harness
/ˈhɑːnəs
/noun
1A set of straps and fittings by which a horse or other draught animal is fastened to a cart, plough, etc. and is controlled by its driver.He was diminutive, and how he managed to lift the heavy harness on the draught horses for ploughing was more than I could understand....
- Iron components of the chariot were found in a good state of preservation, including the two wheel rims and hub - hoops, the yoke fittings, harness and horse bits.
- I went about my usual morning routine, feeding Angel Wing and the pull horses, and putting on the harnesses for the carts.
Synonyms
tack, tackle, equipment, trappings, straps, yoke
informal gear
archaic equipage
1.1An arrangement of straps for fastening something such as a parachute to a person’s body or for restraining a young child.The second was that I refused to allow myself to be harnessed to a particular parent on a climbing wall....
- The assistant who was about a nineteen-year-old boy helped us into the harness as we strapped on our helmets.
- The Doctor rambled on, as he checked the leads from the computer to the harness strapped tight to Tanj's head.
verb [with object]
1Put a harness on (a horse or other draught animal): how to groom a horse and harness it the horse was harnessed to two long shafts...
- Two horses were harnessed to a small cart that rattled along near the back of the single-file.
- James returned as the morning was fading into the afternoon, a second horse harnessed to his.
- A photograph in the late Jess Chandler's History of Marlborough shows the horses harnessed to the fire engine in front of the town hall.
Synonyms
hitch up, put something in harness, saddle, yoke, couple
2Control and make use of (natural resources), especially to produce energy: attempts to harness solar energy figurative projects that harness the creativity of those living in the ghetto...
- All the same, these conditions have long proved impossible to sustain in physicists attempts to harness nuclear fusion for energy generation.
- ‘Ireland should be harnessing its natural resources and should be a net exporter of power rather than an importer,’ he said.
- The system would have produced 3.5 megawatts - the five turbines being designed to harness tidal energy and turn it into electricity.
Synonyms
control, exploit, utilize, use, make use of, put to use, render useful, make productive, turn to good account;
channel, mobilize, employ, apply, capitalize on
Phrases
in harness
Derivatives
harnesser
- Bedaux had made his fortune as one of the greatest harnessers of mass labor since the Pharoahs.
- As harnessers of power, both have evoked great awe and admiration as human conquerors of nature.
- The masks serve as both visual aids in the portrayal of Bali's courtly legends and as harnessers of invisible forces.
Origin
Middle English: from Old French harneis 'military equipment', from Old Norse, from herr 'army' + nest 'provisions'.
Rhymes
- complex manifold
- complex plane
- complex sentence
- compliance
- compliance officer
- compliancy
- compliant
- compliantly
- complicate
- complicated
- complicatedly
- complicatedness
- complication
- complicit
- complicitous
- complicity
- compliment
- complimentarily
- complimentary
- complimentary close
- complimentary closing
- compliment slip
- compliments of the season
- compliments slip
- compline