harry

Etymology

From Middle English herien, harien (compare Walloon hairyî, old French hairier, harier), from Old English herġian, 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 *koryos (compare Middle Irish cuire (“army”), Lithuanian kãrias (“army; war”), Old Church Slavonic кара (kara, “strife”), Ancient Greek κοίρανος (koíranos, “chief, commander”), Old Persian [script needed] (kāra, “army”)). More at here (“army”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /hæɹi/, /hɛɹi/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /hæɹi/
• Rhymes: -æɹi

Verb

harry (third-person singular simple present harries, present participle harrying, simple past and past participle harried)

1. (transitive) To harass, stress, badger, bother; to distress, trouble, or tire with demands, threats, or criticism.

   A crowd of harried businessmen rushing to their next meeting.

   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”, in BBC Sport‎:

     Chelsea also struggled to keep possession as QPR harried and chased at every opportunity, giving their opponents no time on the ball.

   • 2014 July 5, Sam Borden, “For bellicose Brazil, payback carries heavy price: Loss of Neymar [International New York Times version: Brazil and referee share some blame for Neymar's injury: Spaniard's failure to curb early pattern of fouls is seen as major factor (7 July 2014, p. 13)]”, in The New York Times‎:

     The Colombians' ire was raised even more 10 minutes later when the referee showed a yellow card to [James] Rodríguez – who was apoplectic at the decision – for an innocuous trip that was, as Rodríguez vociferously pointed out with multiple hand gestures, a first offense compared with Fernandinho's harrying.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)

2. To strip; to lay waste.

   The Northmen came several times and harried the land.

   • Washington Irving

     to harry this beautiful region

   • J. Burroughs

     A red squirrel had harried the nest of a wood thrush.

Etymology

From the English name Harry.

Adjective

harry (indeclinable)

1. (slang, derogatory) cheesy, shabby, kitschy

References

• “harry” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Etymology

From the English name Harry.

Adjective

harry (indeclinable)

1. (slang, derogatory) cheesy, shabby, kitschy

References

• “harry” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.