ploughboy
Definition
Noun: 1. A boy who guides the animals pulling a plough: Historically, a young male worker whose job was to walk beside and direct the team of horses or oxen pulling a plough across a field.
Usage
The term is used to refer to a specific historical occupation in agriculture. It describes a child laborer, typically in pre-industrial or early industrial farming.
Examples: * The ploughboy whistled a tune to encourage the oxen. * In the old painting, a ploughboy follows the horse-drawn plough. * The farmer hired a young ploughboy for the spring planting.
Advanced Usage
- The word can be used metaphorically or poetically to evoke a rustic, pastoral, or bygone era of simple rural life.
- The poet wrote of the weary ploughboy returning home at dusk.
Variants and Related Words
- Ploughman (noun): An adult man who operates a plough.
- Plough (verb/noun): The primary tool for tilling soil, or the act of using it.
Synonyms
- Farm boy
- Plowboy (US spelling variant)
- Field hand (more general)
Notes on Meaning
- The word is now largely archaic, as modern mechanized farming has eliminated this specific role. It is primarily encountered in historical texts, literature, or discussions of past agricultural practices.
- The spelling plowboy is the standard American English variant.
Noun
-
a boy who leads the animals that draw a plow
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