Reap

Pronunciation

• enPR: rÄ“p, IPA: /riːp/
• Rhymes: -iːp

Origin

Middle English repen, from Old English ripan, reopan, from Proto-Germanic *rīpaną (compare West Frisian repe, German reifsen ‘to snatch’, Norwegian ripa ‘to score, scratch’), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rep- ‘to snatch’ (compare Latin rapere ‘to seize, plunder’, Lithuanian aprépti 'to seize, embrace', Albanian rrjep ‘to peel, tear off’, Ancient Greek ἐρέπτομαι (eréptomai, "I feed on")).

Full definition of reap

Verb

1. To cut with a sickle, scythe, or reaping machine, as grain; to gather, as a harvest, by cutting.
• Bible, LeviticusWhen ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field.
2. To gather; to obtain; to receive as a reward or harvest, or as the fruit of labor or of works, in a good or a bad sense.to reap a benefit from exertions
• MiltonWhy do I humble thus myself, and, suing
  For peace, reap nothing but repulse and hate?
• (Bible) Epistle to the Galatians, ch. 6, v.7For whatever a man is sowing, this he will also reap. Gal.6.7
3. (computer science) To terminate a child process that has previously exited, thereby removing it from the process table.Until a child process is reaped, it may be listed in the process table as a zombie or defunct process.
4. (obsolete) To deprive of the beard; to shave.

Derived terms

• reaper
• reap what one sows
• sow the wind, reap the whirlwind

Noun

1. A bundle of grain; a handful of grain laid down by the reaper as it is cut.

Anagrams

• aper, pare, pear, rape