| reap | 1. To cut with a sickle, scythe, or reaping machine, as grain; to gather, as a harvest, by cutting. "When ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field." (Lev. 9) 2. To gather; to obtain; to receive as a reward or harvest, or as the fruit of labour or of works; in a good or a bad sense; as, to reap a benefit from exertions. "Why do I humble thus myself, and, suing For peace, reap nothing but repulse and hate?" (Milton) 3. To clear or a crop by reaping; as, to reap a field. 4. To deprive of the beard; to shave. Reaping hook, an instrument having a hook-shaped blade, used in reaping; a sickle; in a specific sense, distinguished from a sickle by a blade keen instead of serrated. Origin: OE. Repen, AS. Ripan to seize, reap; cf. D. Rapen to glean, reap, G. Raufen to pluck, Goth. Raupjan, or E. Ripe. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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