plow
Americannoun
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an agricultural implement used for cutting, lifting, turning over, and partly pulverizing soil.
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any of various implements resembling or suggesting this, as a kind of plane for cutting grooves or a contrivance for clearing away snow from a road or track.
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Type Founding. (formerly) an instrument for cutting the groove in the foot of type.
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Bookbinding. a device for trimming the edges of the leaves by hand.
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(initial capital letter)
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the constellation Ursa Major.
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the Big Dipper.
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verb (used with object)
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to turn up (soil) with a plow.
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to make (a furrow) with a plow.
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to tear up, cut into, or make a furrow, groove, etc. in (a surface) with or as if with a plow (often followed byup ).
The tractor plowed up an acre of trees.
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to clear by the use of a plow, especially a snowplow (sometimes followed byout ).
The city's work crews were busily plowing the streets after the blizzard.
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to invest, as capital (often followed byinto ).
to plow several hundred million into developing new oil fields.
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to reinvest or reutilize (usually followed byback ).
to plow profits back into new plants and equipment.
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(of a ship, boat, animal, etc.)
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to cleave the surface of (the water).
beavers plowing the pond.
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to make (a way) or follow (a course) in this manner.
The yacht plowed an easterly course through the choppy Atlantic.
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Slang: Vulgar. to have sexual intercourse with.
verb (used without object)
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to till the soil or work with a plow.
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to take plowing in a specified way.
land that plows easily.
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to move forcefully through something in the manner of a plow (often followed by through, into, along, etc.).
The cop plowed through the crowd, chasing after the thief. The car plowed into our house.
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to proceed in a slow, laborious, and steady manner (often followed bythrough ).
The researcher plowed through a pile of reports.
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to move through water by cleaving the surface.
a ship plowing through a turbulent sea.
verb phrase
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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plowabilitynoun
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plowernoun
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subplownoun
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overplowverb
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subplowverb
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replowverb (used with object)
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plowableadjective
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unplowableadjective
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unplowedadjective
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well-plowedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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plowsimple
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plowssimple
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have plowedperfect
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has plowedperfect
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am plowingprogressive
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are plowingprogressive
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is plowingprogressive
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have been plowingperfect progressive
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has been plowingperfect progressive
Past
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plowedsimple
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had plowedperfect
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was plowingprogressive
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were plowingprogressive
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had been plowingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of plow
before 1100; Middle English plouh, plugh ( e ), plough ( e ), Old English plōh; cognate with German Pflug plow
Explanation
A plow is a large tool used for farming. A farmer drives or pulls a plow across a field to prepare it for planting. The large blades of a plow break up the earth, cutting and turning it so it's loose and ready to be planted with seeds. When you operate a plow, you can say that you plow. Boats can plow through water, too — in fact, anything that moves forcibly forward also plows: a car plows through traffic, and figuratively, a student plows through her homework.
Vocabulary lists containing plow
Down on the Farm
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Mesopotamia - Introductory
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"A Natural Balance" and "In My Dreams"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
First, SK Hynix plans to plow the entire amount raised into fabrication plants, machinery, and equipment.
From Barron's ● Jun. 24, 2026
What one strategist argues, therefore, is that investors should plow capital into the energy stocks providing the raw materials that technology stocks desperately require to grow.
From MarketWatch ● May 15, 2026
In exchange, farmers get higher productivity and yields, as modern machines plow, plant, and harvest faster and more precisely than older equipment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 19, 2026
Back then the farm he lived on had more than a dozen dairy cows, plus sheep, pigs and plow horses, since his family didn’t have a tractor.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 12, 2026
After the plow comes the harrow, with its heavy creaking disks, and then the people with hoes and seeds.
From "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" by Robert C. O'Brien
In Providence, a city spokesman told The Providence Journal that more than 300 vehicles had been towed for parking in the way of plows.
From BBC ● Feb. 23, 2026
Your third-grader happily plows through a plate of rigatoni with meat sauce, one of the few meals he will eat without protest, blissfully unaware that extra vegetables have been blended in for structural support.
From Salon ● Jan. 31, 2026
Yet U.S. commercial airports remove snow manually with plows, brushes, blowers and shovels, along with chemical de-icers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 31, 2025
Caltrans plows were plowing Interstate 15, the CHP said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 27, 2025
The fields are cultivated with horse plows while books are written by machinery.
From "1984" by George Orwell
Still, the next day, June 23, CBS News’ website plowed the same dead-end road with this headline: “Vance Says Iran to Let International Nuclear Inspections Resume After ‘Good Day’ of Talks.”
From Slate ● Jun. 24, 2026
According to brokerage statements viewed by MarketWatch, smellyfingernail liquidated his Roth IRA holdings last Tuesday and plowed the money into 1,478 shares of SpaceX at $211 apiece.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 23, 2026
A large chunk of the cash SoftBank has plowed into OpenAI has come from borrowing against the swelling value of SoftBank’s stake in Arm Holdings, the chip designer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 4, 2026
The 29 May incident began when Dong "failed to slow for traffic" on Interstate 95 and hit a Chevrolet Suburban that plowed into other cars, igniting one on fire.
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026
She plowed through the swinging doors that led to the dining room like she was on a serious mission.
From "Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus" by Dusti Bowling
The tech sector is expected to report robust earnings growth, but the real focus for investors is whether megacap tech companies are plowing ever-greater sums into AI investments.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
Investors piled into shares of companies benefiting from the massive spending of the so-called hyperscalers — the tech giants plowing hundreds of billions of dollars into building artificial-intelligence data centers across the U.S.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 5, 2026
Other companies are plowing forward where Monarch has failed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2026
Reid stared at his phone and considered plowing a chunk of his savings into shares of Robinhood.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 22, 2026
I ran and jumped with all my might, plowing into the warriors and snatching the scarf out of the air.
From "The Titan's Curse" by Rick Riordan
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
