• Harry

    Pronunciation

    • IPA: /hæɹi/
    • Rhymes: -æɹi

    Origin

    Middle English harien, herien, from Old English hergian ("to pillage, plunder"), 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 *kori̯os (compare Middle Irish cuire ("army"), Lithuanian kãrias ("army; war"), Old Church Slavonic кара (kara, "strife"), Ancient Greek κοίρανος (koíranos, "chief, commander"), Old Persian kāra ‘army’).

    Full definition of harry

    Verb

    1. (transitive) To bother; to trouble.We shall harry the enemy at every turn until his morale breaks and he is at our mercy.
      • 2011, October 23, Becky Ashton, QPR 1 - 0 Chelsea, Chelsea also struggled to keep possession as QPR harried and chased at every opportunity, giving their opponents no time on the ball.
    2. To strip; to lay waste.The Northmen came several times and harried the land.
      • Washington Irvingto harry this beautiful region
      • J. BurroughsA red squirrel had harried the nest of a wood thrush.

    Derived terms

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