What does "plough" mean?
A device pulled through the ground in order to break it open into furrows for planting.
Plough
/plaʊ/ name, noun, verb, slang
name, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A device pulled through the ground in order to break it open into furrows for planting.
- Grammar: plough is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: plow, copulation, cultivate, cultivator.
- Useful contrasts: unploughed, cease, fallow.
- Usage evidence: Better to have one plough going than two cradles.
How to use "plough"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "plough" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "plough" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "plough" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "plough" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "plough" is acting as name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "plow" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "plough", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A device pulled through the ground in order to break it open into furrows for planting.
"Meronyms: ploughshare, plowshare, share, moldboard, mouldboard, coulter, colter, jointer, chisel, ploughbeam, beam, ploughstaff, staff, hake"
- 2 a farm tool having one or more heavy blades to break the soil and cut a furrow prior to sowing wordnet
- 3 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]"
- 4 Any of several other tools or implements that cut and push material.; A joiner's plane for making grooves.
- 5 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.
Show 4 more definitions
- 6 The use of a plough; tillage.
"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."
- 7 Alternative form of Plough (Synonym of Ursa Major) alt-of, alternative
"Rising in the north-east fairly high in the sky, Arcturus may be found by following round the curve of the plough."
- 8 Alternative form of ploughland, an alternative name for a carucate or hide. alt-of, alternative
"c. 1350, Geoffrey Chaucer (attributed), The Tale of Gamelyn Johan, mine eldest son, shall have plowes five."
- 9 A yoga pose resembling a traditional plough, halāsana.
Verb
- 1 To use a plough on soil to prepare for planting. transitive
"I've still got to plough that field."
- 2 to break and turn over earth especially with a plow wordnet
- 3 To use a plough. intransitive
"Some days I have to plough from sunrise to sunset."
- 4 move in a way resembling that of a plow cutting into or going through the soil wordnet
- 5 To move with force.
"Trucks ploughed through the water to ferry flood victims to safety."
Show 7 more definitions
- 6 To knock over or run over (someone) without stopping. colloquial, transitive
"My brother ploughed me over."
- 7 To furrow; to make furrows, grooves, or ridges in.
"Let patient Octavia plough thy visage up / With her prepared nails."
- 8 To run through, as in sailing.
"With speed we plough the watery way."
- 9 To trim, or shave off the edges of, as a book or paper, with a plough.
- 10 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.
- 11 To fail (a student). UK, obsolete, transitive
"The good Professor scolded, predicted that they would all be either gulfed or ploughed."
- 12 To sexually penetrate, typically in a vigorous manner. transitive, vulgar
"I love just getting ploughed face down on my bed."
Proper Noun
- 1 The brightest seven stars of the constellation Ursa Major. They are Alkaid, Mizar, Alioth, Megrez, Dubhe, Merak, and Phecda. British, common, name
"Later on, as I walked home / The Plough was showing, and Orion"
- 2 A surname.
Antonyms
Example
"Better to have one plough going than two cradles."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "plough"?
Common synonyms include: plow, copulation, cultivate, cultivator, farm, furrowing.
How do you use "plough" in a sentence?
Better to have one plough going than two cradles.
How do you pronounce "plough"?
Pronounced /plaʊ/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
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.
Etymology 2
From plough, a metonymic occupational surname for a plowwright or plowman.