# plough
## English
### Alternative forms

* plow (US)

### Etymology

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, Swedish and Norwegian plog, Icelandic plógur. Replaced Old English sulh (“plough, furrow”); see sullow.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /plaʊ/
* Audio (General American):(file)
* Rhymes: -aʊ

### Noun

plough (plural ploughs)
* (agriculture) A device pulled through the ground in order to break it open into furrows for planting.
    Synonym: sull
    Hyponyms: ard, light plough, scratch plough, carruca, heavy plough, mouldboard plough, turnplough
    The horse-drawn plough had a tremendous impact on agriculture.
* The use of a plough; tillage.
** 1919, Commonwealth Shipping Committee, Report, volume 8, page 47:If you get it early ploughed and it lies all winter possibly, you find it an advantage to give it a second plough; but it does not invariably follow that we plough twice for our green crop.
* Alternative form of Plough (Synonym of Ursa Major)
** 2004, Amazing Physics Quiz, →ISBN, page 32:Rising in the north-east fairly high in the sky, Arcturus may be found by following round the curve of the plough.
** 2005, Clive L. N. Ruggles, Ancient Astronomy: An Encyclopedia of Cosmologies and Myth, →ISBN:To many generations of rice farmers in rural Java, Indonesia, it was not the stars of Ursa Major that formed the plough, but the stars of Orion.
** 2007, Mike Lynch, Florida Starwatch, →ISBN, page 52:Across the Atlantic, what we call the Big Dipper has been called many other names. In England, this grouping of stars is seen as the plough.
** 2010, John Turner, Exploring the Other Island: A Seasonal Guide to Nature on Long Island, →ISBN:Consider the Big Dipper, or as it is also known, the plough or the wagon.
* Alternative form of ploughland, an alternative name for a carucate or hide.
    Synonym: carucate
** c. 1350, Geoffrey Chaucer (attributed), The Tale of Gamelyn
    Johan, mine eldest son, shall have plowes five.
* A joiner's plane for making grooves.
* A bookbinder's implement for trimming or shaving off the edges of books.
* (yoga) A yoga pose resembling a traditional plough, halāsana.

#### Usage notes

* The spelling plow is usual in the United States, but the spelling plough may be found in literary or historical contexts there.

#### Derived terms

* ard plough
* fire-plough
* gangplough
* ice plough
* mine plough
* mole plough
* mouldboard plough
* plough-alms
* plough-bote
* ploughbote
* ploughboy
* ploughgirl
* plough iron
* plough jockey
* ploughland
* ploughman
* ploughshare
* plough stop
* plough-tree
* ploughwise
* ploughwoman
* pluff mud
* put one's hand to the plough
* ridge plough
* Scotch plough
* Scots plough
* seeding plough
* snowplough
* snow plough
* sodbuster plough
* swing plough
* trench-plough
* turnplough
* wheel plough

#### Descendants

* → Fiji Hindi: falaawaa

#### Translations

Abaza: кӏватан (kʷʼatan)
Abkhaz: акуаҭана (akʼwatana), акәаҭан (akʷʼatan)
Albanian: plug (sq) m, parmendë (sq) f
Arabic: مِحْرَاث (ar) m (miḥrāṯ)
Egyptian Arabic: محرات m (míḥrāt)
Armenian: արոր (hy) (aror), գութան (hy) (gutʻan)
Old Armenian: արօր (arōr)
Aromanian: aratru n, plug (roa-rup) n, aletrã f, paramendã f
Assamese: নাঙল (naṅol), হাল (hal)
Asturian: aráu (ast) m, aladru m, llabiegu m
Avar: кутан (kutan)
Azerbaijani: sapan, cüt (az) (wooden), kotan
Bashkir: һабан (haban), һуҡа (huqa) (wooden)
Basque: golde
Bats: გუთა$^ნ$ (guta$^n$)
Belarusian: плуг m (pluh)
Bhojpuri: हर (har)
Bikol Central: arado (bcl)
Breton: arar (br) m
Bulgarian: плуг (bg) m (plug)
Burmese: ထယ် (my) (htai)
Catalan: arada (ca) f
Cebuano: daro
Chechen: гота (gota)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 犁 (zh) (lí), 犁頭 / 犁头 (lítou)
Cornish: arader m
Czech: pluh (cs) m
Danish: plov (da) c
Dargwa: гутан (gutan)
Dutch: ploeg (nl) f
Egyptian: (hb m)
Esperanto: plugilo
Estonian: ader (et)
Farefare: nii-kũure
Faroese: plógv f or n
Finnish: aura (fi)
French: charrue (fr) f, araire (fr) f (swing-plough)
Friulian: vuarzine f, vuàrgine f
Galician: arado (gl) m, lavego m, lavega f, garfela f, vesadoiro m
Garo: nanggri, nang-gol, lang-gol
Georgian: გუთანი (ka) (gutani), ერქვანი (ka) (erkvani)
German: Pflug (de) m
Greek: αλέτρι (el) n (alétri), άροτρο (el) n (árotro)
Ancient: ἄροτρον n (árotron)
Gujarati: હળ (gu) n (haḷ)
Hebrew: מַחְרֵשָׁה (he) f (makhreshá)
Hindi: हल (hi) m (hal), नांगल m (nāṅgal)
Hungarian: eke (hu)
Icelandic: plógur (is) m
Indonesian: bajak (id), waluku (id)
Ingrian: adra, pluuga
Ingush: нух (nux), гота (gota)
Irish: céachta m, arathar m (literary)
Italian: aratro (it) m, aratrice f
Japanese: 鋤 (ja) (すき, suki), 鍬 (ja) (くわ, kuwa)
Javanese: waluku (jv)
Karachay-Balkar: плуг (plug), сабан агъач (saban ağaç), гатон (gaton)
Kazakh: соқа (soqa)
Khmer: នង្គ័ល (km) (nĕəngkŏəl), អង្គ័ល (km) (ʼɑngkŏəl)
Korean: 쟁기 (ko) (jaenggi)
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: kotan (ku)
Kyrgyz: соко (ky) (soko)
Ladin: cadria ?
Lao: ໄຖ (lo) (thai)
Latgalian: orklys m
Latin: aratrum (la) n
Latvian: arkls (lv) m
Lezgi: куьтен (küten)
Lithuanian: plūgas (lt) m
Livonian: addõrz
Livvi: adru
Low German:
German Low German: Ploog m or f
Luxembourgish: Plou (lb) m
Macedonian: плуг (mk) m (plug)
Malay: bajak
Malayalam: കലപ്പ (ml) (kalappa)
Maltese: moħriet m
Manx: keeaght f
Maori: parau
Marathi: नांगर (mr) m (nāṅgar), अऊत (mr) m (aūt), हल m (hal)
Mazanderani: ازال (ezāl)
Megleno-Romanian: ărat
Mingrelian: გუთანი (gutani)
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: анжис (mn) (anžis)
Mongolian: ᠠᠨᠵᠢᠰᠤ (anǰisu)
Norman: qùérue f (continental Norman), tchéthue f (Jersey), tchérue f (Guernsey), kyerüü f (Sark)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: plog m
Nynorsk: plog m
Occitan: araire (oc) ?
Old East Slavic: плугъ m (plugŭ)
Old Javanese: waluku
Oromo: maarashaa
Ossetian: гу́тон (gúton), готон (goton)
Ottoman Turkish: صبان (saban), پلوغ (pulluğ); قوطان (kotan) (large plough with multiple plowshares)
Pali: naṅgala n, hala m
Persian: خیش (fa) (xiš), گاوآهن (fa) (gâv-âhan)
Plautdietsch: Pluach m
Polish: pług (pl) m
Portuguese: arado (pt) m
Romanian: plug (ro) n, arat (ro) n (rare)
Romansch: arader m, criec m
Russian: плуг (ru) m (plug)
Saek: ไถ่
Sanskrit: हल (sa) m (hala), लाङ्गल (sa) (lāṅgala)
Sassarese: aradu
Scots: pleuch, plou
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: плу̏г m, јоре f
Roman: plȕg (sh) m, jore f
Shan: ထႆ (shn) (thǎi)
Slovak: pluh m
Slovene: plug (sl) m, ralo n
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: chołuj m
Spanish: arado (es) m
Swahili: plau
Swedish: plog (sv) c
Tagalog: araro
Tajik: сипор (sipor)
Tatar: сабан (tt) (saban)
Tausug: araru
Telugu: నాగలి (te) (nāgali), గొర్రు (te) (gorru)
Thai: ไถ (th) (tǎi)
Tocharian A: āre
Tocharian B: āre ?
Turkish: saban (tr)
Udi: коьтаьн (kötän)
Udmurt: геры (gery)
Ukrainian: плуг (uk) m (pluh)
Urdu: ہل m (hal), نانگل m (nāṅgal)
Uzbek: plug (uz)
Venetan: varsuro
Vietnamese: cày (vi)
Vilamovian: fłüg m
Votic: adrõ
Walloon: tcherowe (wa) f, eraire (wa) f (swing-plough)
Welsh: aradr (cy) m
West Frisian: ploech c
Yiddish: אַקער m (aker) :

### Verb

plough (third-person singular simple present ploughs, present participle ploughing, simple past and past participle ploughed)
* (transitive) To use a plough on soil to prepare for planting.
    I've still got to plough that field.
** 1917, The English Reports: Exchequer, page 789:That there is and from time immemorial has been within that part of the parish called Mablethorpe St. Mary's a laudable custom that, if any outdweller take ancient pasture ground, he shall pay a modus of 4d. an acre, and so in proportion, on the 1st of August, in lieu of all manner of tithe; and that if any of the ancient pasture be once ploughed up or meadowed, it shall, when restored to pasture again, pay 4d. the acre in the hands of such outdweller.
* (intransitive) To use a plough.
    Some days I have to plough from sunrise to sunset.
* To move with force.
    Trucks ploughed through the water to ferry flood victims to safety.
** 2011 January 18, “Wolverhampton 5 - 0 Doncaster”, in BBC‎:Wolves continued to plough forward as young Belgian midfielder Mujangi Bia and Ronald Zubar both hit shots wide from good positions.
** 2020 December 30, Tim Dunn, “The railway's mechanical marvels”, in Rail, page 58, photo caption:Thirteen people were injured in August 1957 when this Bristol freighter skidded on the runway at Southend Airport when landing with a flight from Calais. It ploughed through the boundary fence, but thankfully stopped short of the railway and the 1,500V overhead wires. A tripwire was installed on this section of Shenfield-Southend line to warn train drivers of instances such as this.
* (transitive, colloquial) To knock over or run over (someone) without stopping.
    My brother ploughed me over.
    Three people were ploughed down when he lost control of the truck.
* To furrow; to make furrows, grooves, or ridges in.
    Synonyms: chamfer, groove, rut
** c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene xii]:Let patient Octavia plough thy visage up / With her prepared nails.
* (nautical) To run through, as in sailing.
** 1725, Homer, “Book II”, in [William Broome], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume I, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC:With speed we plough the watery way.
* (bookbinding) To trim, or shave off the edges of, as a book or paper, with a plough.
* (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.
* (UK, university slang, transitive) To fail (a student).
    Synonyms: flunk, pluck
** 1863, Henry Kingsley, Austin Elliot, page 123:The good Professor scolded, predicted that they would all be either gulfed or ploughed.
** 1863, Charles Reade, Hard Cash:You see, Miss Dodd, an university examination consists of several items: neglect but one, and Crichton himself would be ploughed; because brilliancy in your other papers is not allowed to count; that is how the most distinguished man of our day got ploughed for Smalls.
** 1895, Roger Pocock, The Rules of the Game:I knew one of that lot at Corpus; in fact, we were crammed by the same tutor for "smalls," and both got ploughed.
* (transitive, vulgar) To sexually penetrate, typically in a vigorous manner.
    Synonyms: get up in, pound; see also Thesaurus:copulate with
    I love just getting ploughed face down on my bed.

#### Derived terms

* ploughable
* plough ahead
* plough a lonely furrow
* plough back
* plough down
* plough in
* plough into
* plough money
* plough on
* plough one's own furrow
* plough one's way
* plough over
* Ploughright
* plough the back forty
* plough the sands
* plough through
* plough under
* plough up

#### Translations

Afrikaans: ploeg
Albanian: plugoj (sq), lëroj (sq)
Arabic: حَرَثَ (ḥaraṯa)
Egyptian Arabic: حرت (ḥarat)
Moroccan Arabic: حرت (ḥrat)
Armenian: վարել (hy) (varel), արորել (arorel), հերկել (hy) (herkel)
Aromanian: ar
Assamese: হাল বোৱা (hal büa)
Azerbaijani: şumlamaq, kotanlamaq
Belarusian: ара́ць impf (arácʹ), узара́ць pf (uzarácʹ)
Bulgarian: ора́ (bg) impf (orá)
Burmese: ထယ်ထိုး (htaihtui:), ခွဲ (my) (hkwai:), ထွန် (my) (htwan)
Catalan: llaurar (ca)
Cherokee: ᎦᏓᎷᎩᎠ (gadalugia)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 耕 (zh) (gēng), 耕地 (zh) (gēngdì), 耕田 (zh) (gēngtián)
Czech: orat (cs) impf
Danish: pløje (da)
Dutch: ploegen (nl)
Egyptian: (skꜣ)
Esperanto: plugi (eo)
Estonian: kündma
Faroese: pløga
Finnish: kyntää (fi)
French: labourer (fr)
Friulian: arâ
Galician: arar (gl)
Gallurese: laurà
German: pflügen (de)
Greek:
Ancient: ἀρόω (aróō), ἀροτριάω (arotriáō)
Hebrew: חָרַשׁ (he) (kharásh)
Hindi: हल चलाना (hal calānā)
Hungarian: szánt (hu)
Icelandic: plægja (is)
Irish: treabh
Italian: arare (it)
Japanese: 耕す (ja) (たがやす, tagayasu)
Kazakh: айдау (aidau), жырту (jyrtu)
Khmer: ភ្ជួរ (km) (phcuə), ភ្ជួរដី (phcuə dəy)
Korean: 갈다 (ko) (galda)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: کێڵان (ckb) (kêllan)
Kyrgyz: жер айдоо (jer aydoo)
Lao: ໄຖ (lo) (thai)
Latgalian: art
Latin: arō (la)
Latvian: art (lv)
Lithuanian: arti (lt)
Macedonian: ора impf (ora)
Malayalam: ഉഴുക (ml) (uḻuka)
Maori: parau
Marathi: नांगरणे (nāṅgarṇe)
Megleno-Romanian: ar
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: хагалах (mn) (xagalax)
Mongolian: ᠬᠠᠭᠠᠯᠬᠤ (qaɣalqu)
Norman: tchéthuer (Jersey)
North Frisian: pluuge (Föhr-Amrum)
Norwegian: pløye
Occitan: laurar (oc), arar (oc)
Old Church Slavonic:
Cyrillic: орати impf (orati)
Old East Slavic: орати impf (orati), пахати impf (paxati) (from 11th century)
Old English: erian
Oromo: qotuu
Persian: شخم زدن (fa) (šoxm zadan)
Polish: orać (pl) impf
Portuguese: arar (pt), lavrar (pt)
Quechua: yapuy
Romanian: ara (ro)
Russian: паха́ть (ru) impf (paxátʹ), вспа́хивать (ru) impf (vspáxivatʹ), вспаха́ть (ru) pf (vspaxátʹ), ора́ть (ru) impf (orátʹ) (archaic)
Santali: ᱥᱤ (si)
Sardinian:
Campidanese: arai, manixài
Logudorese: laorare, laurare, manizare
Sassarese: laurà
Scots: pleuch, plou
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: о̀рати impf
Roman: òrati (sh) impf
Slovak: orať impf
Slovene: orati (sl) impf
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: wóraś impf, zwóraś pf
Spanish: arar (es), labrar (es), barbechar (es), aladrar (es), jabrir (es)
Swedish: plöja (sv)
Tajik: шудгор кардан (tg) (šudgor kardan)
Telugu: దున్ను (te) (dunnu)
Thai: ไถ (th) (tǎi)
Ugaritic: 𐎈𐎗𐎘 (ḥrṯ)
Ukrainian: ора́ти (uk) impf (oráty), зо́рювати impf (zórjuvaty), зора́ти pf (zoráty)
Urdu: ہل چلانا (hal calānā)
Uzbek: haydamoq (uz), er haydamoq
Vietnamese: cày (vi)
Walloon: tcherwer (wa), rabourer (wa)
Welsh: aredig (cy) :

### See also

* disc
* furrow
* harrow
* rake
* till
* yoke

## Middle English
### Alternative forms

* ploug, plouh, plogh, plog, ploh, ploch
* plugh, pleugh, plue, pleu (northern)

### Etymology

From Old English plōh, from Proto-West Germanic *plōg, from Proto-Germanic *plōgaz.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /pluːx/

### Noun

plough (plural ploughs)
* plow

#### Descendants

* English: plough, plow (US) (see there for further descendants)
* Scots: pleuch, plou
* Yola: pleough, plowe, plou

### References

* “plǒugh, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.