and push material. A joiner's plane for making grooves.

  4. Any of several other tools or implements that cut and push material. A bookbinder's implement for trimming or shaving off the edges of books.

  5. The use of a plough; tillage.

  6. Alternative form of Plough (Synonym of Ursa Major)

    alt-of · alternative
  7. Alternative form of ploughland, an alternative name for a carucate or hide.

    alt-of · alternative
  8. A yoga pose resembling a traditional plough, halāsana.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English plouh, plow, plugh(e), plough(e), plouw, from Old English plōh (“hide of land, ploughland”) and Old Norse plógr (“plough (the implement)”), both from Proto-Germanic *plōgaz, *plōguz (“plough”). Cognate with Scots pleuch, plou, North Frisian plog, West Frisian ploech, Low German Ploog, Dutch ploeg, Russian плуг (plug), German Pflug, Danish plov, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish plog, Icelandic plógur. Replaced Old English sulh (“plough, furrow”); see sullow.

verb/plaʊ/Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation/plæɔ/Australia/plæʊ/New-Zealand
  1. To use a plough on soil to prepare for planting.

    transitive
    I've still got to plough that field.
  2. To use a plough.

    intransitive
    Some days I have to plough from sunrise to sunset.
  3. To move with force.

    Trucks ploughed through the water to ferry flood victims to safety.
  4. To knock over or run over (someone) without stopping.

    colloquial · transitive
    My brother ploughed me over.
    Three people were ploughed down when he lost control of the truck.
  5. To furrow; to make furrows, grooves, or ridges in.

  6. To run through, as in sailing.

  7. To trim, or shave off the edges of, as a book or paper, with a plough.

  8. To cut a groove in, as in a plank, or the edge of a board; especially, a rectangular groove to receive the end of a shelf or tread, the edge of a panel, a tongue, etc.

  9. To fail (a student).

    UK · obsolete · transitive
  10. To sexually penetrate, typically in a vigorous manner.

    transitive · vulgar
    I love just getting ploughed face down on my bed.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English plouh, plow, plugh(e), plough(e), plouw, from Old English plōh (“hide of land, ploughland”) and Old Norse plógr (“plough (the implement)”), both from Proto-Germanic *plōgaz, *plōguz (“plough”). Cognate with Scots pleuch, plou, North Frisian plog, West Frisian ploech, Low German Ploog, Dutch ploeg, Russian плуг (plug), German Pflug, Danish plov, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish plog, Icelandic plógur. Replaced Old English sulh (“plough, furrow”); see sullow.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.