plough

noun

/plaʊ/

(British English)

(North American English plow)

Idioms

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[countable] a large piece of farming equipment with one or several curved blades (= metal cutting parts), pulled by a tractor or by animals. It is used for digging and turning over soil, especially before seeds are planted.
- Oxen were used to pull ploughs.
see also snowploughTopics Farmingc2
Oxford Collocations Dictionary
adjective
- heavy
- horse-drawn
- ox-drawn
- …
verb + plough/plow
- draw
- pull
plough/plow + noun
- horse
- team
- furrow
- …
See full entry
the Plough
(British English)
(North American English the Big Dipper)
[singular] a group of seven bright stars that can only be seen from the northern half of the world

Word Originlate Old English plōh, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch ploeg and German Pflug. The spelling plough became common in England in the 18th cent.; earlier (16th–17th cents) the noun was normally spelled plough, the verb plow.

Idioms

under the plough

(British English, formal) (of land) used for growing crops, not for keeping animals on synonym arableTopics Farmingc2

plough

verb

/plaʊ/

(British English)

(North American English plow)

[transitive, intransitive]

Verb Forms

present simple I / you / we / they plough	/plaʊ/ /plaʊ/
he / she / it ploughs	/plaʊz/ /plaʊz/
past simple ploughed	/plaʊd/ /plaʊd/
past participle ploughed	/plaʊd/ /plaʊd/
-ing form ploughing	/ˈplaʊɪŋ/ /ˈplaʊɪŋ/

Idioms Phrasal Verbs

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plough (something) to dig and turn over a field or other area of land with a plough
- ploughed fields
Collocations Farming
FarmingGrowing food and raising animals
- plant trees/seeds/crops/vines/barley
- grow/produce corn/wheat/rice/fruit
- plough/(North American English) plow land/a field
- sow/harvest seeds/crops/fields
- spread manure/fertilizer on something
- cultivate/irrigate/water/contaminate crops/plants/fields/land
- damage/destroy/lose your crop
- ripen/pick fruit/berries/grapes
- press/dry/ferment grapes
- grind/thresh grain/corn/wheat
- raise/rear/keep chickens/poultry/cattle/pigs
- raise/breed/feed/graze livestock/cattle/sheep
- kill/slaughter livestock
- preserve/smoke/cure/salt meat
Modern farming
- run a fish farm/an organic dairy farm
- engage in/be involved in intensive (pig/fish) farming
- use/apply (chemical/organic) fertilizer/insecticides/pesticides
- begin/do/conduct field trials of GM (= genetically modified) crops
- grow/develop GM crops/seeds/plants/foods
- fund/invest in genetic engineering/research
- improve/increase crop yields
- face/suffer from/alleviate food shortages
- label food that contains GMOs (= genetically modified organisms)
- eliminate/reduce farm subsidies
- oppose/be against factory farming/GM food
- promote/encourage/support organic/sustainable farming
Topics Farmingc2
Word Originlate Old English plōh, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch ploeg and German Pflug. The spelling plough became common in England in the 18th cent.; earlier (16th–17th cents) the noun was normally spelled plough, the verb plow.

Idioms

plough a lonely, your own, etc., furrow

(literary) to do things that other people do not do, or be interested in things that other people are not interested in