Adjacent Words

Harvest definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

H`ARVEST, n. [L. acerbus.]
1. The season of reaping and gathering in corn or other crops. It especially refers to the time of collecting corn or grain, which is the chief food of men, as wheat and rye. In Egypt and Syria, the wheat harvest is in April and May; in the south of Europe and of the United States, in June; in the Northern states of America, in July; and in the north of Europe,in August and September. In the United States,the harvest of maiz is mostly in October.
2. The ripe corn or grain collected and secured in barns or stacks. The harvest this year is abundant.
3. The product of labor; fruit or fruits.
Let us the harvest of our labor eat.
4. Fruit or fruits; effects; consequences.
He that sows iniquity will reap a harvest of woe.
5. In Scripture, harvest signifies figuratively the proper season for business.
He that sleepeth in harvest, is a son that causeth shame. Proverbs 10.
Also, a people whose sins have ripened them for judgment. Joel 3.
Also, the end of the world. Matthew 13.
Also, a seasonable time for instructing men in the gospel. Matthew 9.
H`ARVEST, v.t. To reap or gather ripe corn and other fruits for the use of man and beast.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the yield from plants in a single growing season [syn: crop, harvest]
2: the consequence of an effort or activity; "they gathered a harvest of examples"; "a harvest of love"
3: the gathering of a ripened crop [syn: harvest, harvesting, harvest home]
4: the season for gathering crops [syn: harvest, harvest time] v
1: gather, as of natural products; "harvest the grapes" [syn: reap, harvest, glean]
2: remove from a culture or a living or dead body, as for the purposes of transplantation; "The Chinese are said to harvest organs from executed criminals"

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Usage: often attributive Etymology: Middle English hervest, from Old English hærfest; akin to Latin carpere to pluck, gather, Greek karpos fruit Date: before 12th century 1. the season for gathering in agricultural crops 2. the act or process of gathering in a crop 3. a. a mature crop (as of grain or fruit) ; yield b. the quantity of a natural product gathered in a single season <deer harvest> <ice harvest> 4. an accumulated store or productive result <a harvest of revenue> II. verb Date: 15th century transitive verb 1. a. to gather in (a crop) ; reap b. to gather, catch, hunt, or kill (as salmon, oysters, or deer) for human use, sport, or population control c. to remove or extract (as living cells, tissues, or organs) from culture or from a living or recently deceased body especially for transplanting 2. a. to accumulate a store of <has now harvested this new generation's scholarly labors — M. J. Wiener> b. to win by achievement <the team harvested several awards> intransitive verb to gather in a crop especially for food • harvestable adjective • harvester noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a the process of gathering in crops etc. b the season when this takes place. 2 the season's yield or crop. 3 the product or result of any action. --v.tr. 1 gather as a harvest, reap. 2 experience (consequences). Phrases and idioms: harvest festival a thanksgiving festival in church for the harvest. harvest home the close of harvesting or the festival to mark this. harvest mite any arachnid larvae of the genus Trombicula, a chigger. harvest moon the full moon nearest to the autumn equinox (22 or 23 Sept.). harvest mouse a small rodent, Micromys minutus, that nests in the stalks of growing grain. Derivatives: harvestable adj. Etymology: OE hærfest f. Gmc

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Harvest Har"vest, n. [OE. harvest, hervest, AS. h[ae]rfest autumn; akin to LG. harfst, D. herfst, OHG. herbist, G. herbst, and prob. to L. carpere to pluck, Gr. ? fruit. Cf. Carpet.] 1. The gathering of a crop of any kind; the ingathering of the crops; also, the season of gathering grain and fruits, late summer or early autumn. Seedtime and harvest . . . shall not cease. --Gen viii. 22. At harvest, when corn is ripe. --Tyndale. 2. That which is reaped or ready to be reaped or gath??ed; a crop, as of grain (wheat, maize, etc.), or fruit. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. --Joel iii. 13. To glean the broken ears after the man That the main harvest reaps. --Shak. 3. The product or result of any exertion or labor; gain; reward. The pope's principal harvest was in the jubilee. --Fuller. The harvest of a quiet eye. --Wordsworth. Harvest fish (Zo["o]l.), a marine fish of the Southern United States (Stromateus alepidotus); -- called whiting in Virginia. Also applied to the dollar fish. Harvest fly (Zo["o]l.), an hemipterous insect of the genus Cicada, often called locust. See Cicada. Harvest lord, the head reaper at a harvest. [Obs.] --Tusser. Harvest mite (Zo["o]l.), a minute European mite (Leptus autumnalis), of a bright crimson color, which is troublesome by penetrating the skin of man and domestic animals; -- called also harvest louse, and harvest bug. Harvest moon, the moon near the full at the time of harvest in England, or about the autumnal equinox, when, by reason of the small angle that is made by the moon's orbit with the horizon, it rises nearly at the same hour for several days. Harvest mouse (Zo["o]l.), a very small European field mouse (Mus minutus). It builds a globular nest on the stems of wheat and other plants. Harvest queen, an image pepresenting Ceres, formerly carried about on the last day of harvest. --Milton. Harvest spider. (Zo["o]l.) See Daddy longlegs.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Harvest Har"vest, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Harvested; p. pr. & vb. n. Harvesting.] To reap or gather, as any crop.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(harvests, harvesting, harvested) 1. The harvest is the gathering of a crop. There were about 300 million tons of grain in the fields at the start of the harvest. N-SING: the N 2. A harvest is the crop that is gathered in. Millions of people are threatened with starvation as a result of drought and poor harvests. N-COUNT 3. When you harvest a crop, you gather it in. Many farmers are refusing to harvest the cane. ...freshly harvested beetroot. VERB: V n, V-ed • harvesting ...war is hampering harvesting and the distribution of food aid.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

the season for gathering grain or fruit. On the 16th day of Abib (or April) a handful of ripe ears of corn was offered as a first-fruit before the Lord, and immediately after this the harvest commenced (Lev. 23:9-14; 2 Sam. 21:9, 10; Ruth 2:23). It began with the feast of Passover and ended with Pentecost, thus lasting for seven weeks (Ex. 23:16). The harvest was a season of joy (Ps. 126:1-6; Isa. 9:3). This word is used figuratively Matt. 9:37; 13:30; Luke 10:2; John 4:35. (See AGRICULTURE.)

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

har'-vest (qatsir; therismos): To many of us, harvest time is of little concern, because in our complex life we are far removed from the actual production of our food supplies, but for the Hebrew people, as for those in any agricultural district today, the harvest was a most important season (Ge 8:22; 45:6). Events were reckoned from harvests (Ge 30:14; Jos 3:15; Jud 15:1; Ru 1:22; 2:23; 1Sa 6:13; 2Sa 21:9; 23:13). The three principal feasts of the Jews corresponded to the three harvest seasons (Ex 23:16; 34:21,22);

(1) the feast of the Passover in April at the time of the barley harvest (compare Ru 1:22);

(2) the feast of Pentecost (7 weeks later) at the wheat harvest (Ex 34:22), and

(3) the feast of Tabernacles at the end of the year (October) during the fruit harvest.

The seasons have not changed since that time. Between the reaping of the barley in April and the wheat in June, most of the other cereals are reaped. The grapes begin to ripen in August, but the gathering in for making wine and molasses (dibs), and the storing of the dried figs and raisins, is at the end of September. Between the barley harvest in April and the wheat harvest, only a few showers fall, which are welcomed because they increase the yield of wheat (compare Am 4:7). Samuel made use of the unusual occurrence of rain during the wheat harvest to strike fear into the hearts of the people (1Sa 12:17). Such an unusual storm of excessive violence visited Syria in 1912, and did much damage to the harvests, bringing fear to the superstitious farmers, who thought some greater disaster awaited them. From the wheat harvest until the fruit harvest no rain falls (2Sa 21:10; Jer 5:24; compare Pr 26:1). The harvesters long for cool weather during the reaping season (compare Pr 25:13).

Many definite laws were instituted regarding the harvest. Gleaning was forbidden (Le 19:9; 23:22; De 24:19) (see GLEANING). The first-fruits were required to be presented to Yahweh (Le 23:10). In Syria the Christians still celebrate 'id er-rubb ("feast of the Lord"), at which time the owners of the vineyards bring their first bunches of grapes to the church. The children of Israel were enjoined to reap no harvest for which they had not labored (Le 25:5). In Proverbs the harvesting of ants is mentioned as a lesson for the sluggard (Pr 6:8; 10:5; 20:4).

Figurative: A destroyed harvest typified devastation or affliction (Job 5:5; Isa 16:9; 17:11; Jer 5:17; 50:16). The "time of harvest," in the Old Testament frequently meant the day of destruction (Jer 51:33; Ho 6:11; Joe 3:13). "Joy in harvest" typified great joy (Isa 9:3); "harvest of the Nile," an abundant harvest (Isa 23:3). "The harvest is past" meant that the appointed time was gone (Jer 8:20). Yahweh chose the most promising time to cut off the wicked, namely, "when there is a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest" (Isa 18:4,5). This occurrence of hot misty days just before the ripening of the grapes is still common. They are welcome because they are supposed to hasten the harvest. The Syrian farmers in some districts call it et-tabbakh el'ainib wa tin ("the fireplace of the grapes and figs").

In the Gospels, Jesus frequently refers to the harvest of souls (Mt 9:37,38 bis; Mt13:30,39; Mr 4:29; Joh 4:35). In explaining the parable of the Tares he said, "The harvest is the end of the world" (Mt 13:39; compare Re 14:15).

See also AGRICULTURE.

James A. Patch

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. Ingathering, harvesting, harvest-time. 2. Produce, crops. 3. Effect, product, result, consequence. II. v. a. Gather in, reap.

Moby Thesaurus

accumulate, acquire, aftermath, amass, assemble, autumn, bag, be seized of, bearing, bin, bring in, bumper crop, by-product, cache, capture, carve, catch, chisel, collect, come by, come in for, come into, consequence, consequent, contract, convert, corollary, corral, crop, crop herbs, cropping, cultivate, cut, cutting, derivation, derivative, derive, development, dig, distillate, drag down, draw, earn, effect, enter into possession, event, eventuality, eventuation, extract, fall, fruit, gain, garner, garnering, gather, gather in, gathering, get, glean, gleaning, grabble, grow, harvest home, harvest time, harvesting, hay, hide, hoard, ingathering, issue, legacy, logical outcome, machine, make, mill, mine, mow, net, nut, nutting, obtain, offshoot, offspring, outcome, outgrowth, output, pick, pluck, precipitate, proceeds, process, procure, produce, product, production, pull down, pump, raise, reap, reap and carry, reaping, rear, receive, refine, result, resultant, sack, score, second crop, secure, sequel, sequela, sequence, sequent, smelt, squirrel, stash, store up, storing, stow away, take, take in, throughput, upshot, vintage, win, yield