harvest

1 of 2

noun

har·​vest ˈhär-vəst How to pronounce harvest (audio)
often attributive
1
: the season for gathering in agricultural crops
the beginning of the harvest
2
: the act or process of gathering in a crop
assisting neighbors in their harvest
3
a
: a mature crop (as of grain or fruit) : yield
bountiful harvests
b
: the quantity of a natural product gathered in a single season
the salmon harvest
timber harvests
4
: an accumulated store or productive result
a harvest of revenue

harvest

2 of 2

verb

harvested; harvesting; harvests

transitive verb

1
a
: to gather in (a crop) : reap
harvesting corn
b
: to gather, catch, hunt, or kill (salmon, oysters, deer, etc.) for human use, sport, or population control
c
: to remove or extract (something, such as living cells, tissues, or organs) from culture (see culture entry 1 sense 3) 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 laborsM. J. Wiener
b
: to win by achievement
the team harvested several awards

intransitive verb

: to gather in a crop especially for food
sold it standing in the field to save himself the trouble of harvestingPearl Buck
harvestable adjective
harvester noun

Examples of harvest in a Sentence

Noun The beginning of the harvest varies from year to year. It is time for the harvest. They prayed for a bountiful harvest. We had enormous harvests of corn this year. Verb It is time to harvest the wheat. They want to harvest timber in these woods.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Michigan apples:The harvest is expected to be a sweet bushel buster Pawpaws Filled with a sweet, creamy custard akin to the flavor of a banana or mango, pawpaws are native to Michigan and 25 other Midwestern states. Detroit Free Press, 14 Mar. 2024 The global harvest and trade in frog legs is poorly tracked and could be leading to species decline in countries such as Indonesia and Turkey, signatories said in an open letter to French President Emmanuel Macron. Frances Vinall, Washington Post, 12 Mar. 2024 This could be tariffs on Chinese imports put by the Trump administration, the soaring price of shipping during the pandemic supply-chain crisis, higher wages to attract workers or bad harvests of specific ingredients like cocoa. Alina Selyukh, NPR, 8 Mar. 2024 April marks the beginning of Ojai Pixie Month which celebrates the harvest of pixie tangerines, the small, seedless, easy-to-peel, and incredibly sweet, pale orange fruit, grown by over 40 producers in Ventura County. Dobrina Zhekova, Travel + Leisure, 7 Mar. 2024 The Pennsylvania black bear harvest dashboard shows that hunters harvested 3,171 bears during the 2022-2023 season, the second lowest harvest since the 2013-2014 season. Katie Hill, Outdoor Life, 7 Mar. 2024 Guests who are interested in learning more about the bountiful harvest on their plates can book a farm tour, which covers the history, agricultural heritage and innovative farming systems employed at Kuilima Farm. Abigail Abesamis Demarest, Forbes, 26 Feb. 2024 The incentivized harvest of the invasive brown trout from this area originally began in November 2020, intending to run the program for five to six years. The Arizona Republic, 1 Mar. 2024 Originally owned by Ron and Diane Miller and her mother Lillian Disney (yes, that Disney), the first wines were from the 1981 harvest. Tom Hyland, Forbes, 29 Feb. 2024
Verb
The tiny fish, which weigh only a few grams, are harvested by fishermen using nets in rivers and streams. Patrick Whittle, Fortune, 15 Mar. 2024 The coyote harvest, and the number of coyotes harvested per hunter, have not increased since 2016. Jennifer Dixon, Detroit Free Press, 14 Mar. 2024 The Michelin Guide says Kammerer elevates delicacies like sea urchin while utilizing more humble ingredients, like seaweed harvested from the nearby coastline or lace lichen plucked from overhanging trees. Jenna Anderson, Sunset Magazine, 13 Mar. 2024 But critics counter that the bill wouldn’t protect Americans from having their data harvested by foreign interests. Jon Healey, Los Angeles Times, 13 Mar. 2024 Application of dicamba and 2,4-D has also increased for corn crops — of which 5.4 million acres were harvested in the state last year — though not as significantly. Sarah Bowman, The Indianapolis Star, 13 Mar. 2024 The Pennsylvania black bear harvest dashboard shows that hunters harvested 3,171 bears during the 2022-2023 season, the second lowest harvest since the 2013-2014 season. Katie Hill, Outdoor Life, 7 Mar. 2024 The diving fisherwomen of South Korea’s Jeju Island, who harvest shellfish from the seafloor without breathing equipment, were a dwindling, elderly bunch when the agency recognized them, in 2016. Julian Lucas, The New Yorker, 2 Mar. 2024 It's both mechanically harvested and harvested by hand and is known for being a good source of antioxidants and vitamins and minerals such as folate, manganese, phosphorous, iron, vitamin B1 and magnesium. Daryl Austin, USA TODAY, 8 Mar. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'harvest.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun and Verb

Middle English hervest, from Old English hærfest; akin to Latin carpere to pluck, gather, Greek karpos fruit

First Known Use

Noun

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

15th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of harvest was before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near harvest

Cite this Entry

“Harvest.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/harvest. Accessed 29 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

harvest

1 of 2 noun
har·​vest ˈhär-vəst How to pronounce harvest (audio)
1
: the season when crops are gathered
2
: the gathering of a crop
3
: a ripe crop (as of grain or fruit)
also : the quantity of a crop gathered in a single season

harvest

2 of 2 verb
1
: to gather in a crop : reap
2
: to gather as if by harvesting
harvest timber

More from Merriam-Webster on harvest

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