Library / English Dictionary

FURROW

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A long shallow trench in the ground (especially one made by a plow)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("furrow" is a kind of...):

trench (any long ditch cut in the ground)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "furrow"):

cut; gash (a trench resembling a furrow that was made by erosion or excavation)

Derivation:

furrow (hollow out in the form of a furrow or groove)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A slight depression or fold in the smoothness of a surface

Example:

ironing gets rid of most wrinkles

Synonyms:

crease; crinkle; furrow; line; seam; wrinkle

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

Hypernyms ("furrow" is a kind of...):

depression; impression; imprint (a concavity in a surface produced by pressing)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "furrow"):

crow's feet; crow's foot; laugh line (a wrinkle in the skin at the outer corner of your eyes)

dermatoglyphic (the lines that form patterns on the skin (especially on the fingertips and the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet))

frown line (a facial wrinkle associated with frowning)

life line; lifeline; line of life (a crease on the palm; its length is said by palmists to indicate how long you will live)

heart line; line of heart; love line; mensal line (a crease on the palm; palmists say it indicates your emotional nature)

line of destiny; line of fate; line of Saturn (a crease on the palm; palmists say it indicates how successful you will be)

Holonyms ("furrow" is a part of...):

cutis; skin; tegument (a natural protective body covering and site of the sense of touch)

Derivation:

furrow (make wrinkled or creased)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Hollow out in the form of a furrow or groove

Example:

furrow soil

Synonyms:

furrow; groove; rut

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "furrow" is one way to...):

cut into; delve; dig; turn over (turn up, loosen, or remove earth)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

furrow (a long shallow trench in the ground (especially one made by a plow))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cut a furrow into a columns

Synonyms:

chamfer; chase; furrow

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "furrow" is one way to...):

cut (separate with or as if with an instrument)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make wrinkled or creased

Example:

furrow one's brow

Synonyms:

crease; furrow; wrinkle

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "furrow" is one way to...):

fold; fold up; turn up (bend or lay so that one part covers the other)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

furrow (a slight depression or fold in the smoothness of a surface)

Credits

 Context examples: 

A rare syndrome characterized by recurrent facial nerve paralysis, edema of the lips and face, and furrowed tongue.

(Melkersson-Rosenthal Syndrome, NCI Thesaurus)

Sometimes he was making progress and whistled and sang at his work; sometimes he was puzzled, and would sit for long spells with a furrowed brow and a vacant eye.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I struck straight into the heath; I held on to a hollow I saw deeply furrowing the brown moorside; I waded knee-deep in its dark growth; I turned with its turnings, and finding a moss-blackened granite crag in a hidden angle, I sat down under it.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

His drawn brows and the deep furrow between them showed that he needed no exhortation to concentrate all his attention upon a problem which, apart from the tremendous interests involved must appeal so directly to his love of the complex and the unusual.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She had Roman features and a double chin, disappearing into a throat like a pillar: these features appeared to me not only inflated and darkened, but even furrowed with pride; and the chin was sustained by the same principle, in a position of almost preternatural erectness.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)