harrow up
C1 formal separable transitive
In simple words
To deeply and painfully disturb someone's mind or feelings.
Literal meaning: A harrow is a farm tool used to break up and rake the soil — 'harrow up' literally means to tear through something violently.
Meanings
1 C1
idiomatic
formal
To cause extreme horror, anguish, or distress to a person's soul or mind (used in literary or dramatic contexts).
"The harrowing details of the account harrowed up every person in the room."
"I could a tale unfold whose lightest word / Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood."
— William Shakespeare, 'Hamlet', Act 1, Scene 5 (Ghost speaking to Hamlet)
Grammar: separable
Usage notes
Almost entirely literary and archaic. Best known from Shakespeare's Hamlet. A harrow is a spiked farming tool that tears up the soil; the image is of one's soul being torn apart. Virtually never used in modern everyday speech.
Commonly used with
soul spirit mind heart imagination
Forms
Base
harrow up
I/you/we/they
3rd person
harrows up
he/she/it
Past simple
harrowed up
yesterday
Past participle
harrowed up
have + pp
-ing form
harrowing up
continuous
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