First referred to in Genesis 45:6, where the Authorized Version has "earing," but the Revised Version "ploughing;" next in Exodus 34:21 and Deuteronomy 21:4. The plough was originally drawn by oxen, but sometimes also by asses and by men. (see AGRICULTURE.)

Noah Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language

1. (n. & v.) See Plow.

2. (n.) A well-known implement, drawn by horses, mules, oxen, or other power, for turning up the soil to prepare it for bearing crops; also used to furrow or break up the soil for other purposes; as, the subsoil plow; the draining plow.

3. (n.) Fig.: Agriculture; husbandry.

4. (n.) A carucate of land; a plowland.

5. (n.) A joiner's plane for making grooves; a grooving plane.

6. (n.) An implement for trimming or shaving off the edges of books.

7. (n.) Same as Charles's Wain.

8. (v. t.) To turn up, break up, or trench, with a plow; to till with, or as with, a plow; as, to plow the ground; to plow a field.

9. (v. t.) To furrow; to make furrows, grooves, or ridges in; to run through, as in sailing.

10. (v. t.) To trim, or shave off the edges of, as a book or paper, with a plow. See Plow, n., 5.

11. (n.) To cut a groove in, as in a plank, or the edge of a board; especially, a rectangular groove to receive the end of a shelf or tread, the edge of a panel, a tongue, etc.

12. (v. i.) To labor with, or as with, a plow; to till or turn up the soil with a plow; to prepare the soil or bed for anything.