Plow or Plough?

[neonlyte]

My dictionary (Websters and Mac Sherlock) suggests plow and plough are interchangeable. The context is 'not with hydrofoils plowing back and forth'.

I associate plough with land, plow with water, any advice before someone takes delight in pointing out my error.

 

[Weird Harold]

My dictionary (Websters and Mac Sherlock) suggests plow and plough are interchangeable. The context is 'not with hydrofoils plowing back and forth'.

I associate plough with land, plow with water, any advice before someone takes delight in pointing out my error.

I alwys use "Plow."

"Plough" is an archaic or English spelling to my mind.

 

[TheEarl]

Curiously enough, I always use plough. Plow is a bastardised, or American spelling to my mind.

The Earl

 

[Xelebes]

Now would you call a slough a slow, as to confuse slow with slew and slew with slough...

I'll give up now.

 

[neonlyte]

Thanks guys.

I thought it might be an American/English thing. I'll check in later see if anyone associates either word specifically with water in preference to the other.

 

[oggbashan]

Plough is the UK version.

Last weekend there was a steam-ploughing contest nearby. This year I didn't go. I prefer to watch Shire Horses ploughing.

Normal ploughing with tractors is much quicker and more efficient. As an amateur helping a friend I couldn't manage the precise curves around obstacles in a field. The closest I came was ploughing around a ruined chapel. That was easy because the chapel was rectangular and its sides were parallel to the edges of the field. Ploughing around an oval prehistoric barrow I left to the experts. Despite their expertise, they were paid far less than I was for my area of knowledge.

Og

 

[Guest]

Curiously enough, I always use plough. Plow is a bastardised, or American spelling to my mind.

The Earl

You say that as if we're just a bunch of wild cowboys going around screwing up your language.

 

[minsue]

You say that as if we're just a bunch of wild cowboys going around screwing up your language.

We are

 

[oggbashan]

You say that as if we're just a bunch of wild cowboys going around screwing up your language.

So? We had been screwing it up quite effectively by ourselves for a few hundred years before the Colonies started to help out.



Og

 

[English Lady]

Plough for me..plow just looks like it should be in a line up with words like "Pow, Wham, zap, Blammo!"

 

[Guest]

So? We had been screwing it up quite effectively by ourselves for a few hundred years before the Colonies started to help out.



Og

Well? Don't let us stop you. You've got more experience at it. Maybe we can learn better techniques of screwing it up.

EXAMPLE:

Just what the hell is a "bollocks"?

Did I pronounce that right? Did I forget a "U"?

 

[gauchecritic]

Well? Don't let us stop you. You've got more experience at it. Maybe we can learn better techniques of screwing it up.

EXAMPLE:

Just what the hell is a "bollocks"?

Did I pronounce that right? Did I forget a "U"?

A bollox or bollocks (no U) is, as far as Im aware, a synonym for rollocks (or rowlocks) which you will find on the side of a rowing boat, in which the oars are pivoted.

Bollocks also are male genetalia, sometimes specifically the nads, plums or testicles.


For me plough implies furrow whereas plow indicates forward movement.

Edited to add: I've just realised that both those can be employed in apparent contrast to my personal definition as in: He plowed into her furrow.

Gauche

 

[pop_54]

Well? Don't let us stop you. You've got more experience at it. Maybe we can learn better techniques of screwing it up.

EXAMPLE:

Just what the hell is a "bollocks"?

Did I pronounce that right? Did I forget a "U"?

Sorry Dran mate, no such thing as 'a' Bollocks, it would be 'a' Bollock, or 'a pair' of Bollocks. Very rare that there are more than 2 to an individual, although you might find a few like that living near nuclear power stations.

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

One of my dictionaries (the one not printed in the US) lists both, with"Plow" the US version of "Plough."

I have always used them according to the modernity or archaicallity of the usage.

A snowplow, be it clearing city streets or slowing a skier, calls for the modern usage.

To either plough a furrow in a field, or to plough with some else's heifer, required the more archaic term.

 

[neonlyte]

I think it's a 'no win' word. Everything I've consulted suggests their interchangeable, someone will say it's the wrong word - sod's law.

Oddly one of my on-line dictionaries uses exactly the same expression for both words 'The ship plowed (ploughed) through the water.

I'm going to go with plow, I think Gauche is right, it's indicative of forward movement.

Many thanks.

 

[TheEarl]

Jack!

Well? Don't let us stop you. You've got more experience at it. Maybe we can learn better techniques of screwing it up.

EXAMPLE:

Just what the hell is a "bollocks"?

Did I pronounce that right? Did I forget a "U"?

I always found it funny in the last series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer when they tried to cut it for an earlier viewing. In England, we get an American edit for the 6.00pm viewing, which means they lose all the decapitations and all of the sex and most of the bad language. Strangely enough, the word 'bollocks' and 'bugger' seemed immune from the censor's knife, so the English characters could swear as much as they liked, whilst the Americans were cut to pieces. I presume the censors had no idea what bollocks were.

The Earl

 

[Virtual_Burlesque]

... I'm going to go with plow... it's indicative of forward movement...

I’ll take your word for it that “plow” is indicative of forward movement. “Plough,” however, is indicitive of making a clough in a field.

By the way, be careful how you toss about Gauche’s rollock or rowlock. They too must be British.

An American would be all at sea until you refereed to it as an oarlock.

 

[neonlyte]

I’ll take your word for it that “plow” is indicative of forward movement. “Plough,” however, is indicitive of making a clough in a field.

By the way, be careful how you toss about Gauche’s rollock or rowlock. They too must be British.

An American would be all at sea until you refereed to it as an oarlock.

Fortunately they are sailing, no oars or rowing involved. Now I just need to avoid confusing Jib and Gybe.

 

[matriarch]

Curiously enough, I always use plough. Plow is a bastardised, or American spelling to my mind.

The Earl

 

[Guest]

from OED (online) 2nd ed. 1989

plough, plow, v.
[size=1.5](pla) Forms: 5-6 plowghe (5 north. plugh(e), 5-7 plowe, 6- plow (Sc. plew), (6-7) 8- plough. (Erron. pa. pple. 6 plowen.) [f. PLOUGH n.1 So MDu., Du. ploegen, MLG., LG. plogen, MHG. phluogen, Ger. pflügen, ON. pløgja. In 16-17th c. the n. was normally plough and the vb. plow(e, repr. ME. types ploh, ploen or plowen (cf. enough, enow = OE. enóh, enóe); so mod.Sc. pleuch n., pleuw vb.; but the spelling plough occurs also for the verb in 16-17th c., and became usual in England during the 18th c., when n. and vb. were levelled in form; in U.S. they have both become plow.]

1. a. trans. To make furrows in and turn up (the earth) with a plough, especially as a preparation for sowing; also absol. to use a plough.
c1420-40 Plowynge [see PLOUGHING vbl. n. 1]. c1460 Towneley Myst. ii. 54 That we had ployde [? plode] this land. 1483 Cath. Angl. 284/2 To Plowghe (A. Plugh), arare. 1523 FITZHERB. Surv. 2 It is conuenyent that they be plowen and sowen. 1530 PALSGR. 660/2, I wyll ploughe all the lande I have in your towne to yere. 1607 NORDEN Surv. Dial. IV. 181 As much as 2. oxen could plow. 1611 COTGR., Charruë, a Plough. Charruër, to till, eare, plow. Charrué, tilled, plowed. 1707 Curios. in Husb. & Gard. 133 Once Ploughing the Land..will..be sufficient. 1759 tr. Duhamel's Husb. I. vii. (1762) 17 It is plowed into high ridges with a strong plough. 1796 H. HUNTER tr. St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) I. 361 As much land as a yoke of oxen could plough in one day. 1816 W. SMITH Strata Ident. 12 When wet and fresh plowed. 1816 SCOTT Old Mort. vii, I am no clear if I can pleugh [error for plew] ony place but the Mains and Muckle~whame. 1880 Scribner's Mag. 215 They have plowed and fitted for grain-growing 3,000 acres.

b. With resultant object: To make (a furrow, ridge, line) by ploughing. Also fig.
1589 Pasquil's Ret. Cjb, God shall..punish euery forrow they haue plowed vpon his backe. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) I. 286/2 By casting, that is, by ploughing two ridges together beginning at the furrow that separates them. 1810 AMOS Ess. Agric. Mach. ii. 18 [A machine] for ploughing Furrows nine by five inches square. 1901 LD. ROSEBERY in Times 20 July 15/5, I must proceed alone. I must plough my furrow alone. 1936 E. WHITE Wheel Spins iii. 29 She always ploughed a straight furrow, right to its end. 1977 Dædalus Summer 149 In the United States, George Sarton had been plowing a lonely furrow at Harvard's Widener Library for about twenty-five years. 1978 Lancashire Life Nov. 39/2 No easy task, with everybody else ploughing the same furrow.

2. a. intr. (or absol.) To use the plough, work as a ploughman, till the ground.

1535 COVERDALE Prov. xx. 4 A slouthfull body wyl not go to plowe for colde. 1607 SHAKES. Cor. III. i. 71 The Cockle of Rebellion, Insolence, Sedition, which we our selues haue plowed for, sow'd. 1611 BIBLE Job i. 14 The oxen were plowing [COVERDALE a plowinge], and the asses feeding beside them. 1 Cor. ix. 10 That hee that ploweth, should plow in hope. 1685 BAXTER Paraphr. N.T. 2 Tim. ii. 6 The Husbandman must labour (plow, sow, &c.) before he reap and gather the Fruit. 1847 L. HUNT Jar of Honey (1848) 197 Twenty-three pair of oxen were ploughing together within a square of thirty acres. 1868 RUSKIN Arrows of Chace (1880) II. 199 A man taught to plough, row or steer well,..[is] already educated in many essential moral habits.

b. intr. in pass. sense (of land): To bear or stand ploughing (easily, well, etc.); to prove (tough, etc.) in the ploughing.
1762 MILLS Syst. Pract. Husb. I. 152 It ploughed very tough, and the cattle mired in some places. 1847 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. VIII. II. 571 The land generally ploughs up in a friable state. 1864 Ibid. XXV. II. 528 The clover-lands..ploughed remarkably well.

3. a. trans. By extension: To furrow as by ploughing; to gash, tear up, scratch (any surface). Often plough up: see 9e.
1588, etc. [see 9e]. 1740 SOMERVILLE Hobbinol II. 84 Th' insidious Swain..Fell prone and plough'd the Dust. 1784 COWPER Task v. 50 His dog..snatches up the drifted snow With ivory teeth, or ploughs it with his snout. 1856 J. H. NEWMAN Callista i. 2 The Bagradas..ploughed the rich and yielding mould with its rapid stream.

b. With resultant object, as course, line.
1831 SCOTT Cast. Dang. iii, The course which the river had ploughed for itself down the valley. 1855 KINGSLEY Glaucus 14 It was..the stones fallen from Snowdon peak into the half-liquid lake of ice above, which ploughed those furrows. 1873 HAMERTON Intell. Life II. i. (1875) 51 The line-engraver..month after month, ploughs slowly his marvellous lines.

c. intr. To move through soft ground, snow, etc., furrowing it.
1847 LE FANU T. O'Brien 209 Drenched in inky slime..Miles Garrett ploughed and floundered to the other side. 1876 A. H. GREEN Phys. Geol. iv. §5 (1877) 160 Icebergs which after they had run aground and ploughed into the bottom [of the deposits of boulder clay]. 1894 FENN In Alpine Valley II. 246 Deane came ploughing through the snow up to the window.

4. fig. Of a ship, boat, swimming animal, etc.: To cleave the surface of the water. Chiefly poet. a. trans.
1607 SHAKES. Timon V. i. 53 'Tis thou that rigg'st the Barke, and plow'st the Fome. 1633 P. FLETCHER Purple Isl. I. xxxvi, Vain men..who plough the seas, With dangerous pains, another Earth to finde. 1698 FRYER Acc. E. India & P. 24 Once again committing ourselves to the Sea, we ploughed deeper Water. a1732 GAY Fables II. viii. 25 When naval traffic plows the main. 1782 COWPER Loss Royal George x, He and his eight hundred Shall plough the wave no more. 1836 MACGILLIVRAY tr. Humboldt's Trav. xvi. 216 The river was ploughed by porpoises, and the shore crowded with aquatic birds.

b. With resultant object, as course, way.
1696 PRIOR To the King 56 On..Britain's joyful sea, Behold, the monarch ploughs his liquid way. 1780 COWPER Table-t. 522 Give me the line [of verse] that plows its stately course Like a proud swan, conquering the stream by force. 1856 KANE Arct. Expl. I. xviii. 228 Ploughing its way with irresistible march through the crust of an investing sea. 1873 BLACK Pr. Thule ii, The steamer..ploughed her way across the blue and rushing waters of the Minch.

c. intr.
1850 LYELL 2nd Visit U.S. II. 154 These streams..spread out into broad superficial sheets or layers, which the keels of vessels plough through. 1867 Good Cheer 2 He had ‘ploughed over many a stormy sea’. 1897 Outing (U.S.) XXX. 117/1 A few tugs plowing up stream left behind them wakes.

5. trans. fig. To furrow (the face, brow, etc.) deeply with wrinkles; also with resultant object.
1725 RAMSAY Gentle Sheph. V. iii, Has fifteen years so plew'd A wrinkled face that you have often view'd. 1742 POPE Dunc. IV. 204 Before them march'd that awful Aristarch; Plough'd was his front with many a deep Remark. 1818 BYRON Ch. Har. IV. xlii, Italia!.. On thy sweet brow is sorrow plough'd by shame. 1837 WHEELWRIGHT tr. Aristophanes I. 56 note, Her face..rough, and ploughed with wrinkles. 1857 HOLLAND Bay Path xix. 218 Jealousy and pride..ploughed no furrows across her brow.

b. To obliterate by ploughing wrinkles.
1818 BYRON Mazeppa v, A port, not like to this ye see, But smooth, as all is rugged now; For time, and care, and war, have plough'd My very soul from out my brow.

6. a. In various figurative applications of the primary and transferred senses.
1535 COVERDALE Job iv. 8 Those that plowe wickednesse..and sowe myschefe, they reape ye same. 1576 FLEMING Panopl. Epist. 342 The soyle of his inuention, memorie, and iudgement, is so ordinarily ploughed with practise and experience. 1606 SHAKES. Ant. & Cl. II. ii. 233 Royall Wench: She made great Cæsar lay his sword to bed, He ploughed her, and she cropt. 1607 Cor. V. iii. 34 Let the Volces Plough Rome, and harrow Italy. 1608 Per. IV. vi. 154. 1609 BIBLE (Douay) Ecclus. vii. 13 Plowe not a lie [Vulg. noli arare mendacium] agaynst thy brother. 1624 FORD Sun's Darling II. i, Beckon the rurals in; the country-gray Seldom ploughs treason. 1652 MILTON Sonn. Cromwell, Cromwell..who through a cloud..To peace and truth thy glorious way hast plough'd. 1838 EMERSON Addr. Camb. Mass. Wks. (Bohn) II. 193 Jesus..whose name is not so much written as ploughed into the history of this world. 1884 F. P. COBBE in Contemp. Rev. Dec. 805 Out of hearts ploughed by contrition spring flowers.

b. intr. To proceed laboriously or doggedly through, to labour, to plod.
1891 C. T. C. JAMES Rom. Rigmarole 40 He never ceased speaking... In a monotonous tone, he ploughed solemnly onward, oblivious. 1897 FLANDRAU Harvard Episodes 30 He could..fancy himself ploughing doggedly in self-defence through an incredible number of courses in history. 1952 C. BARDSLEY Bishop's Move xi. 119, I almost said ‘plough through’ the Bible. 1959 Daily Tel. 23 July 1/6 The Prime Minister..gave the House the impression that he was ploughing, with as much force and gaiety as he could muster, through an almost impenetrable bog. 1978 P. BOARDMAN Worlds of P. Geddes xi. 408 One ploughs through the often complicated sentences of P.G.'s writings of 1926-30.

c. intr. Of a road vehicle, train, aeroplane, or the like: to move clumsily or laboriously, usu. at speed; to advance out of control into (or through, etc.) an obstacle.
1972 Daily Tel. 29 Dec. 2/5 A three-coach train was derailed..when it ploughed into a herd of cattle at 60 mph. 1973 Times 31 Dec. 5/5 The airliner..ploughed to a halt on the runway. 1976 Southern Even. Echo (Southampton) 11 Nov. 16/5 A Southampton lorry driver suffered only cuts and bruises last night when his lorry ploughed through a bridge and plunged 15 feet into a field at Wimborne. 1977 Evening Gaz. (Middlesbrough) 11 Jan. 1/9 Police in Cleveland are hunting the driver of a sports car which forced another car to plough into four people.

7. Applied to mechanical processes: cf. PLOUGH n.1 5. a. Bookbinding. To cut with a ‘plough’ or plough-press.
1873 E. SPON Workshop Receipts Ser. I. 395/2 The cutting press stands on a hollow frame..which..receives the paper shavings as they are ploughed off.

b. Carpentry. To cut or plane (a groove, rabbet) with a ‘plough’. Also intr.
1805 [see PLOUGHING 1b]. 1866 G. MACDONALD Ann. Q. Neighb. xiii, The carpenter..was ploughing away at a groove. 1875 Carpentry & Join. 104 A groove being ploughed under the over-hanging edge to cause the rain to drip clear of the wall.

c. To cut or gash (mackerel, etc.) so as to give it a better appearance: cf. CRIMP v.1 4. U.S. 1890 in Cent. Dict.

d. Coal Mining. To cut (coal) by means of a plough; to push (coal so obtained) away from the face by means of a plough.
1950 Trans. Inst. Mining Engineers CIX. 256 The first train of thought was to plough machine-cut coal on to a face conveyor. 1951 H. F. BANKS in E. Mason Pract. Coal Mining (ed. 2) I. viii. 123/2 This device carries steel blades which shear or plane off the coal to a limited depth and ploughs it on to the face conveyor. 1964 A. NELSON Dict. Mining 335 Hard anthracite is being ploughed with only water infusion to soften the coal.

e. trans. To clear (an area) of snow using a snow-plough.
1961 ‘E. LATHEN’ Banking on Death (1962) xii. 99 ‘Don't know why they can't plow these streets,’ he muttered as he pulled into the single lane left by the piles of snow. 1978 Times 23 Jan. 12/7 There was..slush and compacted snow on roads the ploughs had not reached. It says much for the authorities in West Virginia..that they had ploughed all but about 40 miles of my route. 1979 J. VAN DE WETERING Maine Massacre ii. 12 They may not have plowed the strip..last time... I had to circle while they pushed the old plow around.

8. Univ. slang. To reject (a candidate) as not reaching the pass standard in an examination: a slang substitute for pluck in this sense (PLUCK v. 7).
1853 ‘C. BEDE’ Verdant Green II. xi, It's impossible for them to plough me. 1863 READE Hard Cash Prol. 16 That..adds to my chance of being ploughed for smalls... ‘Ploughed’ is the new Oxfordish for ‘plucked’. 1883 Times 1 June 4 My young friend was undeservedly ploughed.

9. With advbs.; mostly trans. a. plough around: lit. in reference to stumps left in cultivated land; fig., to make tentative approaches, feel one's way. U.S. political slang.
1888 BRYCE Amer. Commw. II. III. lxx. 557 The more skilful leaders begin (as it is expressed) to ‘plough around’ among the delegations of the newer..States.

b. plough down: to throw or thrust down by ploughing. Also fig.
1765 A. DICKSON Treat. Agric. (ed. 2) 126 On a part of a field where whins were plowed down. 1877 BLACK Green Past. xxix, Any of which would be ploughed down by this huge vessel.

c. plough in, plough into the land: to embed or bury in the soil (manure, vegetation, etc.) by ploughing. Also fig.
1764 Museum Rust. II. 172 When a farmer intends to plow in his vetches, I would..advise him to do it some weeks before he sows his wheat. 1847 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. VIII. I. 62 Others spread the dung on the surface and plough it in. 1895 B. SEDGWICK in Westm. Gaz. 12 Sept. 4/3 He ploughed his capital into the land, and it never came out.

d. plough out: to dig or thrust out (of the ground) with the plough; hence, to disinter, dig out; to root out, eradicate, cast out, tear out, remove with violence; also, to excavate or hollow out by or as by ploughing (cf. 3b).
1643 MILTON Divorce II. xx. Wks. 1851 IV. 118 God loves not to plow out the heart of our endeavours with over-hard and sad tasks. a1645 HABINGTON Surv. Worc. in Worc. Hist. Soc. Proc. III. 504 Ploughed out of obscure antiquities I will now use the true name. 1863 LYELL Antiq. Man xiv. (ed. 3) 266 A third period when the marine boulder drift formed in the middle period was ploughed out of the larger valleys by a second set of glaciers. 1886 A. WINCHELL Walks Geol. Field 54 These North-American rivers have plowed out channels whose deep walls rise as high as the smoke from the steamers.

e. plough up: to break up (ground) by ploughing; to throw or cast up, eradicate (roots, weeds) with the plough; to cut up roughly, excavate, furrow or scratch deeply, by any similar action.
1588 SHAKES. Tit. A. IV. ii. 87 Sooner this sword shall plough thy bowels vp. 1601 BP. W. BARLOW Serm. Paules Crosse 45 For he..hath plowed vp my hart. 1606 SHAKES. Ant. & Cl. IV. xii. 38 Let Patient Octavia plough thy visage vp With her prepared nailes. 1718 LOWTH Comm. Jer. iv. 3 The Prophet..exhorts them to Repentance and Reformation under the Metaphor of Plowing up their fallow Ground. 1774 GOLDSM. Nat. Hist. (1776) III. 172 The wild boar plows it [the earth] up like a furrow, and does irreparable damage in the cultivated lands. 1817 W. SELWYN Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4) II. 1245 If..the owner of a close over which there is a right of way plough up the way, and assign a new way. a1895 LD. C. E. PAGET Autobiog. i. (1896) 8 Her decks were literally ploughed up with grape shot.

f. plough under: to bury in the soil by ploughing.
1900 Year-Bk. U.S. Dept. Agric. 379 If crimson clover is grown, it should be plowed under rather early in the spring to get the best results. 1979 Country Life 6 Dec. 2141 The express way will bypass the old road..ploughing under landmarks that meant much to people.

g. plough back: to invest (income or profit) in the enterprise from which it emanates.
1930 Economist 24 May 1172/2 The extensive resort of American managements to the practice of ‘ploughing back earnings into the business’ further emphasises this tendency. 1945 Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch 25 Oct. 6/3 The proposed act would limit the annual dividends of such corporations to 6 per cent, requiring that all additional profits would have to be ‘plowed back’ into redevelopment. 1949 Sun (Baltimore) 26 Jan. 12/3 Profits are being plowed back into industry at unprecedented rates. 1955 Times 1 July 17/3 The profits that have accrued from this company have been largely ploughed back for further development and expansion. 1965 Listener 23 Dec. 1023/1 It was not long before we had functioning money-raising sweet shops, bargain storesand the ‘Green Dragon’. Profits were all ploughed back. 1970 Physics Bull. Mar. 99/2 For the services it renders the Centre charges small fees which are ploughed back into its operations. By this means it is planned to be selfsupporting within three years. 1974 N. FREELING Dressing of Diamond 96 We ploughed every penny back for ten years. 1976 Milton Keynes Express 30 July 11/4 He would not consider ploughing some of the £4 million back into the services and said he hoped the kitty would increase.

10. Phrases. a. to plough with any one's heifer (ox, calf) after Judges xiv. 18. See also HEIFER 1b. (In quot. 1632, app. to be yoked together with.)
1535 COVERDALE Judg. xiv. 18 Yf ye had not plowed with my calfe [1611 heifer], ye shulde not haue founde out my ryddle. 1584 G. B. Beware the Cat Ded., I doubt whether M. Stremer will be contented that other men ploughe with his oxen. 1632 MASSINGER City Madam II. iii, I will under~take To find the north passage to the Indies sooner Than plough with your proud heifer.

b. to plough the sands: a frequent type of fruitless labour. Also to plough the air.
1590 GREENE Never too late Wks. (Grosart) VIII. 166 With sweating browes I long haue plowde the sands..Repent hath sent me home with emptie hands. 1647 JER. TAYLOR Lib. Proph. Ep. Ded. 5 That I had as good plow the Sands, or till the Aire, as perswade such Doctrines, which destroy mens interests. 1775 WESLEY Jrnl. 15 Nov., I preached at Dorking. But still I fear we are ploughing upon the sand: we see no fruit of our labours. 1894 ASQUITH Sp. at Birmingham 21 Nov., All our time, all our labour, and all our assiduity is as certain to be thrown away as if you were to plough the sands of the seashore, the moment that the Bill reaches the Upper Chamber.

Hence ploughed, plowed ppl. a.: also, (in sense 9g) ploughed-back; ploughed-out, obscured or destroyed by ploughing; (in sense 9e) ploughed-up (in quot. fig.). Also (in sense 9g) ploughing-back vbl. n.

1535 COVERDALE Jer. iv. 26 The plowed felde was become waist. 1665 BOYLE Occas. Refl. IV. ii. (1848) 173 We began to traverse certain plow'd Lands. 1759 B. MARTIN Nat. Hist. Eng. II. Herts. 15 The Surface of every Plowed Field. 1815 J. SMITH Panorama Sc. & Art II. 619 When ploughed lands are to be laid down for meadow or pasture. 1920 J. MASEFIELD Enslaved 120 From these ploughed-up souls the spirit brings Harvest at last. 1931 Economist 18 July 128/1 Reserves against remote contingencies, and those representing the ‘ploughing back’ of earnings into the business, should be set aside openly. 1944 J. S. HUXLEY On living in Revol. xii. 130 This compulsory ploughing-back of any excess profits is essential if the development of the area is to proceed at a reasonable rate. 1950 Oxoniensia XV. 7 Ploughed-out field-systems appear on air-photographs as a network of white lines which can often be recognized to some extent on the ground by bands of broken chalk and flints. 1957 Times 12 Dec. 18/1 Additional capital..has been injected into the business..in the form of ploughed-back profits. 1958 Spectator 18 July 117/3 It is finding about 85 per cent. of its capital through ploughed-back profits. 1959 Manch. Guardian 7 Aug. 1/2 The suggestion that a reduction in selling prices might, in present circumstances, take precedence over the ploughing back of profits. 1974 C. TAYLOR Fieldwork in Medieval Archaeol. iv. 74 The discovery of Iron Age and Roman sherds scattered on a spur above the River Nene near Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire, led to the identification of ramparts round this spur as part of a ploughed out ‘hill fort’. 1977 Interim IV. IV. 4 Then the light marks over ploughed-out walls or banks..provide..an accurate deliniation of landscape elements.
---------------------------------------------------------
APPENDED FROM ADDITIONS 1993
plough, v.
Add: ploughed ppl. a.: also, drunk (slang, chiefly U.S.).
1890 BARRÈRE & LELAND Dict. Slang II. 138/2 Ploughed (common), drunk. 1963 Amer. Speech XXXVIII. 174 One who is in the more extreme states of drunkenness is referred to as: plowed. 1985 G. V. HIGGINS Penance for Jerry Kennedy xxvi. 208, I did not get drunk... You and Frank did. You got absolutely plowed.[/size]

 

[Guest]

same OED

bollock [var. BALLOCK.]

1. pl. The testicles. Cf. BALLOCK 1.
1744 School of Venus in D. Thomas Long Time Burning (1969) 362 You..can now without blushing call prick, stones, bollocks, cunt, tarse and the like names. 1763 WILKES & POTTER Essay on Woman (1871) 19 Prick, cunt, and bollocks in convulsions hurl'd. 1874 Lett. fr. Friend in Paris II. 158 At the same time handling the noble bollocks. 1968 Landfall XXII. 17 Fine specimen of a lad, my Monty. All bollocks and beef.

2. Naut. Either of two blocks fastened to the topsail-yard, for the topsail-ties to reeve through.
1889 Cent. Dict., Bollock-block. 1898 ANSTED Dict. Sea Terms, Bollocks, blocks secured to the middle of the topsail yards in large ships; the topsail ties pass through them, and thereby gain an increase of power in lifting the yards.

3. pl. (See quot. 1919); also, a mess, a muddle; nonsense (also as int.). As adj., naked. low slang. Cf. BALLOCK 2.
1919 DOWNING Digger Dial. 12 Bollocks (n. or adj.), absurd; an absurdity. 1950 G. WILSON Brave Company (1951) viii. 142 He's stark bollock. Ibid. ix. 159 Christ, what a bollocks. 1969 It 11-24 Apr. 15/2 Bollocks, nobody at all wants to know. Ibid. 15/3 It's really a load of bollocks.

 

[matriarch]

*speechless*

 

[neonlyte]

Thanks for that Perdita, may be I should just attach it as an appendix.

Seriously, in England I've never seen the plough, as in field implement, ever spelt plow, I'm satisfied that plow is more commonly used with nautical connections, I should never have checked with the dictionary in the first place, thereby confusing me and dividing UK/USA regulars. So it's a concession to the US, at least they will see it that way and I'm content that my first thought was correct.

 

[Remec]

Re: Jack!

I always found it funny in the last series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer when they tried to cut it for an earlier viewing. In England, we get an American edit for the 6.00pm viewing, which means they lose all the decapitations and all of the sex and most of the bad language. Strangely enough, the word 'bollocks' and 'bugger' seemed immune from the censor's knife, so the English characters could swear as much as they liked, whilst the Americans were cut to pieces. I presume the censors had no idea what bollocks were.

The Earl

Yeah, that happens more often than you would think the way local/regional expressions and language seem to keep expanding into global ones.

I saw some show...can't recall what now...and the main characters kept having to go to a particularly uncooperative individual who not only peppered their conversation with such words (and even a 'bloody' or three), but made a backwards victory sign behind the main characters' heads to have the final "word" with them...

 

[English Lady]

I saw the word plough then "Remec" and it got me all hot and bothered then.......