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Chambers (1908)

Plough

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[Ice. plógr; perh. Celt., Gael. ploc, a block.]

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Plough, plow, n. an instrument for turning up the soil to prepare it for seed: tillage: a joiner's plane for making grooves.—v.t. to turn up with the plough: to make furrows or ridges in: to tear: to divide: to run through, as in sailing: (university slang) to reject in an examination.—v.i. to work with a plough.—adj. Plough′able, capable of being ploughed: arable.—ns. Plough′boy, a boy who drives or guides horses in ploughing; Plough′er; Plough′gate (Scots law), a quantity of land of the extent of 100 acres Scots; Plough′ing; Plough′-ī′ron, the coulter of a plough; Plough′-land, land suitable for tillage: as much land as could be tilled with one plough, a hide of land; Plough′man, a man who ploughs: a husbandman: a rustic:—pl. Plough′men; Plough′-Mon′day, the Monday after Twelfth Day when, according to the old usage, the plough should be set to work again after the holidays; Plough′-tail, the end of a plough where the handles are; Plough′-tree, a plough-handle; Plough′wright, one who makes and mends ploughs.—Put one's hand to the plough, to begin an undertaking.—Snow plough, a strong triangular frame of wood for clearing snow off roads, railways, &c., drawn by horses or by a locomotive; Steam plough, a plough driven by a stationary steam-engine; The Plough, the seven bright stars in the constellation of the Great Bear. [Ice. plógr; perh. Celt., Gael. ploc, a block.]

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Chambers’s Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language
Thomas Davidson (editor)
1908

Public-domain-US ↗ · United States

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