farrow

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search
See also: Farrow

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English *farow, *fargh (found only in the plural faren), from Old English fearh (piglet), from Proto-West Germanic *farh, from Proto-Germanic *farhaz, from Proto-Indo-European *pórḱos, from *perḱ- (to dig).

See also Dutch var (male pig; boar), Old High German farah; also Middle Irish orc (piglet), Latin porcus, Proto-Slavic *porsę (pig, piglet), Lithuanian par̃šas, Kurdish purs. Doublet of pork.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

farrow (plural farrows)

  1. A litter of piglets.
    • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 15]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, [], →OCLC:
      Aha! I know you, gammer! Hamlet, revenge! The old sow that eats her farrow!
    • 1949, Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces:
      She is the womb and the tomb: the sow that eats her farrow.

Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

farrow (third-person singular simple present farrows, present participle farrowing, simple past and past participle farrowed)

  1. To give birth to (a litter of piglets).

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Adjective[edit]

farrow (not comparable)

  1. (of cows) Not pregnant; not producing young (not calving) in a given season or year; barren.

Translations[edit]