What does "plow" mean?
Plow: Fig.: Agriculture; husbandry. Johnson.
Additional senses
- 2.A carucate of land; a plowland. [Obs.] [Eng.] Johan, mine eldest son, shall have plowes five. Tale of Gamelyn.
- 3.A joiner's plane for making grooves; a grooving plane.
- 4.(Bookbinding) An implement for trimming or shaving off the edges of books.
- 5.(Astron.) Same as Charles's Wain. Ice plow, a plow used for cutting ice on rivers, ponds, etc., into cakes suitable for storing. [U. S.] -- Mackerel plow. See under Mackerel. -- Plow alms, a penny formerly paid by every plowland to the church. Cowell. -- Plow beam, that part of the frame of a plow to which the draught is applied. See Beam, n., 9. -- Plow Monday, the Monday after Twelth Day, or the end of Christmas holidays. -- Plow staff. (a) A kind of long-handled spade or paddle for cleaning the plowshare; a paddle staff. (b) A plow handle. -- Snow plow, a structure, usually
- 6.To turn up, break up, or trench, with a plow; to till with, or as with, a plow; as, to plow the ground; to plow a field.
- 7.To furrow; to make furrows, grooves, or ridges in; to run through, as in sailing. Let patient Octavia plow thy visage up With her prepared nails. Shak. With speed we plow the watery way. Pope.
- 8.(Bookbinding) To trim, or shave off the edges of, as a book or paper, with a plow. See Plow, n., 5.
- 9.(Joinery) 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. To plow in, to cover by plowing; as, to plow in wheat. -- To plow up, to turn out of the ground by plowing.plow ahead, to continue in spite of obstacles or resistence by others. Note: Often used in a bad sense, meaning to continue obstinately in spite of the contrary advice of others. plow through, to execute a difficult or laborious task steadily, esp. one containing many parts; as, he plowed through the stack of correspondence until all had been answered.
- 10.To labor with, or as with, a plow; to till or turn up the soil with a plow; to till or turn up the soil with a plow; to prepare the soil or bed for anything. Shak. Doth the plowman plow all day to sow Isa. xxviii. 24.
Sources
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).
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- Published: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00 · Modified: 2026-07-17T00:00:00-07:00