ˈplough-staff, ˈplow-
A staff, ending in a small spade or shovel, used by the ploughman to clear the coulter and mould-board from earth, roots, weeds, etc.
| 1297 R. Glouc (Rolls) 2198 Vor ȝe beþ men bet iteiȝt to ssofle & to spade, To cartstaf & to ploustaf. 1483 Cath. Angl. 285/1 A Ploghe-staffe, scudium. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 37 A plough beetle, ploughstaff, to further the plough, Great clod to a sunder that breaketh so rough. 1667 O. Heywood Diaries, etc. (1883) III. 100 He took up the plow-staff and knockt him down. 1740 Somerville Hobbinol ii. 53 High o'er his Head His pond'rous Plough-Staff in both Hands he rais'd. 1844 Stephens Bk. Farm I. 425 Fig. 89 represents the plough-staff, another and a necessary article of the movable furniture of the plough. |