harvest
- The time of year when crops that have been growing are gathered, or the crops themselves that are collected.
- As a verb, to cut and collect a crop; also used broadly to mean gathering or collecting any resource.
In a sentence
- The farmers worked from sunrise to sunset during the harvest to bring in the wheat before the rain came.
- Scientists are looking at new ways to harvest solar energy from sunlight more efficiently.
Usage note. When used as a verb, 'harvest' works in both literal agricultural contexts and figurative ones, such as 'harvesting data,' but the figurative use can feel like jargon, so use it carefully in formal writing.
Where it comes from
English harvest · entered English 9th c.
From Old English 'hærfest,' meaning 'autumn' or 'the time of gathering crops,' related to Old High German 'herbist' and Proto-Germanic roots connected to the Latin 'carpere,' meaning 'to pluck.' The word existed in English before the Norman Conquest, making it one of the older agricultural terms in the language, used since at least the 9th century.