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plough

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Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A plough is a farm tool or machine that cuts, turns, and prepares soil for sowing.

Detailed Definition
The plough opens furrows and turns the earth, burying weeds and exposing fresh soil before seed is sown. Drawn historically by people or animals and later by tractors, it is one of the central implements of agrarian life. In poetry the plough carries ancient associations with labour, fertility, settlement, war interrupted for peace, and the passage of seasons. Its furrow may resemble writing across the land, while its cutting share symbolises both necessary violence and the hopeful preparation from which future harvests arise.
Example
Example in poetry:
The plough opened dark furrows across the field before the spring sowing; In poetry, the plough often represents labour, fertility, settlement, and hope for a future harvest; The blade writes long brown lines across the earth like a pen upon paper; A broken plough may symbolise abandoned land, war, or the collapse of rural continuity.
Additional Notes
The plough is central to agricultural poetry because it marks the beginning of cultivation and the preparation for sowing. Its blade cuts and turns soil, creating furrows that poets often compare with writing across the land. The tool may symbolise labour, fertility, peace, settlement, hope, or human alteration of nature. Abandoned ploughs can suggest war or rural decline. Related terms include harrow, furrow, sowing, field, soil, oxen, horse, tractor, cultivation, harvest, fertility, settlement, labour, and the transformation of earth into livelihood.
Other Meanings of “plough”
Also Known As
plow cultivator
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