Harry

[har-ee] /ˈhær i/

verb (used with object), harried, harrying.
1.
to harass, annoy, or prove a nuisance to by or as if by repeated attacks; worry:
He was harried by constant doubts.
2.
to ravage, as in war; devastate:
The troops harried the countryside.
verb (used without object), harried, harrying.
3.
to make harassing incursions.
[har-ee] /ˈhær i/
noun
1.
a male given name, form of or .
[lawz] /lɔz/
noun
1.
Henry (“Harry”) 1596–1662, English composer.
2.
Lewis E(dward) 1883–1947, U.S. penologist.
/ˈhærɪ/
verb -ries, -rying, -ried
1.
(transitive) to harass; worry
2.
to ravage (a town, etc), esp in war
/lɔːz/
noun
1.
Henry. 1596–1662, English composer, noted for his music for Milton’s masque Comus (1634) and for his settings of some of Robert Herrick’s poems
2.
his brother, William. 1602–45, English composer, noted for his harmonically experimental instrumental music
v.

Old English hergian “make war, lay waste, ravage, plunder,” the word used in the “Anglo-Saxon Chronicle” for what the Vikings did to England, from Proto-Germanic verb *harohan (cf. Old Frisian urheria “lay waste, ravage, plunder,” Old Norse herja “to make a raid, to plunder,” Old Saxon and Old High German herion, German verheeren “to destroy, lay waste, devastate”), from *harjaz “an armed force” (cf. Old English here, Old Norse herr “crowd, great number; army, troop,” Old Saxon and Old Frisian heri, Dutch heir, Old High German har, German Heer “host, army,” Gothic harjis), from PIE root *koro- “war” (cf. Lithuanian karas “war, quarrel,” karias “host, army;” Old Church Slavonic kara “strife;” Middle Irish cuire “troop;” Old Persian kara “host, people, army;” Greek koiranos “ruler, leader, commander”). Weakened sense of “worry, goad, harass” is from c.1400. Related: Harried; harrying.

masc. proper name, a familiar form of Henry. Weekley takes the overwhelming number of Harris and Harrison surnames as evidence that “Harry,” not “Henry,” was the Middle English pronunciation of Henry. Also cf. Harriet, English equivalent of French Henriette, fem. diminutive of Henri. Nautical slang Harriet Lane “preserved meat” (1896) refers to a famous murder victim whose killer allegedly chopped up her body.

Related Terms

big harry, every tom* dick* and harry