Forms: 4–6 Sc. ferrie, (6 farowe), 7–9 dial. farry, 4– farrow. Also 3 iveruwe, 4 yvarȝe; and see FARE v.2 [f. FARROW sb.]
1. trans. Of a sow: To bring forth (young).
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 204. Þus beoð þeos pigges iueruwed.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, III. vi. 72 A grete sow fereit of grysis thretty heid.
1614. Markham, Cheap Husb. (1623), 126. Many Sowes are so vnnaturall that they will deuoure their Pigges when they haue farro’d them, which springeth from an vnnatural greediness in them.
1760. Goldsm., Cit. W., lviii. A sow … farrowed fifteen pigs at a litter.
1828–40. Tytler, Hist. Scot. (1864), I. 137. Such of the miners and soldiers who escaped death rushed out from amongst the fragments; and the Scots, raising a shout, cried out that the English sow had farrowed her pigs.
fig. 1823. Lamb, Lett. (1888), II. 60. If Evelyn could have seen him, he would never have farrowed two such prodigious volumes; seeing how much good can be contained in—how small a compass!
2. intr. To produce a litter.
1340. Ayenb., 61. Þe zoȝe huanne hi heþ yuarȝed wel bleþeliche byt men ycloþed mid huyt.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XVII. 701. On the wallis thai can cry, ‘That thair sow ferryit wes thair!’
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., III. 342.
| For that same sow I haif ordand sic draf, | |
| Thocht scho be neuir of sic price and pryde, | |
| Sall gar hir ferrie sone at the midsyde. |
1601. Holland, Pliny, VIII. li. 229. Swine … farrow commonly twice a yeere.
a. 1658. Ford, etc., Witch Edmonton, V. ii. She bewitched Gammer Washbowls Sow, to cast her Pigs a day before she would have farried.
1709. Swift, Baucis & Philemon.
| Wish’d Women might have Children fast, | |
| And thought whose Sow had Farrow’d last. |
1838–43. Arnold, Hist. Rome, I. i. 2. There she laid down and farrowed, and her litter was of thirty young ones.
† b. Of other animals. (See also FARROWING ppl. a.) Obs. rare.
1580. Hollyband, Treas. Fr. Tong, La Muette … the place where a Hare doth farrow.
Hence Farrowed, Farrowing ppl. adjs., Farrowing vbl. sb. Also attrib.
1583. Stanyhurst, Æneis, III. (Arb.), 83.
| White, with lillye colours fayre dect, shee shal be reposed | |
| On ground, dug dieting her mylckwhit farroed hoglings. |
1510–20. Compl. too late maryed (1862), 8. A farrowynge bytche.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIX. lxiii. (1495), 899. A sowe is moost thicke in farowynge tyme.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., III. (1586), 149 b. Her farrowing times are so divided for the nonce.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1673), 518. Barly … at the farrowing causeth an easie and safe pigging.
