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har·vest (härvĭst)
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n.
1. The act or process of gathering a crop.
2.
a. The crop that ripens or is gathered in a season.
b. The amount or measure of the crop gathered in a season.
c. The time or season of such gathering: Harvest lasts about six weeks.
3. The result or consequence of an action: Our trip to the Grand Canyon yielded a rich harvest of memories.
v. har·vest·ed, har·vest·ing, har·vests
v. tr.
1.
a. To gather (a crop): harvested wheat.
b. To take or kill (fish or deer, for example) for food, sport, or population control.
c. To extract from a culture or a living or recently deceased body, especially for transplantation: harvested bone marrow.
2. To gather a crop from (land, for example): harvest an apple orchard.
3. To receive or collect (energy): a turbine that harvests energy from tidal currents.
4. To receive (the benefits or consequences of an action): harvest the rewards of hard work. See Synonyms at reap.
v. intr.
To gather a crop.
[Middle English, from Old English hærfest; see kerp- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]
harvest·a·ble adj.
har′vest·a·bili·ty n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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