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What is "scythe"

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scythe
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
scythe
I.noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ All reaping must be done by hand using sickle and scythe due to the difficulty in using modern machinery.
▪ As her scythe moved mechanically through the bean field, a sandy-colored hare was startled out of its hiding place.
▪ In one field he heard the hiss of scythes, and on a narrow terrace he saw two men weeding by lamplight.
▪ Jimmy was sitting in the shed sharpening a scythe.
▪ Joy made one last desperate attempt and produced the most horrendous squeak ever, like a hare caught by a harvest scythe.
▪ The scythe of time creates superiority of title as it does seniority of age.
▪ Throwing down his scythe he scooped up some millet and straightened up.
II.verb
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ He would scythe her down if she didn't fit in with his plans.
▪ The first job was to scythe paths through the nettles so the children could play without being stung.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Scythe

Scythe \Scythe\, v. t. To cut with a scythe; to cut off as with a scythe; to mow.

Time had not scythed all that youth begun.
--Shak.

Scythe

Scythe \Scythe\ (s[imac]th), n. [OE. sithe, AS. s[=i][eth]e, sig[eth]e; akin to Icel. sig[eth]r a sickle, LG. segd, seged, seed, seid, OHG. segansa sickle, scythe, G. sense scythe, and to E. saw a cutting instrument. See Saw.] [Written also sithe and sythe.]

  1. An instrument for mowing grass, grain, or the like, by hand, composed of a long, curving blade, with a sharp edge, made fast to a long handle, called a snath, which is bent into a form convenient for use.

    The sharp-edged scythe shears up the spiring grass.
    --Drayton.

    Whatever thing The scythe of Time mows down.
    --Milton.

  2. (Antiq.) A scythe-shaped blade attached to ancient war chariots.

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
scythe

Old English siðe, sigði, from Proto-Germanic *segithoz (cognates: Middle Low German segede, Middle Dutch sichte, Old High German segensa, German Sense), from PIE root *sek- "to cut" (see section (n.)). The sc- spelling crept in early 15c., from influence of Latin scissor "carver, cutter" and scindere "to cut." Compare French scier "saw," a false spelling from sier.

scythe

1570s, "use a scythe;" 1590s "to mow;" from scythe (n.). From 1897 as "move with the sweeping motion of a scythe." Related: Scythed; scything.

Wiktionary
scythe

n. 1 An instrument for mowing grass, grain, or the like, by hand, composed of a long, curving blade, with the concave edge sharped, made fast to a long handle, called a snath, which is bent into a form convenient for use. 2 A scythe-shaped blade attached to ancient war chariots. vb. To cut with a scythe; to cut off as with a scythe; to mow.

Related phrases:
WordNet
scythe

  1. n. an edge tool for cutting grass; has a long handle that must be held with both hands and a curved blade that moves parallel to the ground

  2. v. cut with a scythe; "scythe grass or grain"

Wikipedia
Scythe

A scythe ( or ) is an agricultural hand tool for mowing grass or reaping crops. It has largely been replaced by horse-drawn and then tractor machinery, but is still used in some areas of Europe and Asia.

The word "scythe" derives from Old English siðe. In Middle English and after it was usually spelt sithe or sythe. However, in the 15th century some writers began to use the sc- spelling as they thought (wrongly) the word was related to the Latin scindere (meaning "to cut"). Nevertheless, the sithe spelling lingered and notably appears in Noah Webster's dictionaries.

Scythe (disambiguation)

Scythe or scythes may mean:

  • Scythe, an agricultural hand tool for mowing grass or reaping crops
  • Scythes, an ancient Sicilian tyrant
  • Scythe (Transformers), a Transformers character
  • S.C.Y.T.H.E., a DC Comics supervillain team
  • Allen Scythe, a petrol-powered finger-bar mower
  • The Scythe (album), an Elvenking album
  • "The Scythe" (short story), a 1943 short story by Ray Bradbury
  • Scythe Physics Editor, a free software physics modeling program.

Usage examples of "scythe".

Stripped and adust In a stubble of empire Scything and binding The full sheaves of sovereignty.

Stripped and adust In a stubble of empire, Scything and binding The full sheaves of sovranty: Thus, O, thus gloriously, Shall you fulfil yourselves!

It was the wooden plow, the scythe, the harrow, the amaranth seed that would make the real changes, that would allow piggy population to increase tenfold wherever they went.

And all the villagers were there, every male soul on the estate from Hob the austringer down to old Wat with no nose, all carrying spears or pitchforks or old scythe blades or stout poles.

She turned it over and saw the carving of a man with horns, holding a scythe in one hand and a framea in the other.

Song of Karos, the Great God of Scythe, Father of Tharn folk, Dweller in Darkness.

The even mead, that erst brought sweetly forth The freckled cowslip, burnet, and green clover, Wanting the scythe, all uncorrected, rank, Conceives by idleness, and nothing teems But hateful docks, rough thistles, kecksies, burrs, Losing both beauty and utility.

Milord Megrin, the churls from all the villages converged on the castle, scythes and flails in hand.

I have slid to a stop millimeters short of that death blow and now, as she pulls her right arm back in preparation to scythe me in two, I pivot on one foot and kick her in her flat chest with all the strength of my body.

The explosion tore the winning probe to bits, sending more metal scything in every direction, and the detonation and flying shrapnel ripped apart the wing of the accompanying probe, hurling it to the ground.

Time, too, though in moral sadness wisely called a shadow, has been clothed with terrific attributes, and the sweep of his scythe has shorn the towery diadem of cities.

Each farm had two or three vicious hounds set to go off at the merest sound, rushing barkless and low out of the dark shadows of roadside trees to rip at his legs with jaws like scythes.

Beyond the dying garden, the wood was so overgrown with vine and bramble that I would have needed a scythe to enter it.

The barrier was manned by a dozen field hands armed with staffs sharpened to a point, a single metal-tipped spear, shovels, and scythes.

When Tom untethered her, Andromeda pushed past him and walked the length of the scythe of fire.