What does "restharrow" mean?

Any of various species of small shrubs making up the genus Ononis, especially common restharrow (Ononis repens), which has pink flowers.

What is a synonym for "restharrow"?

Common synonyms include: ononis repens, ononis spinosa, rest harrow, rest-harrow.

Pronounced //ˈɹɛsthaɹəʊ//.

//ˈɹɛsthaɹəʊ// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
Any of various species of small shrubs making up the genus Ononis, especially common restharrow (Ononis repens), which has pink flowers.
"Common Restharrow rises up with diverse rough, woody twigs, half a yard or a yard high, set at the joints without order [...]."
2
European woody plant having pink flowers and unifoliate leaves and long tough roots; spreads by underground runners wordnet
3
Eurasian plant having loose racemes of pink or purple flowers and spiny stems and tough roots wordnet

"Common Restharrow rises up with diverse rough, woody twigs, half a yard or a yard high, set at the joints without order [...]."

From wrest + harrow, from the idea that the plant's tough roots would stop a harrow (agricultural implement used to break up soil).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.