The Plough Is Also the Big Dipper
A plough turns soil for planting. Britain uses the same word for the seven stars Americans call the Big Dipper.
A plough is an implement that turns soil to prepare it for sowing. Britain also uses the name for a group of stars: the Plough is the same seven-star pattern Americans call the Big Dipper. The mouldboard plough, which turns the soil over rather than merely scratching it, was one of the great agricultural advances of medieval Europe.
- A soil-turning implement. *A horse-drawn plough.*
- To turn soil. *Plough the field.*
- The star pattern (British). *Find the Plough.*
- Plow — the American spelling. *A snow plow.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | plough | A steel plough. |
| American | plow | A snow plow. |
| Verb | plough | Plough the land. |
| Related | mouldboard | A curved mouldboard. |
| Related | furrow | A straight furrow. |
How it is used in a sentence
- Britain says the Plough, America the Big Dipper.The same seven stars.
- He ploughed through the report.Worked doggedly.
- Ploughshares are beaten into swords.Or the reverse, in Isaiah.
Plough parts and terms
- Share — the cutting blade
- Mouldboard — the curved plate turning the soil over
- Coulter — the vertical blade cutting ahead of the share
- Furrow — the trench left behind
- No-till — modern farming that avoids ploughing to protect soil structure
From Old English *ploh*, a measure of land, later the implement, of Germanic origin.
Plough or plow?
Plough is British, plow American. Both are the same word with different spellings.
Why does modern farming avoid ploughing?
Because turning the soil damages its structure, releases carbon and increases erosion. No-till methods aim to avoid those effects.