Furrow Meaning
/ˈfʌɹoʊ/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounAny trench, channel, or groove; often found on wood or metal.
nounAny trench, channel, or groove; often found on wood or metal., A trench cut in the soil, as when plowed in order to plant a crop.
Sentence Examples
For a long time, every furrow that was turned revealed some fragments of the fight.
The plowing is according to the furrow; the harvest, rather at random.
Make a furrow in the ground and sow the seeds.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The heavy plough made a deep straight ____ in the wet soil.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
A deep ____ appeared on his brow as he concentrated hard on solving the complex mathematical problem.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English furgh, forow, from Old English furh, from Proto-West Germanic *furh, from Proto-Germanic *furhs (compare Saterland Frisian Fuurge, Dutch voor, German Furche, Swedish fåra, Norwegian Bokmål fure), from Proto-Indo-European *perḱ- (“to dig”). Compare Welsh rhych (“furrow”), Latin porca (“ridge, balk”), Lithuanian prapar̃šas (“ditch”), Sanskrit पर्शान (párśāna, “chasm”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The family feeling was intensified as we stopped to speak to mothers in the cottage gardens, or waved to distant tractors turning over chocolate-brown furrows and driven by 'my dad' or 'my Uncle Bob'."
— 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 217:
"Morn in the white wake of the morning star / Came furrowing all the orient into gold."
— 1847, Alfred Tennyson, “Part III”, in The Princess: A Medley, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 47:
"If you were bold enough to ask Antonin Scalia questions, you had to be precise. Otherwise the bushy black brows would furrow, the chin would crumple and the pudgy, puckish body would start to rock, eager to get at you."
— 2016 February 20, “Obituary: Antonin Scalia: Always Right”, in The Economist:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The heavy plough made a deep straight ____ in the wet soil.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
A deep ____ appeared on his brow as he concentrated hard on solving the complex mathematical problem.