How do you use the word "scythe" in a sentence?

Q: How do you use the word "scythe" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "scythe": Would you use a scythe instead of a lawnmower? The gardener cuts back the bushes with shears and the grass with a scythe.

Scythe Meaning

/ˈsaɪð/

Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

nounAn instrument for mowing grass, grain, etc. by hand, composed of a long, curving blade with a sharp concave edge, fastened to a long handle called a snath.

nounA scythe-shaped blade attached to ancient war chariots.

Sentence Examples

Would you use a scythe instead of a lawnmower?

The gardener cuts back the bushes with shears and the grass with a scythe.

CEFR Practice Quiz

The farmer used a sharp ____ to cut the tall grass in the field.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

The farmer used a long-handled ____ to cut the tall grass in the meadow.

Word Origin & History

From Middle English sythe, sithe, from Old English sīþe, sīgþe, sigdi (“sickle”), from Proto-West Germanic *sigiþi, from Proto-Germanic *sigiþiz, *sigiþō, derived from *seg- (“saw”), from Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut”). Immediate Germanic cognates include Middle Low German sēgede, Dutch zicht, Icelandic sigð (all “sickle”). More distantly related with Dutch zeis, German Sense (both “scythe”). Also akin to English saw, which see. The silent c crept in during the early 15th century owing to folk-etymological association with Medieval Latin scissor (“tailor, carver”), from Latin scindō (“to cut, rend, split”). The verb, which was first used in the intransitive sense, is from the noun.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"And nothing 'gainst Time's scythe can make defence Save breed, to brave him when he takes thee hence." — 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 12”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:

"Early next morning the gudewife took a scythe on her shoulder, and went out in the fields with the hay-mowers to mow." — 1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 41:

"The boy began to keen, and the high-pitched noise scythed through Song's head." — 2011, Catherine Sampson, The Pool of Unease:

"The smaller shells make a complete slaughterhouse of the bridge, and the splinters scythe through anyone out on deck." — 2019 February 27, Drachinifel, 20:09 from the start, in The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?, archived from the original on 03 Nov 2022:

Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words