Also 5 forow, 6 furow, 7 furr. [f. prec. sb.]
1. trans. To make furrows in (earth) with a plough; to plough.
1576. A. Fleming, A Panoplie of Epistles, 354. They [oxen] drawe the plough, they furrowe the soyle, they carrie the croppe of the ground into the Barne.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1658), 48. They furrow the earth like a draught of Oxen with a plow.
1894. T. Roosevelt, What ‘Americanism’ Means, in Forum (U.S.), XVII. April, 201–2. The scientist who spends his youth in a German university, and can thenceforth work only in the fields already fifty times furrowed by the German ploughs.
fig. 1847. G. P. R. James, The Convict, v. Heaven … furrows the heart with griefs to produce a rich crop of joys hereafter.
b. transf. To make a track or tracks in (water); to cleave; to plough.
c. 1425. Found. St. Bartholomew’s (E.E.T.S.), 43. Certeyne shypmen at sandwyche, glad and mery with a prosperous cowrse forowid the dowtable see.
a. 1547. Surrey, Æneid, II. 1038. Long to furrow large space of stormy seas.
1583. Stanyhurst, Æneis, III. (Arb.), 76. With woodden vessel thee rough seas deepelye we furrowe.
1632. J. Hayward, trans. Biondi’s Eromena, 39. Prince Meleneone furrowed the surging waves.
1662. Stillingfl., Orig. Sacr., III. i. § 10. They pass down the strong current of Time with the same facility that a well built ship … doth furrow the Ocean.
1814. Scott, Lord of Isles, IV. xiii. Now launch’d once more, the inland sea They furrow with fair augury.
1845. Darwin, Voy. Nat., iii. 39. The whole sea was in places furrowed by them [porpoises].
1876. R. F. Burton, Gorilla L., I. 171. We … saw sundry shoals of fish furrowing the water.
2. To make furrow-like depressions, indentations, or channels in. Also with up.
1609. Holland, Amm. Marcell., XXIX. i. 354. When … they began to … varie in their words, after their sides were throughly furrowed [L. fodicatis].
1692. Bentley, Boyle Lect., viii. 298. The Surface of the Earth is not uniformly Convex (as many think it would naturally have been, if mechanically formed by a Chaos) but distinguished with Mountains and Valleys, and furrowed from Pole to Pole with the Deep Channel of the Sea.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 656. The chapt Earth is furrow’d o’er with Chinks.
1732. Lediard, Sethos, II. VII. 83. They furrow’d their bodies with sharp stones.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), VII. 328. After furrowing up the sand, it hides itself under it, horns and all.
1834. J. Forbes, Laennec’s Dis. Chest (ed. 4), 287. A hard and irregular surface, furrowed by linear marks.
1863. Baring-Gould, Iceland, 116. As I stand by the cairn, the wind soughs up from the north, lashing the viscous pool into ripples, rustling among the reeds, humming with a strange mournful note through the crevices of the dead man’s home, then rolls onward, to furrow the snows on Eiriks jökull.
1879. Browning, Ivan Ivanovitch, 225. O God, the feel of the fang furrowing my shoulder! see! It grinds—it grates the bone.
b. To make wrinkles in.
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., I. iii. 229. Thou canst helpe time to furrow me with age.
1627–77. Feltham, Resolves, I. xiii. 20. Another lives hardly here, with a heavy heart, furrowing of a mournful face.
1661. Sir A. Haslerig’s Last Will & Test., Supp. 6. The inraged Tygre … furrowed his Front.
1729. T. Cooke, Tales, Proposals, etc. 595. Sev’nty years have furrow’d o’er her Face.
1838. Lytton, Leila, I. v. The lordly features … furrowed by petty cares.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., I. I. 5. Their brows seem furrowed deep with more than years.
c. fig. Said of the action of tears.
1513. Hyrde, trans. Vives’ Instr. Chr. Wom., I. ix. I ij a. Howe can she weep for her sinne, yt muste bare her skynne there with, and forowe her face?
a. 1656. Bp. Hall, Rem., Wks. (1660), 184. Let not our mourning be perfunctory, and fashionable: but serious, hearty, and zealous, so as that we may furrow our cheekes with our teares.
1816. Byron, Ch. Har., III. xx.
| In vain fair cheeks were furrow’d with hot tears | |
| For Europe’s flowers long rooted up before | |
| The trampler of her vineyards. |
1871. Macduff, Mem. Patmos, ix. 113. Touching episode this surely in the apocalyptic drama! the Apostle, in his moment of glowing rapture at the very gate of Heaven, with a tear—(or rather a flood of tears, for he ‘wept much’)—furrowing his cheek, in the unfeigned sadness of baffled and disappointed expectations.
d. To gather up in folds or wrinkles. rare–1.
1853. J. D. Dale, trans. Baldeschi’s Ceremonial, 66, note. Cotta, the short surplice worn in Rome: it is usually furrowed up in a full and tasteful manner.
3. intr. To make furrows or grooves; to make wrinkles.
1576. A. Fleming, A Panoplie of Epistles, 356. Let vs catche the ploughe by the handle, and fall to furrowing.
a. 1577. Gascoigne, Flowers, etc. Wks. (1587), 45. We furrowing in the foaming flouds to take our best availes.
1863. J. L. W., By-gone Days, 2. Where the ploughshare furrows in spring.
b. quasi-trans., as in to furrow (out, up) one’s way. Of a river: To excavate (a channel), to force itself along a channel.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage (1614), 820. Maragnon is far greater, whose waters having furrowed a Channell of six thousand miles, in the length of his winding passage [etc.].
a. 1639. Wotton, Ps. civ., in Farr S. P. Jas. I. (1848), 248.
| There go the ships, that furrow out their way; | |
| Yea, thereof whales enormous sights we see, | |
| Which yet have scope among the rest to play; | |
| And all do wait for their support on thee. |
1647. W. Browne, trans. Polexander, III. 241. Let thy choler furrow up and make a way to that Island whereto none can arrive.
1791. Cowper, Odyss., V. 492. And I have pass’d, Furrowing my way.
1883. F. M. Crawford, Dr. Claudius, vi. 100. The circular wrinkle slowly furrowed its way round Barker’s mouth, and his under jaw pushed forward.
1890. H. M. Stanley, Darkest Africa, II. xxviii. 259. The Rami-lulu had eventually furrowed and grooved itself deeply through, and so the great bank of material lies cut in two, to the depth of 200 feet, sufficiently instructive.
Hence Furrowing vbl. sb. and ppl. a. Also Furrower, one who or that which furrows.
1611. Cotgr., Canelure, a channelling, or furrowing in stone, or in timber; a fluting.
1612. Drayton, Poly-olb., i. 3. Vpon the utmost end of Cornwall’s furrowing beake. Ibid., xviii. 78. She learn’d … To steele the coulters edge, and sharpe the furrowing share.
1841–3. Anthon’s Class. Dict., 380. Gyes (the part of the plough to which the share is fixed) is the Furrower.
1891. Athenæum, 17 Oct., 523/1. The greater number of them have been crushed and broken by the deep furrowing of the steam cultivator.
