harry
English
Etymology
From Middle English herien, harien (compare Walloon hairyî, old French hairier, harier), from Old English herġian, from Proto-Germanic *harjōną (compare East Frisian ferheerje, German verheeren (“to harry, devastate”), Swedish härja (“ravage, harry”)), from Proto-Germanic *harjaz (“army”) (compare Old English here, West Frisian hear, Dutch heer, German Heer), from Proto-Indo-European *koryos (compare Middle Irish cuire (“army”), Lithuanian kãrias (“army; war”), Old Church Slavonic кара (kara, “strife”), Ancient Greek κοίρανος (koíranos, “chief, commander”), Old Persian [script needed] (kāra, “army”)). More at here (“army”).
Pronunciation
- (General American) IPA(key): /hæɹi/, /hɛɹi/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /hæɹi/
- Rhymes: -æɹi
Verb
harry (third-person singular simple present harries, present participle harrying, simple past and past participle harried) (transitive)
- To plunder, pillage, assault.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)
- To make repeated attacks on an enemy.
- 1906, Alfred Noyes, The Highwayman:
- "One kiss, my bonny sweetheart, I'm after a prize to-night,
- But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light;
- Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,
- Then look for me by moonlight,
- Watch for me by moonlight,
- I'll come to thee by moonlight, though Hell should bar the way."
- 1906, Alfred Noyes, The Highwayman:
- To strip, lay waste, ravage.
- Washington Irving
- to harry this beautiful region
- J. Burroughs
- A red squirrel had harried the nest of a wood thrush.
- Washington Irving
- To harass, bother or distress with demands, threats, or criticism.
- 2011 October 23, Becky Ashton, “QPR 1 – 0 Chelsea”, in BBC Sport:
- Chelsea also struggled to keep possession as QPR harried and chased at every opportunity, giving their opponents no time on the ball.
- 2014 July 5, Sam Borden, “For bellicose Brazil, payback carries heavy price: Loss of Neymar [International New York Times version: Brazil and referee share some blame for Neymar's injury: Spaniard's failure to curb early pattern of fouls is seen as major factor (7 July 2014, p. 13)]”, in The New York Times:
- The Colombians' ire was raised even more 10 minutes later when the referee showed a yellow card to [James] Rodríguez – who was apoplectic at the decision – for an innocuous trip that was, as Rodríguez vociferously pointed out with multiple hand gestures, a first offense compared with Fernandinho's harrying.
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Derived terms
Norwegian Bokmål
Derived terms
- harrytur
- harryhandel